MESOP ROJAVA : PKK/PYD CELEBRATES NEW LINK WITH ASSAD REGIME !

The autonomous Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria is celebrating its first land link with the Assad regime, while worrying about the Turkish presence alongside rebels.Commenting on this week’s connection as pro-Assad forces advanced against the Islamic State in the four-sided war in Aleppo Province, Abdul Karim Saroukhan, head of the Kurdish-led administration, said the link was an economic breakthrough.

With the route, northeast of Aleppo city — reoccupied by pro-Assad forces in December — and south and east of al-Bab, the regime can move manufactured goods to a Kurdish area with agriculture and 70% of Syria’s oil.

“The opening of a corridor between us and Aleppo will have a great positive impact,” said Saroukhan. “It is like an artery that will feed part of the Syrian body.”

But Saroukhan also worried about the concurrent Turkish-rebel advance in Aleppo Province, capturing the city of al-Bab and putting them on a frontline with both the pro-Assad forces and with the Kurdish-led, US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Turkish-rebel offensive has already clashed with pro-Assad units, notably in the town of Tadaf to the south of al-Bab, and has reportedly shelled SDF-held territory to the east of al-Bab and west of the city of Manbij.A showdown over Manbij appears imminent, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promises the capture of the city. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that the SDF had handed villages west of Manbij to the Assad regime.Amid the tension, Russian warplanes have already accidentally hit the SDF, only 5 to 6 km (3 to 4 miles) from American special forces.Saroukhan declared, “If Turkey continues in this way, in this vein, it will be the start of a new war in Syria, in the north.”And he promised that the Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the Kurdish militia YPG, “will not allow the entry of any other forces to this city”.