Turkish Troops Attack Kurdistan
Turkish president Recep Erdogan announced in the Turkish capital of Ankara that the Turkish army will engage Kurdish forces in Manbij. American troops are currently garrisoned in the city as well, and should the Turks attack Manbij, they risk dragging the U.S into the war as well.
With the assistance of Syrian rebels, Turkish forces first assaulted the Kurdish enclave of Afrin with the purpose of driving out the Kurdish garrison, the YPG. Turkey attacked Afrin because they consider the YPG to be the remnants of the now defunct Kurdistan Worker’s Party, which fought for increased Kurdish autonomy in southern Turkey for the past three decades.
This campaign has hurt relations between Turkey and the U.S, since the U.S were supporters of the YPG during their war with the Islamic State. The city of Manbij has had U.S troops stationed there since March 2017, when Americans managed to convince Turkish forces from occupying the city and got the YPG to redeploy east of the Euphrates. Turkey, however, claims that the YPG never withdrew in the first place.
As tensions flare between the U.S and Turkey, both of whom are NATO members, clashes continued in the Afrin region. Turkish officials claim that 14 Turkish and pro-Turkish rebels have been killed and over 300 Kurdish troops killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that 58 Turkish troops have been killed and 53 YPG soldiers have been killed. The UN has estimated that around 5,000 people have been displaced during the Turkish campaign.
