In this article, you will learn:
• Who are the Kurds and why are they fighting?
• Syrian Civil War – Past and Present
• The involvement of USA, Russia and Turkey in this war
Who are the Kurds?
- Kurds are an ethnic group of Sunni Muslims who are scattered across Southern Turkey, North-eastern Syria, North Iraq, and Iran.
- Prior to World War 1, these countries used to be known as the Ottoman Empire. After the war, these borders were drawn up by western countries, and as a result, Kurds were separated.
- Kurds have faced a lot of oppression in these countries.
- In Turkey, they were barred from speaking their own language and following their own customs.
- In Iraq, Saddam Hussein launched a genocidal campaign against them by launching a chemical attack on a Kurdish town, killing up to 5,000 people in a day.
- PKK Kurdistan Workers Party, a radical militant group founded in 1979, has used Kurdish territories in northern Iraq as a base for a guerrilla war against Turkey.
- PKK has been declared as a terrorist group by the USA and EU
Syrian Civil War–The Beginning
- The protests started off in 2011 at the time of the Arab Spring for democratic reforms in the country. Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests that happened across North Africa and the Middle East in 2010-11.
- Bashar al Assad, the current President of Syria, suppressed protests using his army.
- Further on, soldiers from the army defected, and the rebels took up arms to fight against the Syrian government. A new group called the Free Syrian Army was formed.
- Extremists started pouring in as they saw a war between Shias (Assad Government) and Sunnis (Rebels).
- Amidst all this turmoil, the Islamic State of Iraq joined the war and became the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Eventually, by 2014, they took over Raqqa and Mosul (Northern territories) and started calling themselves Islamic State (IS).
Involvement of Kurdish forces, USA and Russia
- With Assad being occupied in the western region, Kurds took this opportunity and started fighting ISIS. They saw this war as an opportunity to form their own independent country and named their territory Rojava.
- Kurdish forces in the region are known as the YPG People’s Protection Unit. Together with other ethnic groups, they formed the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2015.
- Rojava was renamed the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
- USA got involved in this war in 2014 when it launched airstrikes on ISIS’ territories. Now they started providing military aid and air support to SDF to fight the Islamic State.
- To counter the US’s influence over the region, Russia intervened in 2015 by carrying out airstrikes in the region and has been an ally of the Syrian government.
The Present Scenario
- By 2018, ISIS lost most of its territory. In 2019 March, SDF announced that ISIS has lost its final stronghold in Syria.
- Turkey has declared YPG as a terrorist group because of its ties with PKK.
- In September 2019, Turkey proposed a safe buffer zone extending up to 30 km in Syria from the border. Turkey plans to resettle around 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts in this zone.
- US President Donald Trump announced that US troops would pull out of the border area on October 7th.
- The move has been called a betrayal by Kurdish forces and is not even supported by Mr Trump’s own party.
- Following this announcement, Turkey launched an offensive in the region against Kurdish fighters to create the buffer zone, which has forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
- Because of the current situation, as of now, hundreds of jihadists have fled from their detention facilities.
- Kurdish forces invited the Syrian government to help them against Turkey, giving Assad more influence over the region.
- Furthermore, Russia announced that its military units were patrolling territory in Northern Syria.
- USA has asked Turkey to pull back its troops and has imposed sanctions on the country, Turkey has responded by saying that the offensive will continue until their objectives are met.
Prashant's Blog 