Kurds in Syria have prepared to fight Turkish troops along the entire length of the Turkish-Syrian border if the Turkish authorities decide to launch an offensive operation in the country. Co-chairman of the Kurdish “Defense Directorate of the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria” Zeidan Al-Asi stated this in an interview with the Kurdish ANHA agency.
He commented on Ankara's likely plans to attack the city of Derik in the northeast of the Syrian state. “If Turkey launches an offensive or something similar in this part of the country, the war will not be limited to Derik, it will unfold along the entire border, from Derik to Afrin,” Al-Asi said.
He added that a new war could bring disastrous consequences not only for Syria, but for the entire region. Ankara's offensive operation, in his opinion, can begin only with the consent of the Iraqi army and the international coalition led by the United States. In an interview, Al-Asi called on the international community, including Russia, to prevent a new Turkish military campaign in Syria.
“If Syria and Russia allow the overthrow of the Kurdish autonomous administration, this will lead to consequences for the whole of Syria,” the agency quoted him as saying.
In October 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched Operation Source of Peace in Syria against the Kurds and the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, banned in Russia). In early November of the same year, Russia and Turkey agreed to suspend it, create a security zone on the Syrian-Turkish border and patrol the region.
The Syrian civil war began in March 2011. The main participants in the conflict are government forces supporting President Bashar al-Assad, the so-called moderate opposition and Islamist groups. The opposition is supported by Turkey, Russia is helping the Assad government.
