Exclusive: Syrian Army commander says their goal is to stop the Turkish Army
The Syrian Kurdish leadership reached a deal on Sunday with Damascus for the Syrian Army to step in following an announcement by US President Donald Trump that he was withdrawing American troops from Syria. The goal was to prevent Turkey from taking more territory and prevent another situation similar to Afrin, a prominent Kurdish-majority region occupied by Turkey and its allied militias.
Shahin Janib Ali, a member of the legislative council of Kobani, earlier told Kurdistan 24 that the “people of Kobani prefer the Syrian Army over these armed groups because the Syrian Army is Syrian and we [the Kurds] never called for separation. We would rather be with the unity of Syrian soil. Undoubtedly, Kobani will prefer [the] Syrian Army. We will never accept the people of Kobani to live under Turkish occupation and its mercenaries.”
The Kobani Military Council leader, Ismat Sheikh Hassan, also told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday that the Syrian Army had entered Kobani and created outposts close to the border. He confirmed they had also entered nearby Ain al Issa.
He affirmed local forces and Syrian government forces were now working together.
“The situation in Kobani is good. There are clashes in the eastern part.Tal Abyad is under their [Turkish] control. Serekaniye, we have captured it. The clashes are everywhere, they are using artillery, aircraft, and tanks. But in Kobani itself, there is no war, only shelling at times.”
Editing by Nadia Riva
(Additional reporting by Redwan Bezar).