Illustrative image. (Syrian Defense Ministry)
The Syrian military is planning a large-scale attack with some 50,000 troops on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture the governorates of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor in the north and east of the country, The National reported on August 16, citing security sources.
According to the sources, the attack will be launched if the SDF, which is backed by the United States, refuses to hand over control over the two governorates, which have overwhelmingly Arab tribal populations.
The report came just days after Syria’s Islamist-led Interim Government announced that it will not take part in meetings with the SDF in France, which were planned to discuss an agreement signed in March to integrate the group into state institutions including the military.
Tensions between the Syrian military and the SDF have been mounting ever since, with both sides exchanging accusations of provocations along the frontline.
One of the sources, who holds a sensitive security position in Syria, told The National that the attack would not go ahead “without an American green light”.
Another key factor would be ensuring non-intervention by Israel, which a month earlier intervened stopping a Syrian military attack on Druze fighters in the southern governorate of al-Suwayda.
The SDF, which has some 100,000 fighters, is increasingly being seen as recalcitrant in Washington by not handing any significant powers to the government, the source said.
Another source who spoke to The National said that the staging grounds for the attack are being prepared in the desert surrounding the town of Rasafah, on the road from the city of Palmyra to Raqqa, and in the town of Sukhnah, which links Palmyra with Deir Ezzor.
Turkish-backed factions in the governorate of Aleppo, which are now a part of the Syrian military, would move against SDF positions east of the Euphrates, near Tishreen Dam, once the attack begins, according to the sources.
The source went on to speculate that Arab tribesmen, who make up 30 percent of SDF fighters, will turn against the group at the start of the attack.
“They have so many scores to settle with the Kurds,” the source said
Turkey, which views the SDF as a threat to its national security, is guaranteed to back any attack by the Syrian military. Ankara could even go as far as providing air support.
Such an attack if successful would corner the SDF in the governorate al-Haskah, where the majority of the population are Kurds.
The National’s report provides an interesting insight not just on the military plans of the Syrian government, but also on its speculations and expectations.
Damascus seems overly optimistic, possibly to the point of miscalculation. We have already seen it miscalculating with the attack on al-Suwayda, where the intervention of Israel was not expected.
Such a mistake against the SDF will be even more costly for the government. The group is heavily-armed, professionally-trained and highly-organized, unlike the Syrian military which lacks any real command and control chain. On top of this, the SDF maintains solid relations with the U.S. on the military and security levels. It also keeps relations with Russia, which even operates an airfield in al-Haskah.
What the government expects to be a walk in the park, could turn to be a strategic defeat of a magnitude that could affect Damascus itself.
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send in the clowns.
i wonder which side is going to fire the first shot?
thwarting israeli plans to partition syria are correct. kurds and druze are potential zionist agents and they need to be contained. the sdf areas are too large, they control energy resources. syria has 100% right to take back what is syrian resources and push back kurds
i think they are all zionists agents lol
somehow – indeed ;-)
there is no more “syria”, there is only isis/hts terrorist horde under shared control between erdogan and his master netanyahu. both sdf and hts/isis erdoganist animals are pro-zionist forces so there is no sense in rooting for one or the other, hopefully they massacre each other as much as possible. hopefully terrorist animals receive a setback that will eventually lead to an independent state in latakia, as that would be the only true successor to former syria.
carving it up may eventually be a good thing, it is a weird country with a big desert as its hart land. it is impossible to manage or control. the big palmyra oasis is drying up, gardens are abandoned for many decades. fusing it with lebanon is a good thing too, as same groups live there.
imagine assad had stepped down iin 2009, and the remaining leadership had called in the un to redaw borders, held elections and all. i think warring outsiders would still not accept and start a conflict. all this suffering because it must be their way all the way.
they had a conference about the rebuilding of all the destroyed infrastructure of syria before any of the infrastructure was destroyed. that shows you how easy it is for them to operate no one is calling them out on that.
abso fucking lutely.
this is how un agenda 2030 population control works
is the israeli prison system respecting the abortion rights of all prisoners? grok says they are not, and that abortion services are being neglected.
they are all zio quisling whores.
abortion rights for syria and the west bank.
i hope the israelis don’t act like the khazar pig putler.
no different to putin who may or may not care how many civilians die the real khazars wont walk past a village without killing everyone.
magic troops appear for magick war . with usaid now installed inside the us state department cia planners create more . iran is getting ready. these armies are directed by the us mossad alliance. when ukraine is done these people will still have jobs destroying the middle east
you didn’t get the memo usaid money has been stopped by trump and musk?
do you really believe that?
when two enemies fight… you sit and watch
well i will enjoy watching because those bastards have destroyed syria between them.
stop calling a gang of head hacking animals the army.
i understand why israel destroyed as many syrian weapons as possible. it was about protecting the kurds from such an attack. the sdf and israeli are allies. hts is a turk proxy. if hts is being defeated, the war israel – turkey is closer.
if israel thinks it can damage turkey then israel has a surprise coming.
syrian army? oh, you mean hts terrorists. why didn’t you say so?