The Syrian Democratic Forces criticized in a statement today what it called the “Russian forces disregard” of yesterday’s attacks on Ain Issa, northeast Syria.
Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army launched yesterday fierce attacks on Syrian Democratic Forces posts near the town of Ain Issa which hosts an IDPs camp allocated for ISIS families in northeast Syria.
Local sources said that Turkish warplanes targeted areas north and south to the M4 highway, while TFSA jihadists carried out ground attacks on the nearby villages.
The statement said that “This attack was under the vision of Russian forces which did nothing to stop this barbaric invasion.” Adding that the Russian forces “are supposed to be on the ground as the guarantor of the ceasefire”.
Affirming that “[Russia’s] failure to comply with its role as a guarantor raises many doubts among our forces.”
Russia has reached a ceasefire agreement with Turkey on October 22 regarding the regions out of the Turkish “Safe Zone” between Sere Kaniye and Tal Abyad, which is by itself a result of another ceasefire agreement reached between the U.S. and Turkey on October 17.
Despite these ceasefires, Turkish airstrikes and Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army attacks continue on the outskirts of the Christian town of Tal Tamir, and the town of Ain Issa where the headquarter of the local government is located.
U.S. forces have withdrawn from those invaded areas, while keeping a small amount of troops to the east near the oil fields, leaving the strategic M4 highway under Turkish fire, which threatens to cut supply route for the iconic city of Kobani to the west.
The Russian intervention couldn’t mitigate Kurdish fears also as Russia may has a years-old agreement with Turkey to exchange their regions of control in Syria, which may result in an exchange of the Kurdish region with Idleb which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir Alsham, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda jihadists who are backed by Turkey.
Many believe that previous implementations of this deal were seen first in the launching the Turkish Euphrates Shield operation (its initial military intervention in Syria) on August 2016, followed by the fall of Aleppo on December 2016 into the hands of the Syrian regime. Later, On January 2018, Turkey launched its operation against Kurdish region of Afrin, followed by the control of the Syrian regime over Western Ghouta on February the same year.