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Turkey Prepares to Expand Safe Zones in Syria Despite US Warnings

A US soldier during a patrol in the countryside of Qamishli (File photo: AFP)
A US soldier during a patrol in the countryside of Qamishli (File photo: AFP)
    Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazzak; Washington, Damascus - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Turkey Prepares to Expand Safe Zones in Syria Despite US Warnings

A US soldier during a patrol in the countryside of Qamishli (File photo: AFP)
A US soldier during a patrol in the countryside of Qamishli (File photo: AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent statement led to a dispute with the US concerning the safe zones in Syria.

Erdogan on Monday said Ankara would soon launch new military operations along its southern borders to create safe zones 30 km (20 miles) deep to combat what he characterized as terrorist threats from these regions.

Erdogan has said the National Security Council would make decisions on military operations at its Thursday meeting.

Recent reports stated that Turkish armed forces and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army might be targeting Tal Rifaat, Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), Ain Issa, and Manbij.

Turkish sources said that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the US on October 17, 2019, has not been implemented. It addresses the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to 30 km from the southern Turkish border.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the MoU was signed to stop the military operation "Peace Spring," which Turkey launched on October 9, 2019, in the SDF-controlled areas east of the Euphrates.

They explained that the withdrawal process was scheduled within five days, but it never happened.

Earlier, the United States warned of any new attack in northern Syria, saying it would undermine stability in the region and endanger its forces.

"We are deeply concerned about reports and discussions of potential increased military activity in northern Syria, and in particular, its impact on the civilian population there," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.

"We recognize Turkey's legitimate security concerns on Turkey's southern border, but any new offensive would further undermine regional stability and put at risk US forces and the coalition's campaign against ISIS," he said.

Washington was expecting Ankara to live up to an October 2019 joint statement, including a halt in offensive operations in northeastern Syria, Price said.

"We condemn any escalation. We support the maintenance of the current ceasefire lines."

Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council describing Turkey's actions as illegitimate.

"They amount to what can be described as war crimes and crimes against humanity," it said in a statement carried by the state news agency.

Turkey objects to Finland and Sweden's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over their alleged support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the YPG, two groups that Ankara classifies as terrorist organizations.

Observers considered that Erdogan's sudden announcement reflects his belief that the West will not oppose such operations because they need Turkey's support for the two European countries' bid to join NATO.

They pointed out that the Turkish army's movement against the YPG in Syria, Washington's closest ally in the war against ISIS, has always been possible despite the relative calm along the border.

Observers considered that Erdogan is seeking to seize the opportunity to achieve his long-standing goal of establishing a zone free of Kurdish militants along the Turkish border with Syria.

Possible targets of the Turkish operation

The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said preparations had been made for a new operation to expand "safe zones" already set up in northern Syria, with several goals identified.

Turkish control of the towns, which lie on or close to a central stretch of the 911-km-long border with Syria, could extend and deepen its military presence near the Mediterranean coast along nearly three-quarters of the frontier.

YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmoud told Reuters the group took Erdogan's threats very seriously: "The international coalition, America, and Russia should commit to the pledges they made to this region. Their presence in our areas must be meaningful, in the sense that it stops the repeated attacks on our people."

The Yeni Safak newspaper said the most critical target of the latest operation would be Tal Rifaat, which it said Kurdish fighters used as a base to launch attacks in the Afrin, Azaz, and Jarablus areas controlled by Turkey and Ankara-backed Syrian fighters.

Analyst on Syria at the International Crisis Group Dareen Khalifa said it was unclear whether Erdogan was talking about an operation in Tal Rifaat or further east, but she highlighted the town's role.

She said Russia had not been addressing his concerns on militant attacks on Turkish-controlled areas from Tal Rifaat and that Erdogan has been saying for years that Tal Rifaat needs to be captured.

According to a Reuters report, the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani may be another potential target.

The YPG's defeat of ISIS militants there in 2015 helped turn the tide against the group.

"Kobani represents the value of a global victory in the war against terrorism," a YPG spokesman said.

Mahmoud asserted that "there's no doubt that our forces will do what is needed to defend" the area.

However, Khalifa played down the prospects of Turkey targeting Kobani.

"I don't think there's any interest in getting stuck in Kobani," she said, pointing to the significant demographic changes and reaction if the Kurdish population fled.

She said that while US forces were not in Manbij physically, it is a US zone of influence, so "I expect it also to trigger a US reaction."

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Arab World

Hezbollah Unhappy with Political Negotiations with Israel but Unlikely to Confront the State

A joint patrol of UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army in the Marjayoun area near the border with Israel (AFP)
A joint patrol of UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army in the Marjayoun area near the border with Israel (AFP)
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Hezbollah Unhappy with Political Negotiations with Israel but Unlikely to Confront the State

A joint patrol of UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army in the Marjayoun area near the border with Israel (AFP)
A joint patrol of UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army in the Marjayoun area near the border with Israel (AFP)

Hezbollah officials have avoided commenting on the Lebanese government’s decision to appoint former ambassador Simon Karam as head of the Lebanese delegation to the “mechanism committee” overseeing the ceasefire with Israel, which effectively shifted the committee’s work from military-technical talks to political negotiations.

A formal party position is expected Friday, to be delivered by Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem in a previously scheduled appearance.

Yet media outlets aligned with Hezbollah, along with its supporters on social platforms, quickly denounced the presidential decision. They described it as “another act of surrender by Lebanon, taken despite the absence of any Israeli willingness to meet Lebanese demands, chief among them ending attacks and violations, withdrawing from occupied territory, and releasing detainees.”

Sources familiar with Hezbollah’s internal discussions told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qassem will reiterate the party’s refusal to enter “a new round of negotiations as long as Israel fails to meet its obligations.”

He is also expected to reference the open letter he sent on November 6 to Lebanon’s President, Parliament Speaker, Premier and the public, stressing rejection of any new talks and reaffirming “the right of resistance.”

The sources added that both Hezbollah and Speaker Nabih Berri are dissatisfied with Karam’s appointment because of his known political stance against “the resistance.”

Still, neither intends to provoke internal conflict. Instead, they will continue working with the state “within the framework of insisting that Lebanon assume responsibility for halting Israeli aggression, recovering land, securing prisoner releases, initiating reconstruction, and above all, preventing another Israeli war.”

On Wednesday evening, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV criticized the inclusion of a civilian in the mechanism committee, declaring that “the Lebanese state has taken its decisions and must bear their consequences.”

It added that the government “has stepped into the unknown without guaranteed returns,” insisting that “the people of the land will not concede rights or surrender.”

Political analyst Kassem Kassir, who closely follows Hezbollah, stressed that the priority for the party and its supporters remains achieving concrete outcomes: stopping Israeli assaults, withdrawing from occupied land, freeing prisoners, and rebuilding devastated areas.

Ali Al-Amin, editor of the Janoubia news site, recalled that Hezbollah had already informed Lebanon’s leaders of its rejection of negotiations with Israel.

Still, Karam’s appointment was “a Lebanese decision driven by internal considerations,” and the party cannot block it at a time when Israel has threatened a devastating war.

While Hezbollah signaled displeasure - prompting small street protests - it has not issued an outright rejection.

Asked about the party’s red lines, Al-Amin said Hezbollah will not relinquish its weapons, particularly north of the Litani River.

Should the government attempt to enforce disarmament, he warned, confrontation with the army could follow, an outcome still viewed by Hezbollah as less costly than a new Israeli war with unpredictable consequences.

Arab World

Israel Meets Lebanon’s Diplomatic Overture with Strikes on the South

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Nabatieh area in May 2025 (Archive – EPA). 
Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Nabatieh area in May 2025 (Archive – EPA). 
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Israel Meets Lebanon’s Diplomatic Overture with Strikes on the South

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Nabatieh area in May 2025 (Archive – EPA). 
Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Nabatieh area in May 2025 (Archive – EPA). 

Israel on Thursday ended days of ambiguity over whether the recent “positive atmosphere” created by civilian negotiations with Lebanon might ease tensions. Instead, it launched four airstrikes targeting homes in South Lebanon, including one north of the Litani River.

The attacks came less than 24 hours after the latest meeting of the joint “mechanism” committee.

The escalation appeared to answer leaked Lebanese reports that Ambassador Simon Karam, head of Lebanon’s negotiating delegation, had been tasked with discussing a cessation of hostilities, a prisoner exchange, Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese areas, and technical adjustments along the Blue Line.

Al-Jadeed channel quoted President Joseph Aoun as saying Lebanon “has not entered normalization nor signed a peace agreement.”

At Thursday’s cabinet session, Aoun presented his decision to appoint Karam after consultations with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, stressing the need for talks in Naqoura and for a civilian figure in the delegation.

The initial meeting, he said, “was not expected to be highly productive,” but it paved the way for subsequent sessions beginning on the 19th. “The language of negotiation must replace the language of war,” he added.

Army Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal also submitted his monthly report on enforcing the state’s monopoly over arms, outlining operations south of the Litani River. Lebanese media reported a significant step in this direction: the army, accompanied by UNIFIL, reportedly seized Hezbollah rockets in the area.

As Lebanon tries to widen the diplomatic window to contain tensions and avert a large-scale Israeli attack, two contrasting messages have emerged from Israel. One camp welcomed the appointment of Karam, while another insists on separating diplomacy from military operations and preventing negotiations from influencing conditions on the ground.

This harder line became clear when Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee warned residents of Mahrouna, Bar’ashit, al-Majadal (south of the Litani), and Jbaa (north of it) to evacuate at least 300 meters away because the army would soon strike Hezbollah infrastructure across the south.

Hours later, Israel carried out the strikes, saying it targeted depots embedded in residential areas - an example, it claimed, of Hezbollah’s use of civilian buildings for military purposes.

MP Ashraf Rifi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the political and security climate “remains dangerous despite the sense of relief surrounding the negotiations.” Messages from Israeli officials, he said, show that talks “do not automatically halt targeting of Hezbollah or its weapons,” adding that escalation “remains highly possible.”

Rifi said Israel has “a clear strategic project aimed at ending Iranian influence across the Arab region,” and if it concludes that Lebanon cannot disarm Hezbollah, it “may resort to military action.”

He cited the return of Israeli drones over Beirut as proof that Lebanon “remains squarely within the circle of threat.”

MP Akram Chehayeb of the Democratic Gathering said the essential question is whether Israel genuinely seeks peace, given ongoing actions against Palestinians. He argued that a return to the 1949 Armistice framework would be a major gain for Lebanon, recalling earlier negotiation rounds, including those leading to the 2022 maritime agreement.

 

 

 

Arab World

'Land Without laws': Israeli Settlers Force Bedouins from West Bank Community

AFP visited Ahmed Kaabneh weeks before he was forced to flee his home in the al-Hathrura area. Menahem Kahana / AFP
AFP visited Ahmed Kaabneh weeks before he was forced to flee his home in the al-Hathrura area. Menahem Kahana / AFP
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'Land Without laws': Israeli Settlers Force Bedouins from West Bank Community

AFP visited Ahmed Kaabneh weeks before he was forced to flee his home in the al-Hathrura area. Menahem Kahana / AFP
AFP visited Ahmed Kaabneh weeks before he was forced to flee his home in the al-Hathrura area. Menahem Kahana / AFP

As relentless harassment from Israeli settlers drove his brothers from their Bedouin community in the central occupied West Bank, Ahmed Kaabneh remained determined to stay on the land his family had lived on for generations.

But when a handful of young settlers constructed a shack around 100 meters above his home and started intimidating his children, 45-year-old Kaabneh said he had no choice but to flee too.

As with scores of Bedouin communities across the West Bank, the small cluster of wood and metal houses where Kaabneh's father and grandfather had lived now lies empty.

"It is very difficult... because you leave an area where you lived for 45 years. Not a day or two or three, but nearly a lifetime," Kaabneh told AFP at his family's new makeshift house in the rocky hills north of Jericho.

"But what can you do? They are the strong ones and we are the weak, and we have no power."

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel.

Some 3,200 Palestinians from dozens of Bedouin and herding communities have been forced from their homes by settler violence and movement restrictions since October 2023, the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA reported in October.

The United Nations said this October was the worst month for settler violence since it began recording incidents in 2006.

Almost none of the perpetrators have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.

'Terrifying'

Kaabneh, four of his brothers and their families, now live together some 13 kilometers (eight miles) northeast of their original homes, which sat in the al-Hathrura area.

Outside his freshly constructed metal house, boys kicked a football while washing hung from the line. But Kaabneh said the area didn't feel like home.

"We are in a place we have never lived in before, and life here is hard," he said.

Alongside surging violence, the number of settler outposts has exploded in the West Bank.

While all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, outposts are also prohibited under Israeli law. But many end up being legalized by the Israeli authorities.

AFP had visited Kaabneh in the al-Hathrura area weeks before he was forced to flee.

On the dirt road to his family's compound, caravans and an Israeli flag atop a hill marked an outpost established earlier this year -- one of several to have sprung up in the area.

On the other side of the track, in the valley, lay the wreckage of another Bedouin compound whose residents had recently fled.

While in Kaabneh's cluster of homes, AFP witnessed two settlers driving to the top of a hill to surveil the Bedouins below.

"The situation is terrifying," Kaabneh said at the time, with life becoming almost untenable because of daily harassment and shrinking grazing land.

Less than three weeks later, the homes were deserted.

Kaabneh said the settlers "would shout all night, throw stones, and walk through the middle of the houses."

"They didn't allow us to sleep at night, nor move freely during the day."

'Thrive on chaos'

These days, only activists and the odd cat wander the remnants of Kaabneh's former life -- where upturned children's bikes and discarded shoes reveal the chaotic departure.

"We are here to keep an eye on the property... because a lot of places that are abandoned are usually looted by the settlements," said Sahar Kan-Tor, 29, an Israeli activist with the Israeli-Palestinian grassroots group Standing Together.

Meanwhile, settlers with a quadbike and digger were busy dismantling their hilltop shack and replacing it with a sofa and table.

"They thrive on chaos," Kan-Tor explained.

"It is, in a way, a land without laws. There (are) authorities roaming around, but nothing is enforced, or very rarely enforced."

A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs last December said settlers had used shepherding outposts to seize 14 percent of the West Bank in recent years.

NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said settlers were acting "with the backing of the Israeli government and military".

Some members of Israel's right-wing government are settlers themselves, and far-right ministers have called for the West Bank's annexation.

Kan-Tor said he believed settlers were targeting this stretch of the West Bank because of its significance for a contiguous Palestinian state.

But Kaabneh said the threat of attacks loomed even in his new location in the east of the territory.

He said settlers had already driven along the track leading to his family's homes and watched them from the hill above.

"Even this area, which should be considered safe, is not truly safe," Kaabneh lamented.

"They pursue us everywhere."