Turkey launched its invasion of Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria on Oct. 9, threatening to bring to life the fears of residents who spoke with Al-Monitor in the days before the operation began.
US troops evacuated two observation posts Oct. 7 in northern Syria, at Gire Spi/Tell Abyad and Sari Kani/Ras al-Ain. The move came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Oct. 5 that his country would carry out an air and ground assault east of the Euphrates.
The general command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement after the withdrawal, “Despite our efforts to avoid any military escalation with Turkey and the flexibility we have shown ... to establish a border security mechanism and to fulfill our obligations in this regard, the US did not fulfill its obligations and withdrew its troops from the border areas with Turkey. Meanwhile, the latter is now preparing for an invasion of northern and eastern Syria.”
The SDF, a Kurdish-Arab alliance that until recently was supported by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS), considers the US withdrawal and statements that it would not interfere in the Turkish operation a "stab in the back." US President Donald Trump appeared to backtrack somewhat from the noninterference statement, however, threatening to "obliterate" Turkey's economy if its forces do anything Trump considers "off limits."
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