U.S.-backed PYD/PKK are getting indirect help from an unlikely source in their terror campaign against Turkey in the northwestern region of Afrin: Bashar al-Assad.
Pro-government forces and PYD/PKK have fought each other elsewhere in Syria and Damascus opposes the PYD/PKK's demands for autonomy. But in Afrin they have a common enemy and a mutual interest in blocking Turkish advances.
Turkey, which regards the PYD/PKK terrorist in Afrin as a threat on its southern border, launched an operation on the region last month. Seeking to shield Afrin, the PYD/PKK asked Damascus to send forces into action to defend the border.
The government shows no sign of doing so, but it is providing indirect help by allowing PYD/PKK terrorists, civilians and politicians to reach Afrin through territory it holds, representatives of both sides told Reuters.
Assad stands to gain while doing little.
The arrival of reinforcements is likely to sustain PYD/PKK resistance, bog down the Turkish forces and prolong a conflict that is sapping the resources of military powers that rival him for control of Syrian territory.
For the United States, it is yet another complication in Syria's seven-year-old war, and a reminder of how its YPG ally must at times make deals with Assad even as it builds military ties with the United States.
Lacking international protection, the PYD/PKK in northern Syria say they have reached agreements with Damascus to allow reinforcements to be sent to Afrin from other YPG-dominated areas -- Kobani and the Jazeera region.
"There are different ways to get reinforcements to Afrin but the fundamental route is via regime forces. There are understandings between the two forces ... for the sake of delivering reinforcements to Afrin," Kino Gabriel, spokesman for the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said.
While the PYD/PKK depend on Assad to reach Afrin, Kurdish sources say they also enjoy leverage over Damascus because it needs their cooperation to source grain and oil from areas of the northeast under Kurdish control.
A commander in the military alliance fighting in support of Assad said "the PYD/PKK have no option but coordination with the regime" to defend Afrin.
"The Syrian regime is helping the Kurds with humanitarian support and some logistics, like turning a blind eye and allowing Kurdish support to reach some fronts," a PYD/PKK terrorist said in a statement.
