While northwestern Syria's Idlib province tries to heal thanks to a recent cease-fire deal between Turkey and Russia, the U.S-backed terrorist group, the YPG/PKK, has signaled possible cooperation with the Syrian regime, the main perpetrator of the devastation in the region.
Speaking to Syria Direct, Aisha Hasso, the co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political wing of the YPG/PKK, stated that they may "join" the Syrian regime and Russia in Idlib if certain conditions are met.
"Any agreement with Russia and Damascus concerning the SDF’s participation in fighting against Turkey and the opposition armed groups in Idlib must be accompanied with an agreement regarding the position of the SDF in the Syrian armed forces ... If the regime agrees to discuss this subject, then the decision to participate in the battles of Idlib would rest on the SDF," said Hasso, referring to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an umbrella group dominated by the YPG/PKK. Despite giving the green light for cooperating with the regime and Russia against Turkey, Hasso denied the claims that such collaboration has ever occurred. “Damascus has not been freed from its pre-2011 mentality,” she said.
Still, Hasso's statements on the regime reveal hope for the regime's evolution in a way that would benefit the YPG/PKK. If the regime "accepts the change," she said, there is a high chance it will partner with the YPG/PKK.
This is not the first time the terrorist group has expressed interest in working with the Assad regime. Last year, the two conducted a series of talks with the intention of partnership, but they ended in failure. The YPG/PKK's move followed U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, causing the terrorist group to immediately seek alternative allies. During the talks, it was reported conditions included areas under YPG/PKK control being handed over to the regime forces and the terrorist group being integrated into the regime's army. However, while the regime stipulated total control over the YPG/PKK militia, the YPG/PKK insisted on having an exclusive division within the army. Also, the PKK affiliate was seeking autonomous control over the areas it currently controls, a request rejected by regime officials.
Hasso's remarks reveal not only the complexity of the relations among the actors involved in the Syrian civil war but also the miscalculation of the U.S. while choosing its partners in the field. The U.S. has primarily partnered with the YPG/PKK in northeastern Syria in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group. Turkey strongly opposes the YPG/PKK's presence in northern Syria, which has been a major sticking point in strained Turkey-U.S. relations. The U.S. has provided military training and thousands of truckloads of weaponry to the YPG/PKK, despite its NATO ally's security concerns.
Considering the fact that the U.S. has led the coalition formed against the Syrian regime and Daesh and trained the YPG with the purpose of using the terrorist group against these entities, Hasso's confirmation of a desire to partner with Damascus proves Washington's yearslong efforts were void.
The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people in Turkey, including women and children, over the past 40 years.
The article of the Syrian Direct also refers to Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned PKK leader, as the founder of the PYD, showing once again that the two terrorist groups are actually the same, contrary to the claims of the U.S. that aim to vindicate the YPG.
Although the connection between the two parties has been established as a fact within many academic circles, Turkey's NATO ally, the U.S., currently refuses to recognize that connection and claims that despite their ideological similarity, the groups have separate decision-making processes and that there is no organic attachment between them. The U.S. officially designated the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 but for reasons associated with the so-called struggle against Daesh, and despite the fact that it has been declared defeated more than once, the U.S. is still willing to work with the YPG/PKK.
Idlib, which Hasso refers to as a possible place for cooperating with the regime against Turkey, has witnessed a massive humanitarian catastrophe over the past months. Nearly a million people have been displaced in a three-month Russian-backed offensive by Syrian regime forces in northwestern Syria, with the U.N. describing it as the worst humanitarian emergency since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Turkey launched Operation Spring Shield on Feb. 27 after at least 34 Turkish soldiers were killed last month in an Assad regime airstrike in Idlib province and after repeated violations of previous cease-fires.
The cease-fire deal came amid recent clashes between the Turkish military and Syrian regime forces that left many dead on both sides. As part of the agreement, all military activities will end in Idlib, and a security corridor will be established 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) deep to the north and to the south of the M4 highway.
Joint Turkish-Russian patrols also began on March 15 along the M4 highway from the settlement of Trumba, 2 kilometers to the west of Saraqib, to the settlement of Ain-al-Havr, according to the deal.
Turkey has long backed some opposition groups fighting against Assad, but its priority now is to stop another influx of refugees.
