Strikes in Syria: Turkey targets the Syrian Democratic Forces and the PKK
View of Kobani, November 20, 2022. The strikes mainly targeted the city and its surroundings, near the Turkish border, including grain silos near Al-Malikiyah and a power plant to the south.
AFP - DELIL SOULEIMAN
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
On November 20, Turkey carried out dozens of airstrikes in northern Iraq and Syria.
An operation called "Sword Claw" which targeted areas under the control of the Syrian Kurdish Forces and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are accused by Ankara
of being responsible for the attack
which killed six people and injured more than 80 in Istanbul.
Both groups deny any involvement.
Yohanan Benhaïm, head of contemporary studies at the French Institute for Anatolian Studies (IFEA) in Istanbul, recalls the difficult dual context in which the ruling coalition in Turkey finds itself, made up of President Erdogan's party (AKP) and the far-right nationalist party (MHP):
First, we have a serious economic crisis that has affected the country for several years now, and which is getting worse.
The growing feeling of xenophobia particularly affects the Arab populations.
And among these populations, there are the four million Syrians in Turkey who are seen as the recipients of unjustified aid in a context of economic crisis.
And unfortunately we have an expansion of this xenophobic feeling, fueled by certain opposition parties, but also by certain members of the ruling coalition.
»
In this context, “
a new operation in Syria has a double objective,
indicates the
co-founder of the Noria research center.
Not only to put pressure on the Syrian Democratic Forces, but also to consolidate the occupied territory, administered by the allied forces of Turkey, in order to promote the maintenance of the Syrian population on Syrian soil.
It is with this objective that this operation was formulated.
The coalition currently in power is in a difficult electoral situation, since elections are expected for next spring.
However, the AKP is in danger of suffering a new setback which could be decisive this time during the general elections next June
”
.
"
Turkey has an SDF embargo policy
"
In Syria, the strikes notably targeted grain silos and a power plant, very close to the border.
Yohanan Benhaïm explains why Turkey has targeted these infrastructures: “
Since 2016 and the development of Turkish military operations in northern Syria finally, Turkey has been carrying out a policy of embargo of the Syrian Kurdish Forces.
First, the military operations aimed to divide these different territories to avoid minification all along the border of the Syrian Kurdish forces.
And since then, there has also been a desire for an embargo which involves questioning the administrative and economic governance management capacities of these regions.
»
The bombardment of silos also echoes a policy of drying up the courses of the Euphrates, continues the head of the IFEA, "
which aims to reduce the hydraulic capacities of the regions controlled by the YPG
[Kurdish militia, editor's note]
in Turkey.
In this context, it is a question of putting more pressure on the Syrian Kurdish Forces in their capacities to manage and administer these territories correctly and to meet the needs of the local population
”
.
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Read also: Turkey leads Operation "Sword Claw" against the Kurds in northern Iraq and Syria
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