ANALYSIS
Already 15 dead, and thousands of civilians fleeing. The Turkish army went on the offensive Wednesday in northern Syria. An air operation first, then ground, which aims to repel the Kurdish militia, which Ankara considers as terrorists, as far as possible from the edge of its border. Immediately, many protests - from the US Congress to the French presidency, and even to Russia and Iran - expressed their indignation. Firstly, for years, the Kurds have been valuable allies of the international coalition against Daesh. Second, and most importantly, because the place of Islamist fighters worries.
18,000 Islamists enlisted
It should be known that for this operation, the Turkish army has recruited no less than 18,000 auxiliaries in the various local Islamist militias, including the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Their members were sent to the front line - not the Turkish soldiers - against the promise of relocation to a buffer zone to be established by the military operation. For this is Ankara's goal: to create a territory some 30 kilometers wide and 120 km long to protect its border and install the approximately 3 million refugees on Turkish territory.
It is also the composition of these first troops, less experienced than the soldiers of the Turkish army, who can explain that in the first shock, the Turkish forces were surprised by the extent of the Kurdish resistance. That night, they did not manage to break through their defense on the main axis of the offensive.
The problem of the 12,000 jihadist fighters detained
This relative, and perhaps temporary, failure of the Turkish army did not prevent the international outcry. Because what worries most is the collusion between the issues of Turkey and these groups enlisted Islamists, while the Kurds are our main partners in the fight against terrorism. They fought for five years to destroy the caliphate of Daesh.
Another big problem: the Kurds now hold 12,000 jihadists. Most are Syrians, Iraqis, but there are still 2,000 foreign volunteers from around the world, including Europeans, French, and nobody wants to see again in nature and free to harm. Tonight, the Americans have started evacuating the most dangerous individuals from Syrian, but they will not be able to take all the imprisoned terrorists with them. That's what worries today.