Iran Intervenes To Stop Turkish Invasion of Northern Syria

Turkish President Erdogan put the long-promised forth foray into Syria on hold after his return from Madrid.   Ankara plans to grab more border cantons from Assad and Syrian Kurds to reinforce the buffer zone across its border. With Russian forces reducing their presence in contested Syrian districts, to fight in Ukraine, the Turkish Military Staff probably finds the idea of grabbing more territory in Syria irresistible. But, things are not going according to plan for the Turkish side, explains Media Line.

 

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad thanked Iran Saturday night for helping to reduce tensions between Damascus and Ankara. Turkey has been threatening in recent weeks to invade northern Syria, launch a military operation against Kurdish militias in the area, and establish a 30-kilometer buffer zone along the border by removing Kurdish-led fighters. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced during a visit to Damascus on Saturday that Tehran would stop a military operation from taking place. Ankara views the Kurdish fighters, who are backed by Russia, Syria, and the United States as terrorists allied with Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. Turkey has conducted three incursions into northern Syria since 2016, which Damascus claims is a violation of its territorial sovereignty.

Iran has been a strong ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad during Syria’s 11-year conflict, sending thousands of fighters from around the region and offering economic and political support.

 

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Published By: Atilla Yeşilada

GlobalSource Partners’ Turkey Country Analyst Atilla Yesilada is the country’s leading political analyst and commentator. He is known throughout the finance and political science world for his thorough and outspoken coverage of Turkey’s political and financial developments. In addition to his extensive writing schedule, he is often called upon to provide his political expertise on major radio and television channels. Based in Istanbul, Atilla is co-founder of the information platform Istanbul Analytics and is one of GlobalSource’s local partners in Turkey. In addition to his consulting work and speaking engagements throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East, he writes regular columns for Turkey’s leading financial websites VATAN and www.paraanaliz.com and has contributed to the financial daily Referans and the liberal daily Radikal.