Can Turkey take on Raqqa before concluding al-Bab?
Turkey is expanding its targets by proposing to partner with the United States at Raqqa before ending its al-Bab operation, a course that is laden with traps.
Turkey took over the Syrian border town of Jarablus from the Islamic State (IS) with not much effort in August 2016, with the approval of Moscow. Today, however, it is sustaining heavy casualties from unexpected stiff resistance at al-Bab. Nevertheless, Ankara is making strong efforts to participate in an operation to take Raqqa.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in a 45-minute phone call with US President Donald Trump on Feb. 7, just 18 days after Trump took office. Meanwhile, new CIA Director Michael Pompeo made his first trip to Turkey and received the details of Turkey’s proposal.
The Turkish plan — the same as it was during President Barack Obama's time — is based on assaulting Raqqa without Kurdish assistance. According to details leaked to the Turkish media about these meetings, the key elements of the plan are as follows:
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Ankara proposes to contribute Turkish special forces to the Raqqa operation, to persuade the United States to give up its cooperation with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Turkish special forces are currently performing coordination, reconnaissance and target-acquisition actions at al-Bab and supposedly could contribute 150-200 personnel to the Raqqa operation.
