28 Mar 2024
Thursday 18 February 2016 - 09:21
Story Code : 202277

US content to play Turks against Kurds in Syrian conflict

Top US military planners are probably happy to see Russia aid the Syrian Kurds against Daesh and are content to play off Turks and Kurds against each other, US analysts told Sputnik.





WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin are working hard totry and stabilize Syria, butoutside powers are still adding tothe chaos byrushing inmore forces, Lazare cautioned.

There is no question that Turkey sees the Kurds astheir enemy much more thanthey see Daesh astheir enemy; this is open and has been forsome time, policy director ofthink tank Just Foreign Policy Robert Naiman told Sputnik. Obviously, the United States has a different view.

Naiman argued that Russia is taking advantage ofthe split betweenthe United States and Turkey tosupport the Syrian Kurds.
However, Nobody inthe Pentagon is crying when they see the Russians help the Syrian Kurds defeat Turkey's proxies inSyria. If they were not politically constrained, the Pentagon would probably have done the same thing themselves.


Naiman pointed outthat the determination ofthe Turks touse their artillery tobombard Kurdish forces acrossthe border inSyria did not mean the Turkish government was ignoring the United States, butit meant they were determined tofollow their own policy towardsthe Kurds while dealing withWashington.
I wouldn't describe them as out ofUS control. I would describe them as pulling hard onthe leash.


The US government could still handle the contradictions ofbeing allied toboth Turkey and the Kurds while they fought each other, Naiman said.
If the United States is put inthe position where it has totry tomediate betweenTurkey and Syria's Kurds; or betweenTurkey and Russia; or betweenSaudi Arabia and Iran. That's not a terrible place forthe US government tobe.


Washington policymakers could take advantage offighting betweentheir allies asan excuse fornot getting more deeply involved, Naiman suggested.
If it looks likethe situation is a big complicated mess, so nobody can blame the United States fornot escalating militarily, that's not necessarily too terrible forthe US government.


The top military objective forthe United States innorthern Syria is toseal the Turkey-Syria border againstDaesh and the Nusra Front, Naiman argued.
If the Syrian Kurds do it that would be great, and if the Russians happen tohelp the Syrian Kurds do it, well, sometimes good things happen inthe world: Don't look a gift horse inthe mouth.


However, US author and Middle East affairs expert Dan Lazare told Sputnik the latest flare-up betweenTurkey and the Kurds reflected the chaotic anarchy intowhich much ofSyria had fallen.
Thanks largely tothe United States and the Gulf states, Syria is now a black hole where a viable nation state used tobe, Lazare noted. The result is chaos asa multitude offorces take the field.




By Sputnik
https://theiranproject.com/vdcja8e8auqey8z.92fu.html
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