Friday 29th of March 2024 Sahafi.jo | Ammanxchange.com
  • Last Update
    30-Jul-2015

Flawed strategy - Editorial, The Jordan Times

 

 

Ankara and Washington have agreed to deploy Turkish air power in the fight against Daesh in northern Syria and along the Syrian-Turkish border, ostensibly to provide air cover for Syrian opposition forces against Daesh fighters along a strip of territory that has yet to be defined.

Turkey stopped short of saying that it may deploy its land forces as well for this purpose. Without the deployment of land forces it is hard to see how Turkey can succeed in removing the threat posed by Daesh along its borders. Air power alone has proved futile until now in the war against Daesh in both Iraq and Syria.

Turkey’s basic goal is to rid its borders not only of Daesh forces, but also PKK fighters operating from northern Iraq. There is an apparent quid pro quo in this new US-Turkish arrangement in the sense that Turkey now has a green light from the US and NATO to strike at PKK forces wherever they can be found in return for its active involvement in the war against Daesh including allowing the US to use Turkish air bases for their strikes against targets in Syria.

Equally noticeable is the fact that the projected air cover for the Syrian opposition forces will be confined to their war against Daesh and does not include their battle with the Syrian army. This suggests that the thrust of the Turkish decision to join the fray in Syria is essentially to protect its own borders rather than extend support to the opposition against their principle enemy, the Syrian army.

Turkey also stands to gain from this dramatic change of heart by stemming the tide of Syrian refugees into its territory and securing a corridor in northern Syria for them to stay. There are about 1.8 million Syrian refugees on Turkish soil making Turkey the biggest host of Syrians fleeing the violence in their country.

The flaw in this new strategy is the obvious fact that putting pressure on Daesh militants in northern Syria will only drive them to the east and south of the country.

 

Unless there is also a coordinated effort to stem Daesh advances along the other borders with Syria, there is high probability that the solution for the north could be at the expense of neighbouring countries along the south of the country.

 

Latest News

 

Most Read Articles