The Syrian regime and Kurdish forces have reportedly agreed to join forces in Afrin to counter an ongoing Turkish offensive. Syrian state media report that the deployment of pro-regime troops is imminent.
Damascus will deploy pro-government forces to Afrin to back Kurds against the Turkish offensive, Syrian state agency SANA reported on Monday morning.
The move aims to “support the steadfastness of its people in confronting the aggression which Turkish regime forces have launched on the region,” SANA said.
Syrian state television also announced that the deployment was imminent, without providing details.
Read more: German Kurds protest Turkey’s Afrin assault in Cologne
The announcement raises the prospect of direct clashes between the Syrian regime and Turkey, which alongside rebel allies intervened a month ago against the Kurdish-held enclave in northwestern Syria.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said there would be “no problems” if the Syrian fighters were deployed to “cleanse” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin.
But he said that if the regime defended the YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization linked to the PKK, then “nothing and nobody can stop us or Turkish soldiers.”
“This is true for Afrin, Manbij and the east of the Euphrates River,” Cavusoglu added, referring to Kurdish-controlled areas east of Afrin.
Read more: Turkey’s military offensive against Kurdish-held Afrin: What you need to know
