Iran, Turkey brace for face-off in Syria
Iran has been trying to dissuade Turkey from a fresh intervention in Syria while making military preparations on the ground to protect its interests amid a growing rift between the two neighbors.
Driven apart by clashing regional interests, Turkey and Iran appear headed for a face-off in Syria, with Tehran explicitly opposing Ankara’s plan for a fresh military operation against Kurdish-held areas, wary of risks to its own posture in the region.
Turkey has failed to get a green light from the United States to press ahead with the plan, while Russia appears to be stalling. The Iranians, meanwhile, have sent militia reinforcements to two Shiite settlements northwest of Aleppo, not far from a key area in Ankara’s crosshairs, while trying to talk Turkey out from making the move — apparently with little success thus far. The Iranian foreign minister was expected to hold talks in Turkey on June 6, two days before a critical visit by Russia’s foreign minister, but the trip was cancelled due to what the Iranian press described as scheduling problems. An Iranian journalist who closely follows Turkish-Iranian ties told Al-Monitor that Tehran sent a military intelligence official to Ankara to convey its objections. Al-Monitor could not verify the claim independently. The journalist asked to remain anonymous.
The notion of rivalry has become an understatement in defining Turkish-Iranian ties. The rifts between the two neighbors have deepened amid an array of issues concerning Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, coupled with frictions over the sharing of transboundary waters and a seemingly uncontrolled stream of Afghan refugees to Turkey from Iran. The two sides have stood with opposing blocs in the government-formation impasse in Baghdad and wrangled for influence in Mosul, Kirkuk and Sinjar. Tehran has wooed the Shiite section of the Turkmen minority to divide Ankara’s main ally in Iraq. It has denounced Turkey’s pursuit of militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Iraqi territory, and Iranian-backed militias have attacked a Turkish base there amid Turkish accusations that Iran is covertly backing the PKK. Moreover, Ankara has moved closer to the Arab-Israeli axis emerging against Iran and reverted to pleasing the Saudis in Yemen as part of normalization efforts with Riyadh.
It was in this atmosphere that the Iranian Foreign Ministry slammed Turkey’s intervention plan, warning that it would only exacerbate tensions and humanitarian suffering in Syria.
