Turkish threats increased coordination between SDF and Syrian government-Military source
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – A military source from Northern Democratic Brigade affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa said on Wednesday that Turkish threats to launch a military operation have strengthened the coordination between the SDF and the Syrian government forces.
On July 4, military reinforcements of the government forces, consisting of forty military vehicles, including 4 tanks, 8 heavy artillery, and more than 500 soldiers, arrived in the southwestern countryside of Tel Abyad.
Mahmoud Habib, the official spokesman for the Northern Democratic Brigade said that the military coordination to repel Turkish encroachments on the Syrian territory was reached with the Damascus government within previous military understandings.
“However, the continued Turkish threats to launch a military operation strengthened this coordination and necessitated the bringing in of the Syrian government forces with new military reinforcements that were deployed in some areas,” he told North Press.
“The purpose of the military reinforcements, which are defensive, is to repel any potential Turkish aggression against the Syrian regions,” Habib said.
Repelling the Turkish aggression, if it occurs, is the duty of all Syrian parties, including the government forces, whose duty is to protect and preserve the borders from any external aggression, he added.
On June 1, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that they were taking another step in establishing a 30-kilometer security zone along their southern border. “We would clean up Tal Rifaat and Manbij,” he said, referring to two northern Syrian cities.
SDF asked the Syrian government to participate in qualitative and heavy weapons and deploy them in areas that could be targeted by the Turkish military operation if it occurs, according to Habib.
“The Turkish military operation will be on the ground, and the defense means to repel this operation will be heavy vehicles and tanks, and this is what the SDF requested and they were brought in by the Syrian government,” Habib said.
He said that the military coordination between the SDF and the Syrian government forces comes within the framework of responding to foreign attacks and it does not carry any security or political consequences for the regions of northeast Syria.