According to reports, Turkey and allied Syrian rebels have pressed on with Operation 'Olive Branch' in the Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave in Syria. As if the seven-year long bloody conflict in Syria was not complicated enough, the US has further fuelled tensions with its recent announcement of creating a 30,000 strong "Border Security Force", comprising largely Kurdish fighters, to man northern Syria's Afrin region along the border with Turkey. The US backing for the Kurdish militia has been a constant source of discord between the two Nato allies. Turkey regards the 'Peoples Protection Units' (YPG) as terrorists controlled by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) with which it has long been embattled. It is worth noting that earlier in August 2016-March 2017, Turkish forces had carried out an operation against the Kurdish forces in an area not far from Afrin. Yet the US decided to ride roughshod over Turkish sensitivities. The apparent attempt to establish Kurdish suzerainty over an area next to its borders in the guise of 'Border Security Force' was simply unacceptable. Last month, Turkish forces launched operation 'Olive Branch' to oust the YPG from Afrin, throwing the region into a new crisis.

The YPG, supported by US airpower had bravely fought the IS, liberating Rakkah from that terrorist group's control. But the present situation is different. Turkish military is a force to be reckoned with. And the US cannot bomb its Nato ally. All the State Department could say in its reaction to the Turkish offensive was to urge it to "exercise restraint and ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration and scrupulous to avoid civilian casualties." The US along with France and some other Western governments also tried to justify the decision to train and arm a new Kurdish force as they advised all parties to remain focused on the central goal of defeating the IS. But to Ankara, creation of a Kurdish 'Border Security Force' is a step towards the establishment of a Kurdish state. There is no way either Turkey or Syria would allow such a state amidst them.

For his part Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, angry over Ankara's support for the rebel 'Free Syrian Army', has denounced the military incursion as "brutal Turkish aggression". He is more worried though about the implant of an American sponsored Kurdish force on Syrian territory, terming it "blatant assault" on his country's sovereignty - whatever is left of it. Not surprisingly Russia, deeply involved in the Syrian conflict is concerned, too, over both the US' move and Turkey's military response to it. It had urged Ankara to stay its attack, offering help to deal with the situation. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was determined to smother what he described as a "terror army". With or without UN intervention, Ankara will stop its military action after the achievement of its objective, which is to establish a 20-mile security zone. But any US attempt to surreptitiously install a Kurdish state in Syria next to Turkey will face fierce resistance, further deepening the conflict in that war-devastated land.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018