Will Turkish airstrikes reignite war in Syria?
A new front has opened in the war in Syria — bringing fresh bloodshed and political upheaval to a conflict that seemed to finally nearing a resolution.
Turkish troops have been launching airstrikes across it's border into north-west Syria in recent days, targeting Kurdish YPG forces.
But Turkey is a NATO member. And those Kurdish forces have been backed by the U.S. as they've battled ISIS inside Syria and the Assad regime.
"We recognize and fully appreciate Turkey's legitimate right to protect its own citizens from terrorist elements... We are engaged with Turkey and we are engaged also with the leadership of our coalition and are asking for both side to show restraint," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey's prime minister, reportedly brushed off the U.S. plea for restraint.
"Turkish-U.S. relations are basically going through an all-time low," said Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and columnist with Cumhuriyet, a prominent newspaper in Turkey.
"The reality on the ground is that the U.S. considers Syrian Kurds the most effective fighting force against ISIS. And that calculus is important," she told The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.
Last week, Tillerman confirmed a U.S. military presence in Syria, despite having largely already defeated ISIS there.
"We cannot make the same mistakes that were made in 2011, when our premature departure from Iraq allowed al-Qaeda in Iraq to survive and eventually morph into ISIS. It was that vacuum that allowed ISIS and other terrorist organizations to wreak havoc on the country," Tillerman said.
The Kurdish YPG were ground troops for the successful U.S.-led campaign in Syria against ISIS. Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent for The Independent, said they have good reason to feel the U.S. owes them.
"Thousands of YPG fighters have been killed and wounded. They are the people on the ground who captured Raqqa and various other places ... They really did the fighting," he told Tremonti.
But Turkey's ambition, he said, is to have no Kurdish "mini-state" on their northern border with Syria.
Cockburn said the YPG are now concerned the U.S. might turn their back in an effort to maintain relations with their NATO partner Turkey.
The Pentagon's decision to keep troops on the ground in the region has brought this conflict to the fore, opening up another front in a war that finally seemed to be ending.
"I don't think they realized that it was going to have such explosive consequences," he said.
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This segment was produced by The Current's Amra Pasic and Exan Auyoung