US and Russian Interests are Clashing Again in Syria

• 03.14.2018, 15:40
•  America,  Near East,  World

Arabpress

The civilian population of the Syrian city of Afrin continues to suffer from the war. The reason for this is the "Operation Olive Branch" launched by Turkey against the PYG militants in Syria, which Ankara considers as a terrorist organization like the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).

The General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces has already announced the blockade of the central Afrin and its taking control of key strategic areas. It is noted that the Turkish Armed Forces are now preparing to take action in the central part of Afrin.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan also said that the center of Afrin is encircled and the Turkish armed forces can enter there any time. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu said that Turkey plans to finish the Afrin military operations by May.

It should be noted that the observers have already begun talking about the vulnerability of the Kurdish militants. Official Damascus, in its turn, called the Turkish invasion a manifestation of aggression.

Against this background, Afrin people began to leave the city, but they did not manage to do it so easily. The reason is that Turkish troops are bombing the only way to Aleppo. It is worth mentioning that Afrin residents are not only afraid of the Turkish army but also the armed Islamists fighting against the Kurds on behalf of Turkey.

However, unlike the civilian population, the Kurdish self-defense forces refuse to leave Afrin. They rejected the proposal of the Turkish military to leave the city in exchange for stopping the military actions. Representatives of the Kurdish self-defense forces said they are defending the Syrian lands and cannot leave.

On the background of the developments in Afrin, the United States Representative in the UN, Nicky Hale, said that the US is ready to launch new operations in Syria if the United Nations is unable to put an end to hostilities near Damascus. Russia has already responded to this statement, pointing out that it will strike US missiles and planes if American forces try to hit Damascus, and if US actions threaten Russian soldiers in the city.

However, according to some experts, in such a statement, the US simply tries to check Russia's reaction to understand whether the latter is ready to go even further.