Just when you thought Syria couldn’t get more complex, Turkey reportedly bombed the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria Thursday, killing up to 200 fighters in the largest Syrian Kurdish armed group. Syrian state news agency reported the news, as did Al Jazeera and other outlets after.
The bombing reveals the complexities of alliances in the Syrian conflict. Turkey and the US are NATO allies, but the US is arming the YPG and even has sent special forces to aid them.
Russia and Turkey have mended relations since Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Turkey-Syria border last year, but the Turkish news site Anadolu said Turkey thought the YPG was attacking Syrian rebel groups in the country’s north, according to Al Jazeera. Russia, too, is fighting various rebel groups in support of the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Russia and Turkey are still on opposite sides of the Syria conflict, despite their warming relations.
Some fear as long as so many foreign powers have interests in Syria, the war will only continue.
