Ankara's Syrian plan falters as Moscow sets up in Afrin
Turkey's move to enlist the Russians against the Syrian Kurds is not working out, as both the United States and Russia deepen their ties with the Syrian Kurds and Operation Euphrates Shield appears to have reached the limits of its expansion.
Turkey’s last-ditch efforts to harness Russian military and diplomatic heft to counter the Syrian Kurds and unravel their alliance with the United States are showing few signs of succeeding, like much else in the country’s ill-fated Syrian policy.
If anything, both the United States and Russia are steadily deepening their ties with the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its Arab allies who operate under the umbrella of the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF). And viewed from Ankara, they are doing so at Turkey’s expense.
