Washington, D.C. — With Turkish troops threatening a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in Northern Syria, a new analysis from the Center for American Progress says the move could trigger a new, bloody phase of the long-running Syrian civil war.
Ankara views the strong Kurdish presence along Turkey’s southern border as a major threat to its national security, given the country’s long-running domestic Kurdish insurgency. But a Turkish offensive in the Kurdish-held region of Afrin would bring tremendous risks of a widening conflict, the analysis says.
It could spark a wider war with Syrian Kurdish forces, igniting a new phase of the Syrian war and increasing tensions with the United States at a time when Washington is trying to de-escalate the military conflict in the hopes of pursuing an eventual political settlement.
Read the column: “Potential Turkish Military Move on Afrin Risks Wider War,” by Max Hoffman.
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