Kurdish forces call on Syrian army to protect Afrin enclave against Turkish attack

DAMASCUS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Kurdish democratic self-administration in

In a statement, the Kurdish administration, which runs Afrin, stressed that Afrin is "an inseparable part of Syria," adding that the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), have been defending the northern region for six years, protecting the area against the offensives of the Islamic State (IS) terrorists, al-Qaida, and others on Syrian soil, and "contributing to preserving the unity of the Syrian lands and national institutions."

The statement added that the Turkish military campaign, which started on Saturday, "threatens the territorial integrity of Syria."

While stressing resolve to keep confronting the Turkish attack, the Afrin's Kurdish administration called on the Syrian state "to carry out its sovereign duties towards Afrin and protect its borders with Turkey from the attacks by the Turkish occupier."

The statement also urged for the "deployment of the Syrian armed forces to secure the borders of the Afrin region."

The new stance comes amid reports that the YPG had previously refused to hand over Afrin to the Syrian army ahead of the Turkish offensive.

Observers in Damascus voiced their conviction that the entry of the Syrian army to Afrin would strip Turkey from its pretext to continue the military operation that primarily targets the Kurdish YPG and the allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Turkey made it clear that it was moving on with a military campaign called "Olive Branch" to eradicate the Kurdish fighters in Afrin and other areas along the Syrian-Turkish border to eliminate the Kurdish sway in that region and to create its long-hoped-for buffer zone.

The Syrian government has condemned the attack, saying it represents an encroachment upon the Syrian sovereignty.

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said the Syrian air defenses have fully recovered, adding that they would respond to any Turkish warplane targeting Afrin.

However, observers believe that the threat of military response by Syria was a message to the Kurdish fighters in Afrin that if the area was handed over to the Syrian government, the Syrian forces would respond to the Turkish attack as mentioned by Mekdad.

Now that the Kurds have declared it publicly, the focus will be shifted on what will Russia and Iran, both main allies to the Syrian government, do to support a halt of the Turkish offensive in Afrin amid no fresh remarks from Damascus about the next step in Afrin.