An agreement struck with Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) will allow Syrian regime forces to enter the northern city of Afrin on Monday, one month after Turkey launched a military operation to control the Kurdish majority area in the countryside of north Aleppo.
“Regime forces will establish a military base in Afrin from which they can head towards border areas with Turkey,” a Kurdish Democratic Union Party official told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Both sides decided to overcome their disputes, and instead face the Turkish aggression,” he said.
According to the unidentified official, their differences had prevented regime forces from entering Afrin a month ago, although Kurdish forces had repeatedly called on Bashar Assad’s forces to defend Syrian sovereignty.
The disputes emerged when Syrian forces asked for the revival of Syrian official institutions, currently run by Kurdish civil committees, as a condition to military intervention in Afrin.
Kurds in return asked that regime forces restrict their presence at the border with Turkey to prevent Ankara-backed forces from controlling Afrin.
“Both sides found a solution that allows the entry of regime forces and the establishment of a military base in Afrin, while details on running official institutions were left for discussion during intra-Syrian talks,” the source said.
However, the deal did not stipulate that the regime’s flag fly above official buildings.
The regime forces’ arrival to Afrin will mark the first presence of Assad's troops on the Turkish border in the countryside of north Aleppo since 2013.
The majority of border areas in the northeast of Syria are controlled by SDF forces, while Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces control areas in the north of Aleppo and Idlib.
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