US Pressuring Turkey to Curb Rebels in Syria, Save Assad’s Hide

Photo Credit: Ali Syria/Flash90

The damaged village of al-Nayrab after Turkish-backed rebels seized it from regime forces, February 25, 2020.

The Biden administration is pressuring Turkey behind the scenes to curb the rebel groups in Syria. As State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller put it on Monday, “Assad is a brutal dictator with blood on his hands – the blood of innocent civilians inside Syria, the blood of his own people on his hands,” but apparently the US prefers a known brutal dictator to anarchy and armed militias in Syria.

The Americans want Turkey to restrain the rebel groups and refrain from aiding them – thus preventing anarchy in the country, where US forces are stationed, and there is also concern about the strengthening of the jihadist groups – against whom the administration has been fighting in recent years.

Kan11 cited sources familiar with the matter who said the administration is pressuring Turkey to curb the jihadist rebel groups in its sphere of influence. US officials have spoken to Turkish officials on the matter in recent days, including a conversation between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials said on Monday that US troops in northwest Syria are staying out of the conflict between Islamist opposition factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and forces aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This stance comes despite the rebels’ making gains, including pushing out Kurdish-led forces from key areas in Tel Rifaat and Aleppo.

Defense Department press secretary US Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told a group of reporters on Monday: “Let me be clear that the US is in no way involved in the operations you see playing out in and around Aleppo in northwestern Syria. We’re obviously monitoring the situation, which is on the other side of Syria.”

According to the official Turkish news agency Anadolu, The Syrian National Army (SNA) has successfully captured several key locations, including 24 villages, and Kuveyris and Minnig airports.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the factions working with it within the “Deterrence of Aggression” operation were able to take control of the cities and towns of Taybat al-Imam, Halfaya, Soran, and Maardis in the northern Hama countryside overnight Tuesday, after violent clashes with regime forces, coinciding with airstrikes by Russian warplanes and mutual artillery shelling.

On Monday, the most violent clashes took place in the northern Hama countryside, between the regime forces on the one hand, and the rebel factions on the other. The latter took control of the villages of Al-Jabeen, Tal Malah, Jalmah, and Breidej, and regained control of the town of Karnaz in the northern Hama countryside.

It didn’t take long before the “moderate rebels” in Syria started attacking Christians and other minorities. Al Qaeda can change its name but they will always be terrorists pic.twitter.com/wwbm7jqYvt

— Hadi (@HadiNasrallah) November 30, 2024

A resident of As-Suwayda, a Druze city in southwestern Syria, told Kan11: “The same factions that took over Aleppo destroyed Christmas trees, and they are murdering Kurds in the streets. Their slogans are jihad and Allahu Akbar.”

Despite the dictatorial nature of the Assad regime, it allows freedom of religion to the Druze and members of other faiths in Syria, while the Islamists fundamentally do not accept religions other than Islam.