Perilous scramble for Syrian enclave after Trump withdraws US troops

Fight for control over Syria’s skies and land appears to have intensified after Donald Trump announced US troop withdrawal

Members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) asked the Syrian army to take control of Manbij, according to state television (EPA)

Syria’s armed forces claim they have taken over a contested pocket of territory at the invitation of the Kurdish-led militia controlling the region, in an effort to stave off an attack by forces loyal to Turkey.

Doubts remain about the validity of the claim and it was not clear whether Damascus’ armed forces had actually taken control of Manbij, a small city in northern Syria.

But an official in military uniform claimed on state television that Syrian Arab Army units had raised a flag above the city after entering the area “in response to the call of residents”. It would be the first time in six years the Syrian flag had flown above the city.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian rebel fighters backed by Turkey insisted there had been no such takeover despite the announcement by Damascus.

The US-led military coalition in northern Syria – called Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) – insisted that no major developments had taken place in Manbij and called for calm.

“Despite incorrect information about changes to military forces in the city of Manbij, Syria, CJTFOIR has seen no indication that these claims are true,” a tweet posted by the US military said. “We call on everyone to respect the integrity of Manbij and the safety of its citizens.”

The confusion and potentially perilous scramble to control the town of Manbij and its surrounding countryside east of the Euphrates River in Syria comes less than a fortnight after US President Donald Trump announced an abrupt withdrawal of American military personnel from the country, where they have partnered for four years with Syrian Kurds led by the People’s Protection Units, known as the YPG, in a fight against Isis.

Turkey, a member of Nato, has vehemently opposed the elevation of the YPG in a partnership that includes UK and French military forces still on the ground in northern Syria. The YPG, an affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), controls a vast stretch of northeast Syria and has begun building its own autonomous state called Rojava, which Turkey – with its large Kurdish minority – considers a dire threat.

Since the announcement of the US withdrawal from areas of northern Syria that included Manbij, Turkey has amassed troops and hardware at its border with Syria and mobilised local rebel allies inside the country in anticipation of a possible invasion. Syrian rebels said convoys of fighters alongside Turkish armed forces were moving towards the front lines in Manbij “completely ready” to launch military operations against Manbij.

Mr Erdogan flies to Russia tomorrow for meetings with Vladimir Putin, in part to hammer out an agreement about Syria with Moscow, who emerges the undisputed broker of the country’s future following Mr Trump’s withdrawal.

Syria and Turkey have had frosty relations since the regime of Bashar al-Assad unleashed violence against peaceful protesters and ignited a vicious civil war nearly eight years ago. But Ankara is in a partnership with Damascus’ Iranian and Russian patrons as part of an effort to decide Syria’s fate. Moscow has stated that areas of Syria the US was vacating should come under the control of the regime. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow approved of any Syrian move into Manbij.

“A tendency towards the enlargement of the zone under the control of government forces is certainly a positive tendency,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, Syrian media reported on negotiations between Damascus and Kurdish-led forces regarding a deal that would prevent a possible Turkish offensive in Syria’s northeast.

The YPG claimed it has withdrawn from Manbij but it has made similar claims in the past. A statement posted to Twitter by a YPG account “invited government forces to assert control over the areas our forces have withdrawn from”, a claim raising eyebrows since the group has insisted for at least two years its forces were no longer in Manbij. The tweet was later deleted.

The YPG and its network of front groups and affiliates, under the umbrella of the Kurdistan Communities Union and loyal to PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, include various factions, some closer to Tehran, others to Damascus and still others more inclined to side with Russia, all vying to chart a future for the group following the planned US withdrawal.

Under the decades-long dictatorship of Mr Assad and his father, Syria’s Kurds were stripped of ethnic, political and citizens’ rights, and subject to violent reprisals, prompting some observers to doubt the two sides can strike a deal.

But Mr Trump’s announcement appears to have intensified competition for control over Syria’s skies and land, with Russia, Iran, Israel, Turkey, the various Syrian actors and regional players all nervously eyeing each other’s motives and manoeuvres in a potentially dangerous interplay. Earlier this week Israeli jets bombed a purported munitions plant west of Damascus, prompting a barrage of Syrian missile fire into Israel.

After eight years of conflict, during which the Syrian regime was shunned by much of the Middle East, there have been increasing signs normalisation of relations.

The Arabian Peninsula state of Bahrain announced it was reopening its embassy in Damascus after the United Arab Emirates opened its diplomatic mission in the country for the first time in years. Russia on Friday also signed a deal to access a Syrian phosphate mine near the city of Homs, the Interfax news agency reported.

Meanwhile, misery continued among ordinary Syrians displaced by the conflict. Heavy rains flooded makeshift camps in northern Syria where tens of thousands stuck in tents suffered through icy cold and wet conditions. Flooding reportedly forced 25,000 Syrians already living in primitive conditions to pack up their belongings and move to higher ground.