Kurdish-led forces push back Turkish-backed Syrian rebels near strategic Tishrin Dam

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday that they launched a counter-offensive against the Ankara-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) to reclaim territories near Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

The SDF, a key ally of the US in Syria has been focused on targeting sleeper cells of the extremist Islamic State group across eastern Syria. Since the fall of Bashar Assad’s totalitarian regime earlier this month, fighting between the US-backed SDF and the SNA has escalated, particularly over control of the strategic city of Manbij and its surrounding areas.

These intense clashes come amid Syria’s ongoing struggle as it grapples with the aftermath of over a decade of war and economic hardship, while also negotiating its political future after more than 50 years under the Assad family’s rule.

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Ruken Jamal, spokesperson of the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, under the SDF, told The Associated Press that their fighters are just over seven miles away from the center of Manbij in their ongoing counter-offensive.

She accused Ankara of trying to weaken the group’s influence in negotiations over Syria’s political future through the SNA,

“Syria is now in a new phase, and discussions are underway about the future of the country,” Jamal said. “Turkey is trying, through its attacks, to distract us with battles and exclude us from the negotiations in Damascus.”

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The Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says since the SNA’s offensive in northern Syria against the Kurds started earlier this month, dozens from both sides have been killed.

Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups alongside Turkish jets for years have attacked positions where the SDF are largely present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the large shared border.

While the SNA was involved in the lightning insurgency — led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — that toppled Assad, it has continued its push against the SDF, seen as Syria’s second key actor for its political future.

On Monday, the SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami said the group’s forces pushed back the Turkish-backed rebels from areas near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates, a key source of hydroelectric power. He said the SDF also destroyed a tank belonging to the rebels southeast of Manbij.

The British-based war monitor said on Tuesday that the Kurdish-led group, following overnight fighting, has reclaimed four villages in the areas near the strategic dam.

Turkish jets also pounded the strategic border town of Kobani in recent days.

During Syria’s uprising-turned-conflict, the Kurds carved out an enclave of autonomous rule across northeastern Syria, never fully allying entirely with Assad in Damascus nor the rebels trying to overthrow him.

Even with the Assad family out of the picture, it appears that Ankara’s position won’t change, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s landmark visit to Syria maintaining a strong position on the Kurdish-led group in his meeting with de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa of HTS.

“It has turned the region into a cauldron of terror with PKK members and far-left groups who have come from Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Europe,” Fidan said in a news conference after the meeting. “The international community is turning a blind eye to this lawlessness because of the wardenship it provides (against IS).”

With the ongoing fighting, SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi has expressed concern about a strong IS resurgence due to the power vacuum in Syria and the ongoing fighting, which has left the Kurdish-led group unable to carry out its attacks and raids on the extremist group’s scattered sleeper cells.

Tens of thousands of children, family members, and supporters of IS militants are still held in large detention centers in northeastern Syria, in areas under SDF control.

With inputs from agencies.