GAZIANTEP, TURKEY // In its nearly two-year war against ISIL in Syria, the United States has depended on two key allies who are enemies of each another: Turkey and the most powerful Syrian Kurdish faction, the YPG.
While Turkey has allowed the US to use its Incirlik airbase to carry out air strikes against ISIL, the YPG has proven to be Washington's most effective ground force in Syria, making gains against the extremist group like no other faction has, with help from American air power, supplies and a small number of special forces troops.
Without Turkey, there would be no air war like there is today. But without the cooperation of the Kurds, ISIL would likely control much more territory in eastern and northern Syria than it currently does. Breaking the relationship with either would greatly jeopardise the fight against ISIL.
Washington played a careful balancing act between the two, reassuring them that US backing of one did not present a threat to another. Despite a few fumbles and moments of tension, the strategy largely worked. That is, until Turkey directly intervened in Syria's war last week, targeting not only ISIL, but Kurdish forces with its air force, artillery and rebel proxies.
Seemingly caught off guard now, the US has gone back and forth in its support for Turkey's actions and has risked alienating both its allies.
When Turkey announced last week that Syrian rebels backed by Turkish forces were entering the ISIL-held border town of Jarablus, Ankara said its action was to clear ISIL and YPG forces from the area and claimed its actions were being supported by the US-led coalition.
Despite Turkey declaring hostility towards the YPG, the US said it supported their intervention and stood by Turkey. When vice president Joe Biden was in Ankara for talks, as the operation began, he reiterated Turkish demands that Kurdish forces must withdraw east of the Euphrates River or risk losing American support. He said Kurdish commanders had made "commitments" that they would hand over captured areas to local forces and that Washington expected the Kurds to stand by those commitments.
That tone started to change when the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition dominated by the Kurdish YPG, started getting bombed by Ankara and was locked in clashes with Turkey-backed rebels. Representatives of rebel groups active in the Jarablus offensive have said that while they initially fought ISIL, most of their fighting has since turned to the SDF.
As the crosshairs turned to the SDF, the US on Monday called the outbreak of hostilities "unacceptable" and warned that they were distracting from the fight against ISIL. Washington distanced itself from Turkey's operation, saying its latest actions were neither coordinated with the US nor supported by them.
Turkey has long called for the US to choose between Ankara and the YPG. Now that Turkey has finally created a situation where Washington must choose one or the other, the US fumbles.
Its latest criticisms of Turkey's intervention have angered Ankara, while its initial backing of the Turkish operation and attempts to order Kurdish forces east of the Euphrates will be seen by many Syrian Kurds as the US throwing them under the bus.
The Obama administration is in an understandably difficult spot, with two allies whom they back militarily now at each other's throats in a crowded battlefield. So far, the public response has been to profusely thank both Turkey and the SDF for their contributions in the fight against ISIL while urging restraint. But that is unlikely enough to calm things down.
Beyond tripping over allegiances, the US has also come off as confused about what is happening on the ground, with their allies contradicting their claims. On Tuesday, US central command head Gen Joseph Votel said that Turkey and the SDF had come to a "loose agreement" to stop fighting — a claim that Turkey quickly rejected.
After US claims that Kurdish components of the SDF had mostly moved east of the Euphrates, Turkey swiftly demanded that the SDF retreat east of the Euphrates, seeming to indicate that Ankara believes the move did not happen.
It will be hard for the US to convince either Turkish or YPG forces that their relationship and support remains solid.
The US is clearly hoping that Kurdish forces will head east of the Euphrates, to calm Turkey's nerves and allow Washington to patch up relations.
But even if Kurdish forces comply, there are risks that newly emboldened Turkish-backed rebel units will seek to pursue them - or that Turkey will look to clear Kurdish forces from other parts of its frontier.
Foreign interventions - particularly in conflicts as complicated as Syria - are rarely easy and confined to defined parameters. While Turkey has a set list of goals to accomplish in its operation and has insisted its involvement is temporary, adhering to this will be difficult.
jwood@thenational.ae
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3Novices Europe
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