Turkiye won’t halt Syria military activity until Kurd fighters ‘disarm’

Members of the Syrian National Army, which is backed by Turkey, stand guard on the tarmac after the first flight arrived from Damascus International Airport to Aleppo International Airport, following the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo, Syria, December 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Ankara will push ahead with its military preparations until Kurdish fighters “disarm”, a defence ministry source said Thursday (December 19, 2024), stressing Turkiye faces an ongoing threat along its border with northern Syria.

The comments came as concerns grew over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.

Turkiye has thousands of troops in northern Syria and also backs a proxy force there which has engaged in ongoing clashes with the SDF, a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force that Ankara sees as an extension of its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“The threat posed by the terrorist organisation to our borders and our operation areas in Syria continues,” the source said.

“Until the PKK/YPG terrorist organisation disarms and its foreign fighters leave Syria, our preparations and measures will continue within the scope of the fight against terrorism.”

Turkiye accuses the YPG (the People’s Protection Units) — which makes up the bulk of the SDF — of being affiliated with the PKK which both Washington and Ankara consider a “terrorist” group.

Since 2016, Ankara has carried out several major operations against the SDF.

But Turkiye believes Syria’s new rulers and Ankara-backed rebels “will liberate the regions occupied by the terrorist organisation PKK/YPG,” the ministry source said.

The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and Syrian Kurdish fighers comes more than a week after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Washington on Tuesday said it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkey.

But the Defence Ministry source insisted Ankara was not talking with the SDF, saying it was “out of the question for us to meet with any terrorist organisation”.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday the Manbij truce had been “extended through the end of the week, and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future”.

But the Turkish source said “every step taken by terrorist groups that pose a threat to the security of our country and Syria is followed, and preventive and destructive measures are taken”.