North-Press Agency
Hussein Zedo
The three countries, the United States, Russia and Turkey control parts of northern Syria, and each country is accompanied by a Syrian proxy armed force, to justify its survival and the ability to intervene and deploy. The forces involved in the Syrian crisis are deployed in northern Syria under agreements, withdrawals and invasions to map a new deployment in northern Syria and to form an unsustainable reality that affects the interests of the local communities and their forces negatively, costing them more efforts, and causes them more trouble.
New deployment map
The U.S. forces, accompanied by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have redeployed to the far north-east of Syria, including Qamishli in the west to the town of Derik (Malikiya) in the east; which are Kurdish areas, and it extends southwards to include the city of Hasaka and its surroundings up to the Euphrates River along the city of Deir ez-Zor, areas are rich in oil and gas. These areas are run internally by the Internal Security Forces (Asayish) of the Autonomous Administration, while a limited Syrian government force is deployed in the center of Hasakah and Qamishli.
Meanwhile, the Russian forces, along with the Syrian government forces are deployed in the town of Amude, Derbasiya, Tal Tamr, Kobani, Manbij and Ein Issa, which are predominantly Kurdish areas except Manbij and Ein Issa. These areas are also run internally by the Internal Security Forces of the Autonomous Administration of northeastern Syria.
While the Turkish military, along with its affiliated Syrian armed opposition groups are deployed in the areas they have recently occupied, namely Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), Tal Abyad (Gre-Spi), Jarablus, Izaz, al-Bab and Afrin, and part of the administrative borders of Idlib, and they are run internally by those armed opposition groups.
Interests of the three countries in the new reality
The United States announced that its new presence and deployment aims to prevent the emergence of the Islamic State organization (ISIS) in the oil areas again, and to limit the expansion of Iran's influence to those energy-rich areas. All of which redrew the deployment of the military forces in northern Syria, where this allowed Turkish intervention in Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, the deployment of the Russia and Syrian government forces in some of the above-mentioned areas, and the emergence of a new military reality in the entire region.
The United States' interest in northeastern Syria lies in reducing its military responsibilities in parallel with reaping the required benefits to cover the costs of its battles against the Islamic State and the benefits of its future survival. The U.S. also has other regional goals that let it to stay in northeastern Syria, which a related to Iran and Israel. All this prompted it to redeploy its forces in the region, depending on where the energy is located, and it has argued to protect it publicly for redeployment and positioning.
But the bill of the deployment has been high for local communities, especially for the locals of the newly occupied areas by Turkey, which is the area between Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, where the Turkish military invasion has displaced more than 350,000 people, in addition to reports these areas are subjected to looting and stealing publicly by the Turkish-backed groups, and the inability of the indigenous people to return to their homes again.
The fact that, Syria's north-eastern region remains dispersed among countries without a unified administration is in Turkey's interest on one hand, and limiting the formation of an administration or entity for the Kurds to have a long history, on the other. This is what Turkey has sought by intervening, attacking certain areas, and taking the administration out of the hands of the local societies. Turkey also has old ambitions and maps that seek to approach them, and it doesn't hesitate to refer to them every now and then, where it considers Aleppo, Mosul and Kirkuk as parts of the charter map which it seeks to achieve.
The Russian forces are seeking to expand their influence and the influence of the Syrian government forces in northern Syria as much as possible, for the purposes and objectives, where Russia's procedures in northern Syria have proven that, its goals exceed its interests in northern Syria, as it has ceded Afrin region for Turkey in exchange for extracting Ghouta from the hands of the armed opposition, and before that, it had ceded Izaz, Jarablus and al-Bab in exchange for taking the southern areas out of the opposition. Russia didn't take any action in the face of the recent Turkish attack on Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, on the contrary, it verbally supported that in return for the relaxation of the Turkish grip on Idlib area, and the intensification of the Russian Air Forces for its attack there.
SDF's adaptation with the new reality
The SDF forces are moving amid the new deployment of the three forces in northern Syria with high sensitivity, and they abide by the agreements they have signed with the U.S. and Russia, where they are deployed in the U.S. places of influence in direct coordination with the U.S. forces, while they withdrew from some areas that came under the Russian influence under explicit agreements, aiming at blocking the way for Turkey, withdrawing the argument of attack from it and fueling the conflict in northern Syria.
The new deployment of the SDF and its implementation of the new agreements with the two countries, the United States and Russia, cost it a lot of diplomatic movement among different fronts, and doing more military effort, where it is fighting on two fronts; confronting the Turkish army in the north, and fighting ISIS sleeper cells in the south.
While the continuation of SDF's influence over the areas where it is present, with the support of the super powers – the U.S. and Russia – would maintain a foothold in the final settlement of the Syrian crisis.
Cost of the new reality on local communities
Imposing a heterogeneous and geographically intersecting reality in some places by the dominant states in northern Syria, the lack of attention paid to the efforts of the local forces and the hardships which local communities will encounter, their way of life and their social and economic intersections will cost the local communities and their forces more effort, fatigue and trouble, as the communities will suffer from the increasing cost in all fields of life.
This fragmented reality in northeastern Syria is a reality which isn't recognized by the official international bodies, and isn't codified in the Syrian constitution. It is non-reinforcing, non-solidifying and unsustainable reality, and it is subject to change and deterioration at any moment, and the coming change may endanger the lives of local people once more.
The new reality imposed on northeastern Syria reflects the mistake of Turkey's stated goal in forming a safe zone. The new reality has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of the indigenous people, it has disintegrated the region among the dominant forces, and the overlap of places of influence, making the life of local communities difficult to move, communicate and to practice.