Pleading for protection against a looming Turkish cross-border invasion and ‘occupation,’ protesters in the predominantly Kurdish Syrian border region marched towards a military base that is occupied by US-led forces.

“Down with Erdogan, down with the occupation!” chanted protesters as they marched several kilometers from the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn in Hasakah governorate to hand over their petition seeking protection from a seemingly imminent Turkish incursion.

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The military outpost near Tel Arqam is occupied by US-led coalition forces, who intervened in the conflict in breach of Syria’s sovereignty more than five years ago, on the pretext of battling the Islamic State terrorist group. Supplying Kurdish militias with arms and using them as their boots on the ground (after years of supporting ‘moderate rebels’ flopped and turned out a PR disaster), Washington managed to maintain a foothold in the north of Syria.

Syrian Kurds wish to maintain their autonomy, and Damascus does not mind this at all, as long as the country’s territorial integrity is preserved. Ankara, however, fears that under Washington’s guidance they might eventually secede, breaking away with a part of Turkey too, to establish an independent Kurdish state.

Ankara and Washington agreed earlier in August to create a ‘peace corridor’ to facilitate the return of displaced Syrians into northern Syria – until Turkey realized that joint “land and air patrols with [the] US were a fairytale.” Turkish President Erdogan even openly suggested that Washington was only seeking to protect their Kurdish “terrorist group,” and announced that Turkey was all set and ready to go in alone to establish the so-called “safe zone.”

If anyone bothered to ask, Damascus would probably call both occupations illegal, as it has repeatedly blasted all joint and unilateral endeavors by the US and Turkey as flagrant violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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