Chloe Troadec, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center in Ain Issa, said Turkish-backed proxy forces had “cut off the key arterial road linking Ain Issa to Kobani, and are trying to enter the abandoned IDP camp adjacent to the city.”
“Ain Issa is around 34 kilometers from the Turkish border and to the west of Tal Abyad, well outside Turkey’s claimed ‘safe zone,’” Troadec told Kurdistan 24. “It is located on the M4 highway—likely Turkey’s prime objective, a key arterial road for trade and aid linking western and eastern regions of north and east Syria together.”
Controlling this strategically-located city, or the M4 road, would enable Turkey to choke off the connection between Jazira and Kobani, she added.
In Kobani, “aid is already in short supply—with all traffic already forced to travel via Raqqa due to Turkish aggressions elsewhere on the M4.”
Nicholas A. Heras, a Middle East security analyst at the Center for a New American Security, believes Turkey is violating the ceasefire deal that was brokered in October with the United States.
“Ankara wants to control Ain Issa so it can isolate Kobani from the rest of the SDF held areas in northeast Syria,” Heras told Kurdistan 24.
“Ain Issa is also a strategic point to exert influence on the roads into and out of northeast Syria, positioning Turkey to be the ultimate powerbroker over a large part of Syrian territory moving forward.”
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany