Syrian Kurdish officials say they remain opposed to any US plans for a safe zone that would foresee the further injection of Turkish forces and their rebel opposition Free Syrian Army allies in territories currently under their control along the Turkish border, saying any such arrangement would escalate tensions and add to instability. “A safe zone that allows for Turkish troops to come into our areas is completely unacceptable. The US goal should be to prevent Turkish aggression against us as we have no aggressive intentions toward Turkey,” a senior official in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told Al-Monitor in a telephone interview.
The official was responding to the latest comments by Jim Jeffrey, the United States’ Syria envoy, about a proposed safe zone.