Northern Syria heats up as next likely US-Turkey flashpoint
Despite speculation that Turkey and the United States might repair their tense relations now that one key issue is settled, an Erdogan adviser called Turkey's shelling east of the Euphrates River “a friendly message to the US.”
Now that the tension surrounding US pastor Andrew Brunson has blown over, there is speculation that Turkey and the United States will move to improve their troubled ties. For example, cooperation between Ankara and Washington over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi brought US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and CIA Director Gina Haspel rushing to Ankara. Still, differences remain over multiple unresolved issues.
Northern Syria, where the United States has allied itself with the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG) — two groups that Turkey says are terrorist organizations linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — may be the site of the next flashpoint.
The United States sees the PKK as a terrorist organization, too, but has refused to use this designation for the PYD and YPG, supporting them instead in their fight against the Islamic State and other radical Islamic groups in Syria.
Disregarding US objections, Turkey launched its Operation Olive Branch in January to capture the YPG-held Syrian city of Afrin near the Turkish border.
