Turkey has long wanted to extend its influence in northeastern Syria. In mid-December, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would intervene militarily in a few days' time in Northeast Syria. Now the step could be imminent: Turkey has strengthened its troops on the border to the civil war country.
A convoy of tanks and grenade launchers reached the Turkish border town of Kilis on Christmas Eve, the state news agency Anadolu reported. Another convoy from the Turkish province of Hatay is on its way.
The transfer takes place only days after the US began withdrawing its troops from Syria. Erdogan and US President Donald Trump announced that they would coordinate with the withdrawal. According to Trump, there has been talk of a "slow and highly coordinated withdrawal of US troops from the area." The Turkish president has long urged Trump to give up his cooperation with the Kurds in Syria, but the US president justified the retreat with the words: "We defeated the IS".
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On the Syrian side, according to Anadolu, pro-Turkish rebels moved towards Manbij. The region is under the control of the Kurdish militia YPG. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the troop movements. Units of the Turkish-backed Rebel Militia Syrian National Army had taken provisional positions in preparation for the battle for the city, a rebel spokesman said.
Erdogan: Syrian population not left to the "tyranny" of the YPG
Erdogan had initially postponed the expulsion of the YPG after the withdrawal of US troops from Syria. As long as there are still US soldiers in Manbij, one will not advance against the offshoot of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK, the militia spokesman said.
USATrump withdraws troops from Syria
If the US soldiers have left the region, from the Turkish point of view, nothing stands in the way of an offensive against the YPG. Erdogan said in a speech on Christmas Eve that the Syrian people would not be left to the "tyranny" of the YPG. The pro-Turkish rebels were also combative. A commander told Anadolu that they would "clean up" Manbijt from the YPG.
YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmud told the dpa news agency that his units were monitoring the situation. The spokesman for the Military Council of Manbijk, Sherwan Darwish, is quoted as saying that "necessary measures" are being taken on the fronts. The military council is linked to the Kurdish troops.
Trump: IS "largely defeated" instead of "defeated"
Another controversial issue is the consequences of the US withdrawal for the fight against the IS terrorist militia. Trump had to correct criticism of his statement that the IS was defeated. He changed that to "largely defeated". Trump tweeted on Sunday evening that Erdogan had assured him that he would "erase everything left of IS ... and he's a man who can do that."
The ISIS currently has retreat areas in the valley of the Euphrates River - hundreds of miles from the Turkish-Syrian border. The Wall Street Journal, citing a high-ranking government official, said the US military wanted to provide logistical assistance to Turkey in a military operation. Critics doubted that Turkey was capable of such an ambitious operation. The question is also whether the former Kurdish US allies now take the side of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Chronicle of the US operation against terror in Syria
Chronicle of the US operation in Syria
March 2011
After demonstrators in Tunisia and Egypt have forced the dictators to reign, tens of thousands of people are also taking to the streets in Syria against head of state Bashar al-Assad. The regime reacts by force. Deserted soldiers form during the year the so-called Free Syrian Army, which takes up the armed struggle against Assad.
June 2011
US President Barack Obama calls on Assad to give up his post. It is the line that also represents Europe. The time has come for Assad to "retire," Obama explains. Previously, the US President had issued sanctions against individuals and companies. Jihadists of the terrorist organization "Islamic State of Iraq", a branch of al-Qaeda, use the chaos of the beginning of the civil war to settle in Syria. At the same time, the regime is releasing thousands of Islamist militants from prisons. Both developments sow the seeds for the growth of terrorist militias, which later became the "Islamic State" (IS).
August 2012
US President Obama warns the Syrian regime against the use of chemical weapons against the opposition in Syria. "I have not ordered military intervention so far, but for us a red line is crossed when a lot of chemical weapons are moved or used." Meanwhile, the US is raising its humanitarian aid to $ 130 million.
March 2013
The US is starting to train small rebel groups. On the one hand, they are intended to prevent the emergence of Islamist militias and, on the other, to ensure that chaos breaks out after the expected overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria. However, the rebels will not receive anti-aircraft missiles capable of repelling air strikes by government forces.
August 2013
A poison gas attack near Damascus killed several hundred people. The US is preparing for a military response. Obama gets the approval of the congress. Following Russian mediation, the Syrian government is destroying its chemical weapons and preventing US military intervention. During this time, the "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" (Isis) conquers the city of Rakka. Later, the jihadists change their name to the shortened form "Islamic state".
Summer 2014
US President Obama decides to bomb the IS in northern Syria. He had proclaimed a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. The air strikes of the international coalition take place under the leadership of Washington. For the first time, the US is openly intervening in the Syrian civil war.
September 2015
Russia intervenes on the side of the Syrian ruler Assad in the war. The Russian Air Force in particular helps Assad to recapture lost areas. Syria is divided into several areas of power: in the northeast there was the Syrian branch of the PKK, in the northwest Syrian rebels, in the east of the IS, in the western center and on the coast the Syrian regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah, in the south Syrian rebels and Syrian Druze another religious minority.
October 2015
The US is forcing its support to certain groups in Syria - especially the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG), which are the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia coalition. They should not fight against the regime, but only against the IS.
February 2016
On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the US, Russia and regional powers negotiate a ceasefire, which is repeatedly broken, especially in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
March 2017
US Marines are deployed near the IS stronghold of Rakka to aid reconquest of the city. In the next few weeks, the US will station a total of around 2,000 soldiers in the country.
April 2017
Following a poison gas attack in the northern Syrian city of Chan Sheikhun, the US is attacking a Syrian army air force base with rockets and sanctioning government officials. A few days earlier, the new US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, had stated that the US government under Donald Trump was no longer a priority in removing Assad from office. In the following weeks Trump continues to arm Syrian Kurds of the YPG units in the fight against the IS.
October 2017
The terrorist militia IS loses its unofficial capital Rakka. The SDF, a US-backed militia alliance led by Kurdish fighters, is displacing the Islamists from their core area, where they ruled for four years. In the following weeks, the terrorist militia loses control in all its northern Syrian cities.
April 2018
The United States, Britain and France are attacking various targets in Syria with fighter jets. It is a reprisal for the use of chemical weapons on rebels in the city of Duma, which killed many people.
December 2018
"We won against IS," claims Trump. He announces the withdrawal of the US Army. The air strikes should also be stopped. But it is clear: the IS is weakened, but not defeated. The terrorist militia has lost 99 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria. But she still defends her last retreat in the Euphrates Valley. Several thousand jihadists are said to be there.