Syrian army moves north, raising fears of clash with Turkey

People ride motorcycles and hold a Syrian flag and a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad as they welcome Syrian troops to the village of Ghebesh, in northern Syria. Photo / AP

Syrian government troops moved into towns and villages in northern Syria on Monday, setting up a potential clash with Turkish-led forces advancing in the area as long-standing alliances in the region begin to shift or crumble following the pullback of US forces.

The Syrian military's deployment near the Turkish border came after Syrian Kurdish forces previously allied with the US said they had reached a deal with President Bashar Assad's government to help them fend off Turkey's invasion, now in its sixth day.

Assad's return to the region his troops abandoned in 2012 at the height of the Syrian civil war is a turning point in Syria's eight-year civil war, giving yet another major boost to his government and its Russian backers and is like to endanger, if not altogether crush, the brief experiment in self-rule set up by Syria's Kurds since the conflict began.

The fast-deteriorating situation was set in motion last week, when US President Donald Trump ordered American troops in northern Syria to step aside, clearing the way for an attack by Turkey, which regards the Kurdish fighters as terrorists. Since 2014, the Kurds have fought alongside the US in defeating the Islamic State in Syria, and Trump's move was decried at home and abroad as a betrayal of an ally.

In the past five days, Turkish troops and their allies have pushed into northern towns and villages, clashing with the Kurdish fighters over a stretch of 200km. The offensive has displaced at least 130,000 people.

Abandoned in the middle of the battlefield, the Kurds turned to Assad and Russia for protection and announced Sunday night that Syrian government troops would be deployed in Kurdish-controlled towns and villages along the border with Turkey to help repel Turkish advances.

People welcome Syrian troops as they enter the village of Ghebesh, west of the town of Tal Tamr, in northern Syria. Photo / AP

Kurdish official Aldar Khalil said in a statement that the aim of the agreement is for Syrian troops to be deployed along the border, except for the area between the towns of Ras al-Ayn and Tal Abyad, where Turkish troops are advancing. He added that the autonomous authority will continue to run daily affairs in northeast Syria.

"There is an understanding between SDF and Damascus — a military agreement only," said Badran Ciya Kurd, a senior Kurdish official, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. He has been in talks with Russians since the start, and he made his comments in an interview with The Associated Press.

Syrian state media broadcast repeated footage of government forces entering northern towns and villages with residents chanting slogans in support of Assad, while others rushed to hug the soldiers. In a northern village, residents welcomed the troops by showering them with rice, an Arab gesture of welcome. In another village, dozens of young men rode motorcycles as some waved posters of Assad.

"We are going back to our normal positions that are at the border," said a Syrian officer, as embattled Kurdish authorities invited the government to retake towns and villages in the north.

Syrian government troops moved into towns and villages in northern Syria. Photo / AP

"May God protect the army!" residents responded.

The Syrian troops arrived in the northern province of Raqqa aboard buses and pickup trucks with mounted machine guns. Troops moved into the towns of Tal Tamr, about 20km from the Turkish border, Ein Issa and Tabqa, known for its dam on the Euphrates River and a nearby air base of the same name.

Syrian fighters backed by Turkey said they began an offensive alongside Turkish troops to capture the Kurdish-held town of Manbij, on the western flank of the Euphrates. Mustafa Sejari, an official with the Turkey-backed fighters, tweeted: "The battle of Manbij has begun."

Turkey's private NTV television reported that Turkish special forces and commandos began advancing toward Manbij in the afternoon. CNN-Turk also mentioned the attack, reporting that the sound of clashes could be heard.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled earlier in the day his military was ready to begin the assault Manbij, with a goal of returning the city to Arab populations that he said were its rightful owners.

The flashpoint area housed US troops who patrolled the region since 2017 to deter a confrontation between Turkey and Kurdish fighters. A US official said troops were still in Manbij, preparing to leave.

Speaking later in Baku, Azerbaijan, Erdogan said Turkey's military offensive into northeast Syria is as "vital" to Turkey as its 1974 military intervention in Cyprus, which split the island. Erdogan also made clear Turkey would not halt its offensive despite the widespread condemnation.

Syrian government troops moved into towns and villages in northern Syria on Monday, setting up a potential clash with Turkish-led forces. Photo / AP

The military action by Ankara sets up a potential clash between Turkey and Syria and raises the specter of a resurgent Islamic State group as the US relinquishes any remaining influence in northern Syria to Assad and his chief backer, Russia.

Turkey warned its NATO allies in Europe and the United States not to stand in its way.

The European Union unanimously condemned Turkey's military move and asked all 28 of its member states to stop selling arms to Ankara, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told the AP.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian and Turkish officials have remained in close contact. Russia appeared to be working on de-confliction between Turkish and Syrian troops.

Erdogan has already said Turkey will not negotiate with the Syrian Kurdish fighters, saying they have links to a long-running Kurdish insurgency within its own borders.

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said government forces planned to "confront the Turkish aggression," without giving further details.

Photos posted by SANA showed several vehicles and a small number of troops in Tal Tamr, a predominantly Assyrian Christian town that was once held by IS before it was retaken by Kurdish-led forces. Many Syrian Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Syria's prewar population of 23 million, left for Europe in the past 20 years, with the flight gathering speed since the conflict began in March 2011.

Heavy fighting on Sunday reached a Kurdish-run camp for displaced persons in Ein Issa. The camp is home to about 12,000 people, including around 950 wives and children of IS fighters, and hundreds are believed to have escaped amid the chaos.

- AP