On Tuesday, May 30,
Inside Syria media center wrote that Ankara
was creating a new formation of the fractured units of the Free Syrian Army
(FSA). Turkey used to view the FSA as its trump card in Syria – the militants
should have opposed the Syrian troops, fight ISIS and, what’s most important
for Ankara, confront the Kurds who still keep gaining control over territories
along the Syria-Turkey border.
Obviously, the
Turkish plan failed. At the start of the Euphrates Shield operation, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly claimed that the main objective was to bar the
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from securing Manbij and prevent
them from taking the role of the main U.S. ally in the Raqqa offensive.
None of
these was achieved: Kurdish units not only completely liberated Manbij but also
advanced even further to the west of the town while Washington in its turn
increased its arms supplies for the SDF and cut off its support for the FSA.
The main
responsibility for the failed operation bear the militants of the Free Syrian
Army, which was hardly effective during the Euphrates Shield. According to a BBC
journalist Quentin Sommerville, some three months of the battle for Al-Bab
resulted in the death of almost 500 FSA militants, who were backed by Turkish
tanks, APCs and artillery.
After the
operation, the ‘army’ is in a sorry state. According to Abdulrahman Al-Rashed,
the former general manager of Al-Arabiya news channel, it is disintegrated into
small groups.
Identical views are
expressed in the Turkish channel TRT’s report on the
forming so-called ‘National Army’. Its goals will be the same as the ones of
the fractured FSA. Turkey seems to be changing the name of the militant forces
it backs, following the example of al-Nusra also known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
or, since January 2017, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Changing titles didn’t lead to
any real changes, as we know.
Obviously, Ankara
is attempting to preserve its fading influence in Syria. However, Turkish
politicians will likely walk into the same wall and repeat the same mistakes
again and again while Syria and its allies are decisively solving the crisis.
