Analysts say Moscow is courting the Syrian Kurds’ allegiance. The U.S. has countered with a demand for an immediate truce.
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USA secretary of state, John Kerry, is due to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Munich on Thursday.
Davutoglu said late Saturday that Turkish forces retaliated against a Kurdish faction “that presented a threat in Azaz and its environs” in line with the country’s rules of engagement. We know ISIL and those groups. That task force will include members of the military along with representatives from countries that are supporting various armed groups in Syria. The 31-year-old conflict has cost more than 40,000 lives.
The Turkish government had also recently announced its opposition to seeing the PYD participate in the Geneva peace talks.
“Shame on you! Shame on you!” said Erdogan, adding that instead the United Nations could pressure its members to take in more refugees.
That official and another said the USA counterproposal is simple: A cease-fire that is effective immediately and is accompanied by full humanitarian access to Syria’s besieged civilian centers.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to make public statements.
Apart from Russian Federation, the PYD also has close ties with the US.
The U.S. planes “conducted strikes against targets in the city”, Konashenkov claimed.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. “The front in northern Aleppo is in flames”, he said via Skype. Both the U.S. and the European Union share Turkey’s view of the PKK and see it as a terrorist organization.
Turkey began launching airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in July 2015 as part of the U.S.-led coalition’s fight against the Islamic State group.
On Feb. 9, Kirby confirmed U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass met senior Turkish officials earlier in the same day, although he declined to describe what they discussed.
Kurds in northern Syria have established a degree of autonomy since the start of the war in some areas bordering Turkey, which is struggling to end a three-decade insurgency on its own territory by Kurdish militants who want more self-rule.
A Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the Syrian city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border in recent days.
While some Western allies have voiced support in principle, the idea has gained no traction overseas because of concerns that it could bring the West into direct confrontation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Gallia Lindenstrauss, a Turkey expert and research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, told The Jerusalem Post, “Russia is “rediscovering” the Kurds since it has traditionally been favorable to the Kurdish cause, specifically the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”. The Kurds appeared to be exploiting the chaos to expand their nearby enclave, known as Afrin.
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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says YPG fighters are trying to capture a former Syrian army air base that was lost to the opposition in August 2013.
