Who are Turkish-backed forces in latest Syria incursion?
Turkey consolidates motley armed groups with checkered backgrounds from the Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia regions under the Syrian National Army banner and deploys them to the east of the Euphrates.
Turkey, dubbing the operation it launched in northern Syria on Oct. 9 Operation Peace Spring (which also could be translated as Operation Fountain of Peace), has been reorganizing Syrian militia groups loyal to Ankara under the banner of the Syrian National Army, or Jaish al-Watani in Arabic.
Turkey’s choice of names with peaceful and nationalist connotations of course has manipulative and propaganda dimensions to appeal to domestic and foreign public opinion. Turkey found nothing wrong with taking armed groups with checkered records that were implicated in Afrin crimes such as looting, ransom, abductions and torture under the label of the National Army and moving them east of the Euphrates to link up with the Turkish army to join the fight against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) at Tell Abyad.
Before the operation was launched, groups such as the Hamza Division and the Suleiman Shah Brigade were retrained in Afrin in machine-gun firing, close-quarters combat, street clashes and infiltration tactics.
The formation of the new National Army with the participation of outfits that were active at Azaz, Jarablus, al-Bab, Afrin, Idlib and Latakia was announced at a press conference in Sanliurfa on Oct. 4. According to information offered by Abdurrahman Mustafa, the Turkey-guided president of the Syrian provisional government, the new army is composed of the former Syrian National Army (also known as the Free Syrian Army) and groups affiliated with the National Liberation Front. This new army will operate under the provisional government's defense ministry and its components will not be using their original names.
