CNN
—
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his years-long regime have fallen, however the nation stays a battleground for an array of actors searching for to safe pursuits in what could emerge to be a harmful energy vacuum.
As Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) assumes de facto management, Syria continues to be beneath assault by neighboring international locations, and stays a scene of infighting by teams with opposing pursuits. Some gamers seem like searching for to use this potential energy vacuum, eager to make use of the post-Assad terrain to increase management or take out foes.
Turkey is searching for to remove armed Kurdish militants, Israel has struck the remnants of the Syrian Arab Army’s capabilities and expanded its territorial management, whereas the United States has ramped up its strikes on ISIS and moved warships to the area.
Here’s what we all know concerning the preventing in Syria.
Turkey has lengthy had vested pursuits in Syria. Before Assad’s fall, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly pledged an imminent floor operation into northern Syria, aiming to empty the world of fighters allied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group that Turkey and the US deem a terrorist group, in addition to to create a protected zone for refugee return.
After the insurgent offensive began nearly two weeks in the past, preventing between the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and Kurdish militants within the northeast erupted.
The Turkish authorities has lengthy regarded Syrian Kurdish teams as a part of or linked to the PKK. However, Kurdish forces served as key US companions within the struggle in opposition to ISIS and management swathes of land in northeast Syria.
When Assad was efficiently ousted by the HTS-led teams, open fight between the Turkish-backed SNA and Kurdish forces escalated over the previous weeks.
Fears of a Turkish incursion have additionally not abated. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed US officers saying Turkey and its militia allies are increase forces close to Kobani, a Kurdish majority metropolis in Syria, with fears {that a} cross-border operation is imminent.
On the identical day rebels took over the Syrian capital Damascus, Israel began placing army property that had belonged to Assad’s regime. In the times that adopted, Israel escalated its bombardment, placing practically 500 targets, destroying the navy and taking out, the Israeli army claims, 90% of Syria’s identified surface-to-air missiles.
Israeli officers mentioned that the strikes on Syrian army property are to stop them from falling “into the palms of extremists.”
The Israeli authorities has reveled within the downfall of Assad, a staunch ally of Iran who allowed his nation for use as a resupply route for Hezbollah in Lebanon. But it additionally fears what may come from radical Islamists governing Syria, which borders Israel within the occupied Golan Heights.
Its army additionally began advancing on the bottom, capturing additional territory in Syria. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now occupies Syria’s highest peak, Mount Hermon, a strategic place that overlooks Lebanon, Syria and Israel. The summit of Mount Hermon lies in a buffer zone that, till the autumn of Assad, had separated Israeli and Syrian forces for 50 years.
The IDF continued its advance past the summit, so far as Beqaasem, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Syrian capital, in response to Voice of the Capital, a Syrian activist group. CNN couldn’t independently affirm that declare.
The Syrian insurgent chief Mohammad al-Jolani accused Israel of crossing “the traces of engagement” with its actions in Syria, whereas a gaggle of the nation’s neighbors known as on Israel to withdraw its forces from all Syrian territories.
The US has for years maintained a presence in Syria, partnering with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces for anti-ISIS operations within the nation. There are some 900 US troops stationed there, largely within the northeast.
US bases have come beneath extra assaults during the last yr as Iran-backed armed teams supportive of Hamas in Gaza goal American property in Syria and Iraq, protesting US backing for Israel. The US has responded with airstrikes.
In the wake of Assad’s downfall, the US was clear that its mission in opposition to ISIS would proceed. US Central Command (CENTCOM) has continued to strike places in Syria that it says are identified ISIS camps and operatives, fearing the group may make the most of a possible energy vacuum following Assad’s demise.
“CENTCOM, working with allies and companions within the area, won’t permit ISIS to reconstitute and make the most of the present state of affairs in Syria,” mentioned Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, in response to a press release from CENTCOM.
On Monday, CENTCOM mentioned it killed “12 ISIS terrorists” in precision airstrikes, which are supposed to stop the group from searching for “alternatives to reconstitute in central Syria.”
“These latest strikes are in former Regime and Russian managed areas making certain strain is maintained on ISIS,” CENTCOM mentioned in its assertion.
An added complication was resurgent preventing between the US-allied SDF and Turkish-backed militants. After Assad was topped, the SDF mentioned it has come beneath assault by the Turkish-backed teams, some concentrating on ISIS detention services the SDF says it’s attempting to protect.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Ankara final week, assembly together with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan to debate the state of affairs in Syria – and the danger that renewed battle within the north may present a gap for ISIS’ revival.
Additional reporting by Mick Krever, Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Nechirvan Mando, CNN
