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Turkey Opens New Front in Syria’s Afrin, Shelling East Euphrates

Turkish troops gather near the Syrian border at Hassa, in Hatay province on January 21, 2018. (AFP)
Turkish troops gather near the Syrian border at Hassa, in Hatay province on January 21, 2018. (AFP)
    Ankara, Beirut – Saeed Abdul Razek and Paula Astih
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Turkey Opens New Front in Syria’s Afrin, Shelling East Euphrates

Turkish troops gather near the Syrian border at Hassa, in Hatay province on January 21, 2018. (AFP)
Turkish troops gather near the Syrian border at Hassa, in Hatay province on January 21, 2018. (AFP)

The Turkish army kicked off Monday a land operation from the Syrian city of Azaz in the countryside of Aleppo as part of Afrin’s Olive Branch Operation, a statement issued by the Turkish Command said.

Ankara’s military operation expanded to areas in Hasaka, where Turkish warplanes and tanks had bombed several targets.

According to the statement, Turkish Armed Forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters continue to advance in northwestern Syria, while FSA units managed to establish control over the strategic Mount Barsaya, northeast Afrin, only hours after an attack was launched against the nearby city of Azaz.

Leading Kurdish sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Turkish forces pounded on Monday the area of Ras al-Ain-Darbassah.

Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) presidential advisor in northeastern Syria, Sihanouk Dibo spoke with the German news agency (dpa) about sporadic clashes between the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Turkish army in Ras al-Ain and Malikiyah, where Turkish tanks shelled YPG positions in the village of Kharab Rashek.

Meanwhile, the United States told Turkey “let us see if we can work with you to create the kind of security zone you might need,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, according to a reporter traveling with him to Paris.

A Kurdish official told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday he expects that Brett McGurk, the US special envoy for the global coalition against the ISIS, and Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of the US Central Command, to both arrive in Ain al-Arab to visit US troops supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Meanwhile, local sources told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that the YPG released its ISIS prisoners under the condition that they fight against the Turkish army and FSA in Afrin.

“The terrorist group struck a deal with ISIS terrorists to use them as a tool against Turkey's Operation Olive Branch in Afrin,” the source added.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.