A Bayraktar Akıncı combat drone. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
CIA director Bill Burns gave his Turkish counterpart a strongly worded message opposing the recent Turkish air and artillery strikes on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, Axios reported on December 8, citing two American sources with knowledge of the issue.
According to the sources, Burns warned that Turkey’s repeated strikes on northern Syria put United States forces there in danger.
Turkey launched an operation against Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, codenamed Claw-Sword, on November 20 in response to the November 13 bombing in Istanbul. Ankara believes that the core faction of the U.S.-backed SDF, the People’s Protection Units, was involved in terrorist attack that claimed the lives of six people and wounded 80 others. So far, the operation has been limited to air and artillery strikes.
Axios said that several of the strikes, which endangered American forces in northern Syria, were conducted by the Turkish intelligence service using drones.
Senior Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warned that Operation Claw-Sword could soon morph into a ground offensive against the SDF in northern Syria. However, a recent decline in Turkish strikes on the region indicates that Ankara has put these plans on halt.
In a recent interview with the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, SDF leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin said that pressure from the U.S. and Russia has prevented Turkey from launching a new invasion into northern Syria.
Turkey launched three invasions into northern Syria in 2016, 2018 and 2019, all of which failed to address its security concerns.
With the U.S. and Russia opposing a Turkish ground offensive against the SDF, Ankara is now exploring rapprochement with Damascus as another way to secure its border with Syria. Work to arrange a meeting between President Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, is reportedly underway with help from Russia.
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