A fresh Turkish military buildup is underway in the northern Syrian region of Ain Issa, north of Raqqa, around the key M-4 highway, raising the specter of another Turkish thrust to curb the Syrian Kurds. 

Military vehicles, heavy weaponry, radars and remote surveillance equipment have been stationed in areas that form the line of contact with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). According to Kurdish sources, the Turkish military and allied rebel groups have set up military posts at the village of Saida, north of Ain Issa, as well as around Tell Tamer and Zirkan. In early November, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Turkish forces had been stationed also at Kaffifa, Ain Rummana, Tina and Al-Rabea, all near the M-4 highway.

Mervan Rojava, the head of the media office of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, told Al-Monitor that Turkish forces had set up a watchtower with surveillance cameras and snipers at Saida, a deserted village just north of M4. Rojava recalled that the M4 had effectively become a separation line between Turkish forces and the SDF after Turkey seized control of the border stretch from Tell Abyad to Ras al-Ain in Operation Peace Spring in October 2019. “The Turkish military has been setting up military bases and digging trenches along the separation strip at sites just several hundred meters from the highway,” he said.

After Operation Peace Spring, the grain silos in the village of Shergirak near Ain Issa became the largest Turkish base in the vicinity of M4. Another camp area is located near the village of Misherfa, not far from Tell Tamer. Turkey has been reinforcing both bases as well as new sites, according to Syria-based Kurdish journalist Nazim Dastan. Trenches, canals and tunnels are reportedly being dug near Medrut, not far from Tell Abyad, Zirkan and the Hoshan and Khalidiya villages along the M4.