US - Russia gets united against Turkey in Syria
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ISTANBUL: Turkish hopes to kick Kurdish militia out of the Syrian city of Manbij seem to have been thwarted as the US, Russia and the Syrian government cooperate to deter a Turkish advance by deploying troops around the city.
The U.S.-backed Kurdish militia forces challenged Turkey's threat to remove them from the city by declaring they will continue to hold the Syrian town.
Analysts advised against a Turkish military move to capture Manbij, warning Turkey would find itself confronting all other actors in the Syrian theatre.
"Such a move would put Turkey at cross purposes with both Washington and Moscow as well as the Syrian regime," Faruk Logoglu, a former diplomat who held top posts in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, told Xinhua.
Some U.S. troops are stationed inside and in rural parts of western Manbij since last week to deter actors from attacking groups other than the Islamic State (IS), Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said on Monday.
The Kurdish militia also handed over last week several villages in western Manbij to the Syrian army to serve as a buffer zone with the Turkish troops. Some outposts held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) with Russian flags in the area were recently published in the Turkish press.
"The Syrian conflict would then morph into a much larger conflagration, spelling the end of peace talks and leading to Turkey's further isolation," warned Logoglu.
Reuters reported earlier Monday that the Manbij Military Council (MMC) of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the town and its rural area are protected by the council under the surveillance of the U.S.-led coalition forces.
The SDF is largely dominated by the YPG which Turkey sees as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been waging an insurgency against Turkey for over 30 years.
Top Turkish officials have repeatedly vowed in recent weeks that the Turkish troops will move on to capture Manbij unless the YPG leaves the town.
Manbij lies about 30 kilometers to the west of the Euphrates River and is strategically important to unite the two Kurdish cantons in northeastern Syria with the third Afrin canton in the western part of the river.
"An attempt to capture Manbij would mean confrontation with three critical actors in Syria, namely the U.S., Russia and Syria as well as Iran," Ilhan Uzgel, a senior analyst in international relations, told Xinhua.
"So, it's highly unlikely for Turkey to take such a step now," he added.
The U.S. move came after reports last week that the Free Syrian Army (FSA), backed by the Turkish military, had seized some villages in the rural parts of western Manbij from the SDF.