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An important but barely covered by media implication of the ongoing Syrian-Iranian-Russian operations in Aleppo city is the particilatipn of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in clashes.
The YPG does not coordinate with the Syrian government forces on official level. However, the practice shows that the YPG launched offensive operations in Aleppo at the same time when the pro-government forces, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, did the same. By now, the Kurdish forces have secured the Youth Housing area and seized few buildings in the Shqif industrial area.
Unconfirmed reports appear that the YPG will conduct operations against Jaish al-Fatah militants as long as the Syrian military will do. The neighobrhoods of Ayn Al-Tal and Awijah are called possible target of the YPG’s attacks.
In general, the YPG does not have enough manpower to take control of significant parts of Aleppo. However, they can play an important role in the ongoing standoff between militants and the Syrian government forces. Nonetheless, the tensions between the government and the YPG could raise if the group realises a shortfall policy in the city. Some experts believe that Washington will attempt to use Kurdish units deployed in Aleppo for planned provocations against the Syrian army in order to expand media and diplomatic pressure on Russia, Syria and Iran.
The video below depicts a flag of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) on one of buildings in the Shqif industrial area of Aleppo:
#PYD flag on one of Al Shqif building #Aleppo #PYD took advantage of the #Russian raids and advanced pic.twitter.com/n4f4RlDg8O
— Nawar Oliver (@Nawaroliver) October 3, 2016
Noone cares about some flags on abandoned buildings, the SAA needs no such distractions.
The YPD and the SAA have not engaged except in rare instances. The jihadists are their common enemy , and at some point Assad will recognize cooperation . Both need to create a stable home .
It is doubtful the YPG pocket in Aleppo would stage a provocation, it is against their own interests. They know they will be rewarded if they support whoever is winning the tug of war, which is Assad. However, you can’t rule out that the US might bomb the pocket and blame it on Russia as a provocation.