‘Skirmishes and uprisings’, not ‘full-scale war’, analyst says
Syria’s government is seeking to impose its vision of Kurdish political rights through force by pushing the Syrian Democratic Forces out of areas under their control, according to analysts.
Rob Geist Pinfold of King’s College London says any further advance eastward would significantly complicate the fighting. “The further east an offensive goes, the more Kurdish and less Arab the neighbourhoods become, which makes combat much harder,” he told Al Jazeera.
He noted that the Syrian government currently has no forces stationed east of the Euphrates River due to an understanding with the United States, limiting its ability to launch a large-scale campaign in the area.
“As a result, what we’re likely to see is not a full-scale war, but rather changing facts on the ground through skirmishes, localised fighting and tribal uprisings,” Pinfold said.
