Turkey concerned as Syrian Kurds press toward Raqqa

Turkey said Tuesday that Washington has promised that US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces will only be involved in encircling the Daesh stronghold of Raqqa and will not enter the city itself.
But a top Kurdish official said the Kurdish-led forces that launched an offensive earlier this week will enter the northern Syrian city, which serves as the de facto capital of the terrorists’ self-styled caliphate.
The US-backed Syria Democratic Forces, which include Arab and Turkmen fighters, have driven Daesh from large swaths of territory, but Turkey views the Syrian Kurds who dominate the group as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast.
Turkey has sent its own forces into Syria to back Syrian opposition fighters, and has suggested that they should lead the offensive to retake Raqqa. The Turkey-backed forces, now pushing toward the Daesh stronghold of Al-Bab, have clashed with IS as well as the SDF.
The SDF has made some gains since the Raqqa offensive began Sunday, taking over nearly a dozen villages. Ilham Ahmed, a senior official in the political arm of the SDF, said the same forces leading the offensive will enter Raqqa to drive IS out.
“The campaign will continue to be in that form until it enters the city,” Ahmed told The Associated Press. She said the Kurdish-led SDF, as the main force on the ground, is best placed to decide what forces are needed to liberate the city.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that he hoped the US would keep its promise to rein in the Kurdish forces, but noted that Washington had also pledged earlier that the Syrian Kurds would withdraw from the town of Manbij, which has not yet happened.
Cavusoglu said the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, told Turkish officials during a recent visit that the Syrian Kurdish fighters would only have a role in encircling Raqqa and would not enter the city.
“We hope that this will be the case and we expect that our partners keep their promises,” Cavusoglu said.
“We still have weeks to the Raqqa operation,” Cavusoglu said. 
“Our advice is for the local forces to be supported by our special forces.”
He suggested that residents of Raqqa, a mainly Sunni Arab city, would not welcome Kurdish forces, saying: “We should not force the people to choose between two evils.”
Ahmed said US officials have not yet raised the possibility of Turkish or Turkey-backed forces taking part in the Raqqa offensive.
“I think (Ankara) is trying to pressure the Americans to bring in allied groups into Raqqa. We are the main party that decides if we need such troops to be involved,” she said. 
“We are self-sufficient. There is no need.”
There was no immediate comment from US officials.
The US Central Command says coalition warplanes have carried out more than 30 air raids north of Raqqa since Sunday. SDF spokesman Talal Sillo told the Kurdish news agency Hawar that the coalition has also provided fresh arms, including anti-tank missiles.
A Raqqa-based Syrian activist group, known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, said terrorists have prevented residents of a nearby village that was bombed by coalition forces from leaving and imposed a curfew there.
Both the Raqqa activist group and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS militants have blown up a number of bridges over irrigation canals north of Raqqa, near Ein Issa, where SDF are based.

Source: Arab News