Turkey, Rebels, Kurds & Assad in northern Syria: Contradictions in moves towards regional counterrevolutionary alliance

Syrian Revolution Commentary and Analysis

Two rival linking plans at expense of Daesh in northern Syria: Green – rebels, Yellow – SDF, Black – Daesh, Red – Assadist. Distance between rebel-controlled territory beyond towns of al-Rai and Jarablus now only 10 km.

By Michael Karadjis

(An abridged version of this article appeared in ‘The New Arab’ under the title ‘Tensions tried and loyalties tested in northern Syria’, at https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/9/2/tensions-tried-and-loyalties-tested-in-northern-syria).

One week the United States rushed to the defence of its Kurdish allies, People’s Protection Units (YPG), when the Assad regime bombed them in Hasake; the following week many pro-YPG voices were accusing the same US of betrayal, for supporting Turkey’s intervention into Syria, with 5000 Free Syrian Army (FSA) troops, to expel ISIS from the border town of Jarablus.

However, fickleness would not be a useful explanation of US behaviour. Rather, both events suggest that the outlines of a regional understanding on a reactionary…

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