Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 19, 2024. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
REUTERS | Published December 25, 2024
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RELATED: Kurdish-Led Forces Push Back Turkish-Backed Syrian Opposition Faction in Tense Offensive
This aerial view shows the area in the south of Syria’s northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. (AFP)
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT | Published December 25, 2024
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Tuesday they have launched a counter-offensive against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army to take back areas near Syria’s northern border with Türkiye.
The SDF is Washington’s critical ally in Syria, targeting sleeper cells of the extremist ISIS group scattered across the country’s east.
Since the fall of the totalitarian rule of Bashar Assad earlier this month, clashes have intensified between the US-backed group and the SNA, which captured the key city of Manbij and the areas surrounding it.
The intense weekslong clashes come at a time when Syria, battered by over a decade of war and economic misery, negotiates its political future following half a century under the Assad dynasty’s rule.
Ruken Jamal, spokesperson of the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, under the SDF, told The Associated Press that their fighters are just over seven miles (11 kilometers) away from the center of Manbij in their ongoing counter-offensive.
She accused Ankara of trying to weaken the group’s influence in negotiations over Syria’s political future through the SNA,
“Syria is now in a new phase, and discussions are underway about the future of the country,” Jamal said. “Türkiye is trying, through its attacks, to distract us with battles and exclude us from the negotiations in Damascus.”
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