QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – There is a state of anticipation for a military operation that Turkey has threatened to launch against the areas in northern Syria, which coincides with the mobilization of the parties on the ground, especially the Syrian government forces.
Most worrisome has been the prospect of a collision between forces of the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition factions backed by Turkey, as for more than a month, the Syrian army has been sending military reinforcements to northern Syria.
In return, the Turkish forces have increased its military presence and activities in the area.
Eight months ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started threatening to launch a new military operation in northern Syria.
In addition, the Turkish president is exploiting any opportunity to reaffirm these threats, and recently he has identified the cities of Tel Rifaat and Manbij as targets for the operation.
Erdogan’s threats shuffled the cards in northern Syria and united the views between the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) and the Russian-backed Syrian government.
On July 15, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander in Chief, Mazloum Abdi, said “We accepted that the Syrian Army fortifies its posts in Kobani, Manbij and border areas in order to carry out its task to protect Syrian border, and we will do what is needed to avoid war against our areas.”
On July 16, Military reinforcements of Syrian government forces arrived in the countryside of Manbij as part of recent understandings between the SDF and Syrian government under Russian auspices.
The understandings involve deploying government forces along the frontlines extending from the village of al-Hoshariya, northeast of Manbij, to al-Arima town, west of Manbij.
At the same time Turkey keeps sending military reinforcement to the front lines, where on July 8, a Turkish military convoy entered the northern countryside of Aleppo through al-Rai crossing and headed towards the city of al-Bab east of Aleppo, in addition to military mobilizations carried out by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in the region.
In light of the reinforcements between the two parties, the Military Security Center in Tel Rifaat in the northern countryside of Aleppo, was targeted earlier in July by a Turkish drone, which led to the injury of two government forces, and the latter responded by targeting the Turkish bombing points.
In June, the Turkish forces and the SNA factions targeted the positions of the government forces and the forces of the Tel Tamr Military Council, affiliated with the SDF, in the countryside of Tel Tamr town, north of Hasakah.
In April, two members of the government forces were injured in a Turkish drone attack on a military post of the Syrian army in the vicinity of the town of Tel Rifaat.
These events and developments indicate the possibility of a clash between the Syrian army and its allies on the one hand, and the Turkish army and its affiliated armed factions on the other hand, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said in an interview with Russia Today on June 9, “If there is an invasion, there will be a popular resistance.”
“When military conditions allow for direct confrontation, we will do it,” al-Assad added.
He noted at the time that “two and a half years ago, a clash occurred between the Syrian and Turkish armies, and the Syrian army was able to destroy some Turkish targets that entered Syrian territory.”