Despite the start of implementation .. Doubts about the measures to establish a safe area in northern Syria

Ibrahim Al-Masri

Despite the agreement of the United States and Turkey weeks ago to establish a safe area in the north of Syria to respond to Ankara's concerns about the security of its borders, some analysts believe that the differences between the two countries remain despite the joint patrols in the border region of Tal Abyad, because of the different objectives of each side of the establishment of the safe zone .

A few days ago, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar warned of continued US stalling on the implementation of practical steps to create a safe zone in northern Syria, signaling continued differences between Ankara and Washington.

Minister Akar said that cooperation with the United States on the safe area in Syria would end if new steps were not initiated, within a deadline that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had spoken and set in two weeks.

The Turkish minister threatened that his country will build military bases on its own in the safe area in case Washington stalled on the establishment of this zone, noting that the number of those bases "will determine it from the situation on the ground."

Existing concerns
According to Turkish researcher and writer Said al-Haj, joint ground and air patrols between Turkish and US forces northeast of the Euphrates did not allay Ankara's fears. "It seems that part of the Turkish concerns still exist," he added.

Al-Haj added that the Turkish president made clear that if Washington did not respond to the timetable, his country would take unilateral steps on the safe area, which confirms the continued existence of Turkish concerns about the situation.

The Turkish researcher attributed Ankara's fears that the US-Turkish actions are still in its initial form and are technical and not related to the core points of the agreement on the establishment of a safe area in northern Syria. At the same time, US forces are still working, according to Hajj, to provide Kurdish fighters in Syria with shipments The weapon.

Difference in concept
The Turkish writer pointed out that there is a difference between the two countries in the concept of safe area, as Turkey wants to weaken the YPG and keep them away from the Syrian-Turkish border, thus undermining the idea of ​​establishing any political entity on those borders, while the United States believes that the safe area is aimed at protecting troops Democratic Syria, whose backbone is the garrison unit, is from Ankara.

On the other hand, Syrian opposition politician Saleh al-Hindawi said that the observation on the patrols conducted by Turkey and the United States in the border region of Tal Abyad is that the PKK and SDF militants in some areas have changed their clothes to match the clothes of the YPG during the course of those patrols. The guards of the PKK and the SDF in the areas through which the patrols will pass are evacuated.

Hindawi, who hails from the Tal Abyad area controlled by the SDF, said that behind the joint Turkish and US patrols, Labor leaders wore Arab uniforms and monitored patrols and civilian reactions to them, while monitoring and arresting those sympathetic to those patrols.

Some of the detainees have been released, while others remain in SDF prisons, such as the family of Mustafa al-Ajimi, whose sons were detained, and the family of Younis al-Sultan, whose three sons were detained for a week.

Tunnels and fortifications
The Syrian opposition indicates that no tunnel has been destroyed as the SDF says, but the digging of these tunnels is still going on in full swing in the areas controlled by the Kurdish forces, and has erected fortifications in several villages such as Sheikh Ahmad village and village .

Hindawi warned that Washington is still working in full swing to support the SDF with weapons, equipment, money, training and drones. The spokesman believes that the United States clearly does not want a safe area in northern Syria, but wants a security zone to keep Labor and the YPG under Cover of SDF.

On August 7, 2019, the US and Turkish defense ministries announced a joint agreement to establish a safe area in northern Syria, within the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces backed by the international coalition, while the dispute remains over the mechanism and speed of establishing the safe zone.