Dani

It's essentially a military proxy force of Turkey. They don't have a coherent political framework. They're not revolutionary groups. They're not liberatory or emancipatory. They wouldn't describe themselves as that in the same way that maybe HTS would. I mean, the Kurds in northeast Syria describe them as gangs, which kind of sounds like a propaganda term.

But when you actually look at what they do, they really are like sort of a criminal enterprise, a criminal gang that's used as a convenient proxy force by Turkey because ultimately Turkey has a massive military. Their navy is quite underfunded and not particularly well staffed. The air force has suffered pretty seriously from the fallout of the The coup in 2016. But the army is massive.

But when you actually look at what they do, they really are like sort of a criminal enterprise, a criminal gang that's used as a convenient proxy force by Turkey because ultimately Turkey has a massive military. Their navy is quite underfunded and not particularly well staffed. The air force has suffered pretty seriously from the fallout of the The coup in 2016. But the army is massive.

But when you actually look at what they do, they really are like sort of a criminal enterprise, a criminal gang that's used as a convenient proxy force by Turkey because ultimately Turkey has a massive military. Their navy is quite underfunded and not particularly well staffed. The air force has suffered pretty seriously from the fallout of the The coup in 2016. But the army is massive.

It's relatively well funded and their drone program is huge. The thing that they struggle with is the losses that are incurred against Kurdish groups, particularly the PKK in the mountains between Iraq and Turkey. And they need to they need to control that because they realize that they've been fighting militarily, as you say, since the early 1980s.

It's relatively well funded and their drone program is huge. The thing that they struggle with is the losses that are incurred against Kurdish groups, particularly the PKK in the mountains between Iraq and Turkey. And they need to they need to control that because they realize that they've been fighting militarily, as you say, since the early 1980s.

It's relatively well funded and their drone program is huge. The thing that they struggle with is the losses that are incurred against Kurdish groups, particularly the PKK in the mountains between Iraq and Turkey. And they need to they need to control that because they realize that they've been fighting militarily, as you say, since the early 1980s.

And they can't have a Vietnam situation of a mass movement against their military occupation and against their military efforts in Syria. They can't afford financially or politically to get into a quagmire there.

And they can't have a Vietnam situation of a mass movement against their military occupation and against their military efforts in Syria. They can't afford financially or politically to get into a quagmire there.

And they can't have a Vietnam situation of a mass movement against their military occupation and against their military efforts in Syria. They can't afford financially or politically to get into a quagmire there.

And so by funding this sort of collection of groups called the SNA, that's their way of being able to incur pretty massive losses without having to report on it, without that creating unrest or opposition within the Turkish population of Turkey.

And so by funding this sort of collection of groups called the SNA, that's their way of being able to incur pretty massive losses without having to report on it, without that creating unrest or opposition within the Turkish population of Turkey.

And so by funding this sort of collection of groups called the SNA, that's their way of being able to incur pretty massive losses without having to report on it, without that creating unrest or opposition within the Turkish population of Turkey.

Yeah, it's been very fast moving. As you say, it's only been two weeks since the battle for Aleppo started, if you can call it a battle. So the SDF, so this is like the alliance of military groups that falls under the remit of the self-administration in the northeast Syria.

Yeah, it's been very fast moving. As you say, it's only been two weeks since the battle for Aleppo started, if you can call it a battle. So the SDF, so this is like the alliance of military groups that falls under the remit of the self-administration in the northeast Syria.

Yeah, it's been very fast moving. As you say, it's only been two weeks since the battle for Aleppo started, if you can call it a battle. So the SDF, so this is like the alliance of military groups that falls under the remit of the self-administration in the northeast Syria.

So the YPG and the YPJ are like the most famous and largest components of this force, but there are a whole bunch of Arab and Syrian and Armenian units within the SDF. Yeah. they held this sort of salient pushing out into northwest Syria towards Afrin, which was captured by the SNA in Turkey in 2018. That was on one side surrounded by HTS and on the other by the SNA.

So the YPG and the YPJ are like the most famous and largest components of this force, but there are a whole bunch of Arab and Syrian and Armenian units within the SDF. Yeah. they held this sort of salient pushing out into northwest Syria towards Afrin, which was captured by the SNA in Turkey in 2018. That was on one side surrounded by HTS and on the other by the SNA.

So the YPG and the YPJ are like the most famous and largest components of this force, but there are a whole bunch of Arab and Syrian and Armenian units within the SDF. Yeah. they held this sort of salient pushing out into northwest Syria towards Afrin, which was captured by the SNA in Turkey in 2018. That was on one side surrounded by HTS and on the other by the SNA.

When things really kicked off, the SNA started a pretty concerted campaign to capture this area known as Sheba. And because of its position and its relatively difficult terrain and difficult logistical position to resupply, They pulled back from that towards Aleppo and Manbij, which is the only major city that the SDS still held on the west of the Euphrates. And it's the area closest to Aleppo.