As Turkey steps up its pressure on the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria and Israel rejects a US-Russia cease-fire in the southwest of the country, a deal among Moscow, Ankara and Damascus may be in the works in Afrin.

Turkey has escalated its attacks on the YPG, and the US-YPG partnership, in recent weeks. On July 15, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Serdar Kilic, labeled the US decision to liberate Raqqa in partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is made up primarily of YPG fighters, as “a strategic mistake,” Amberin Zaman writes. The SDF force, which numbers 30,000-40,000 fighters, is taking heavy casualties so far in the Raqqa offensive, according to the Pentagon, as Jack Detsch reports from Washington.

Zaman writes that in a further blow to US-Turkey relations, “Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency has revealed what it claims to be the locations of 10 US military bases in the Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria, a move that will likely put a further dent in the rocky relationship between the two NATO allies.”

Turkey has refused to allow humanitarian aid, including baby formula, into areas under YPG control, and it has shut down Mercy Corps operations from Turkey into Syria.