US denies Syrian state media report that Turkey has begun anti-Kurd offensive

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4. What is the situation in north-eastern Syria?

Michael Safi
Wed 9 Oct 2019 10.14 EDT
Last modified on Wed 9 Oct 2019 10.58 EDT

Who is in control in north-eastern Syria?

The region makes up more than a quarter of the entire country and is the largest area outside of the control of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and his allies. It is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which comprises militia groups representing a range of ethnicities but its backbone is Kurdish, an ethnic group of about 30 million people spread across the Middle East who have been fighting for their own state for more than a century.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Wednesday announced an invasion of territory with the intention of forcing the SDF out of at least a 20-mile “safe zone” below its border, or from as far south as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor ...

With US support, including arms and airstrikes, the Kurds managed to beat back Isis and went on to win a string of victories against the radical militant group. Along the way the fighters absorbed non-Kurdish groups, changed their name to the SDF and grew to include 60,000 soldiers.

“Without [the SDF], President Donald Trump could not have declared the complete defeat of Isis,” said Gen Joseph Votel, the American commander of operations in Syria who struck the alliance with the Kurds in 2015. The SDF suffered 11,000 casualties in the battle against Isis ...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/09/what-is-situation-north-eastern-syria-turkey-kurds