Fighting between Syrian Kurds -who a decade ago clawed out an autonomous territory in the country’s northeast- and Turkish-backed militias is posing a serious threat to the current stability.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
It’s been more than a month since rebel forces drove Syria’s regime from power, but in a threat to the country’s fragile stability, fighting between rival factions continues in parts of the country. The fiercest fighting is taking place in Syria’s north, where both the U.S. and Turkey are involved. NPR’s Jane Arraf traveled close to the front line and brings us this story.
(SOUNDBITE OF TANKS RUMBLING)
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: We’re standing on a country road along the Euphrates River in the north of Syria. Turkish tanks travel a nearby highway. But this road is along the riverside, with tall, skinny trees leading down to mist rising over deep blue water. A militia commander stops.
ABU SULEIMAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: He calls us over. Less than 20 miles from the border with Turkey, he assumes we’re Turkish, and he tells us in broken Arabic it’s dangerous up ahead. Just a mile away is a bridge that is now the front line.
SULEIMAN: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: “Enemies at the bridge,” he tells us. “Drones, terrorist militias, land mines.”
The commander, who goes by his battle name, Abu Suleiman (ph), is from an Arab Turkish-backed group. The terrorists he’s referring to is a Turkish Kurdish faction that has been fighting Turkey for decades. Those fighters are entwined with the main U.S. ally – the Syrian Kurdish forces.
SULEIMAN: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: The fighters gather around us as we talk. The U.S. has mediated a truce between the factions, but here, near a strategic dam, it’s not holding. While Abu Suleiman says he appreciates the U.S. role, it’s Turkey safeguarding their interests.
SULEIMAN: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: “America is a friend, but Turkey is a brother,” he says.
HASSAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: A fighter from another Turkish-backed militia tells us to move off the road into the shelter of the trees. He’s worried about attack drones. He asks, for security reasons, to be identified only by his first name, Hassan (ph).
HASSAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “Now, if they surrender their weapons and come under the control of the state, we welcome them,” he says of the Kurdish forces. He agrees with Syria’s transitional government – that all factions need to come under central command.
HASSAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “That’s it – one leader, one army, one state. But if the situation is like this and everyone wants to take over an area, it won’t work,” he says.
It isn’t just the countryside where things are tense.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORNS HONKING)
ARRAF: Twenty miles west of the Euphrates, the city of Manbij is under new control. It was part of the Kurdish region until Turkish-backed forces drove out the Kurds in December.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING)
ARRAF: Everywhere is the sound of motorcycles, many of them ridden by armed fighters with head scarves and long, flowing hair popular with Islamist militias. Most civilians don’t want to talk.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “Go find someone else,” one man says. But privately, we hear that no one is sure who these fighters are, that people don’t go out at night because they’re afraid. In one shop, a computer technician, Izzadeen Mustafa (ph), says people are waiting for the new Syrian government to bring order.
Do people think it’s safe now?
IZZADEEN MUSTAFA: I think not too much because, as you know, we still – we don’t have, like, a government or anything organized. So we need a time, I think.
ARRAF: He says everyone wants peace, but with so many countries and factions involved, he says no one feels it’s within their control. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Manbij, Syria.
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