Turkey may have to rethink Syria strategy after U.S. policy shift - report
Shifting U.S. policy in Syria could force Turkey to rethink its strategy
in the conflict, Arab News said on Wednesday.
New U.S. President Joe Biden is reprioritising the defeat of the Islamic
State (ISIS) through support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF), Arab News said.
The policy is a break with that of former U.S. President Donald Trump,
who ordered a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria in October 2019.
The U.S. pull-out precipitated a Turkish military operation against the
SDF, which Ankara regards as a security threat for historic links to the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkey has repeatedly threatened to launch a new assault on the SDF, and
Turkish-backed Syrian militias continue to clash with the group.
But the Biden administration’s renewed support for the SDF has made a
new Turkish attack unlikely, Arab News said.
“There have been a lot of
statements from Turkey about their advance into the area because of the terror
threat,” the news outlet cited Navvar Saban, a military analyst from the
Istanbul-based Omran Center for Strategic Studies, as saying.
“it is crystal clear that such
an advance will no longer happen,” Saban said.
