“Down with Erdogan, down with the occupation!” chanted protesters as they marched several kilometers from the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn in Hasakah governorate to hand over their petition seeking protection from a seemingly imminent Turkish incursion.

The military outpost near Tel Arqam is occupied by US-led coalition forces, which in breach of Syria’s sovereignty intervened in the conflict more than five years ago, under the pretext of battling Islamic State terrorist group. Supplying Kurdish militias with arms and using them as their boots on the ground (after years of supporting ‘moderate rebels’ flopped and turned out a PR disaster), Washington managed to maintain a foothold in the north of Syria.

Syrian Kurds seek to maintain their autonomy, and Damascus does not mind at all, as long as the country’s territorial integrity is preserved. Ankara, however, fears that under Washington’s guidance they might eventually secede, breaking away a part of Turkey too, to establish an independent Kurdish state.

Ankara and Washington agreed earlier in August to create a ‘peace corridor’ to facilitate the return of displaced Syrians into northern Syria – until Turkey realized that joint “land and air patrols with US were a fairytale.” Turkish President Erdogan even openly suggested that Washington was only seeking to protect their Kurdish “terrorist group,” and announced that Turkey was all set and ready to go in alone to establish the so-called “safe zone.”

Of course, neither the US nor Turkey bothered to consult Damascus, which has repeatedly blasted all their joint and unilateral endeavors as flagrant violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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