BEIRUT: Syrian
troops deployed in support of Kurdish forces around a strategic northern city
on Friday, in a shift of alliances hastened by last week's announcement of a US
military withdrawal. Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the move
marked another key step in President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed drive to
reassert control over the country.

The Syrian army
announced that it had raised the flag in Manbij, a strategic city close to the
Turkish border where Kurdish forces have been deployed since 2016 and where
US-led coalition forces are also stationed. A military spokesman said in a
televised announcement that the army would be bent on "crushing terrorism
and defeating all invaders and occupiers". More than 300 government forces
deployed in the Manbij area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights.

Nura Al-Hamed,
deputy head of the Manbij local authority, told AFP that the regime deployment
was the result of Russian-sponsored negotiations. "The regime forces will
not enter the city of Manbij itself but will deploy on the demarcation
line" with Turkish-backed Syrian groups, she said. Hamed said that US and
French coalition forces stationed there remained at their positions and
continued to conduct patrols. The US military said the Syrian army had not
entered the city itself.

"Despite
incorrect information about changes to the military forces in Manbij city, (the
US-led coalition) has seen no indication of these claims being true," US
Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown said.

Kurdish shift

The Syrian army's
deployment creates a regime buffer arching across northern Syria that fully
separates the Turkish army and its proxies from the Kurds. Turkey reacted to
the deployment by warning "all sides to stay away from provocative
actions" while a large convoy of its Syrian auxiliaries were seen moving
closer to the western edge of Manbij later on Friday.

US President
Donald Trump's shock withdrawal announcement last week left the Kurds in the
cold. The People's Protection Units (YPG) have been the backbone of an alliance
that has spearheaded the US-backed fight against the Islamic State group in
Syria. They are currently battling the last remnants of the jihadists' once
sprawling "caliphate" in the country's far east, near the border with
Iraq.

A US withdrawal
will leave them exposed to an assault by Turkey, which has thousands of proxy
fighters in northern Syria and wants to crush Kurdish forces it considers
terrorists. The Kurds welcomed the regime advance, a pragmatic shift in
alliances that will dash their aspirations for autonomy but could help them cut
their losses.

"We invite
the Syrian government forces... to assert control over the areas our forces
have withdrawn from, particularly in Manbij, and to protect these areas against
a Turkish invasion," the YPG said in a statement. After Manbij, the focus
is likely to move to Raqa, a mostly Arab city that the Kurds liberated from IS
last year and that the regime has vowed to retake.

Turkey said
Syrian Kurds "don't have the right" to seek regime help but Russia,
the main foreign player in Syria since it intervened to rescue Assad in 2015,
hailed the latest development. "Of course, this will help in stabilising
the situation. The enlargement of the zone under the control of government
forces... is without doubt a positive trend," said Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov said the
situation would be discussed yesterday during a visit to Moscow by the Turkish
foreign and defense ministers, to "clarify" the situation and
"synchronize actions" between the two countries. This year the regime
retook large swathes of territory with the help of Russian firepower, after
three years ago controlling less than a third of the country.

Diplomatic drive

The government
ousted rebels from their bastions in and around the capital Damascus and
flushed out other pockets to reopen key transport and trade routes. With
internal opposition in tatters and UN-backed political negotiations stillborn,
Assad is now trying to shed his pariah status and looking for funds to rebuild
the country.

The US pullout
from Syria risks opening a highway for other regional players such as Turkey
and Iran, a prospect that some of Assad's erstwhile foes are keen to counter.
On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates -- a Turkish rival in the region --
reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly seven years after severing ties and
recognizing a now defunct opposition umbrella.

The move was the
latest in a series of developments building up to the return of Assad's Syria
into the Arab fold. Bahrain also announced it would reopen its mission in
Damascus and observers expect regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to confirm that
trend in the coming weeks. The Arab League has admitted that the reintegration
of Syria, which was suspended from the regional body when it intensified its
repression of anti-government protests seven years ago, is on the table. - AFP