War in Syria: Turkey stops Assad's advance on Afrin

Troops of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad have entered the northern Syrian region of Afrin. However, a Turkish air strike brought the convoy to a standstill for the time being.

Is there a direct confrontation between Turkey and the troops of the ruler Bashar al-Assad in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria? On Tuesday armed units advanced to territory allied with the Syrian dictator - an operation that met with Turkish military resistance.

In the afternoon, Turkish units attacked the Kurdish area of Afrin and brought the Assad convoy to a halt. Previously, Syrian state television had shown pictures allegedly showing several hundred pro-government fighters on their way to Afrin.

The advance of the Assad troops had already been announced for Monday. Turkey had urgently warned the Syrian government against cooperation with the Kurds. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said: "If the regime invades to protect the YPG, then nobody can stop us, Turkey and the Turkish soldiers."

The area around Afrin has long been hold by the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) as one of three regions in the northwest of the civil war country. A month ago, the Turkish army launched a military offensive against the area and since then has been using artillery, tanks and ground forces to put the Kurds under fire. Ankara refers to the invasion as "Operation Olive Branch".

Under the mediation of Russia, the YPG and Syria's government are currently negotiating the deployment of pro-government forces into Kurd-controlled Afrin. According to reports that the Kurds had already allowed the Assad regime to invade, YPG allies were opposed by foreigners.

It is disputed whether the Syrian troops even plan to take Afrin up to the border or whether they want to simply share control of the area with the Turks. Cavasoglu said that if Syria's troops were to "cleanse" the region of the banned Kurdish workers' party PKK and the YPG, that would be unproblematic.

Source: Reuters, dpa

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