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February 23rd, 2018 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Forces loyal to the Syrian government and its allies have raised their flag on Thursday in a pocket of neighborhoods in Aleppo city which have been under control of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, YPG. In addition to Sheikh Maqsood, the pro-regime loyalists entered the quarters of Bustan al-Pasha, Hellok, al-Haidariya, Shaqif, Bani Zaid and al-Shabab. The move does not appear to be consistent with reports in Turkish and other media about pro-Syrian-regime forces entering Afrin despite a lack of an agreement with the PYD or YPG.
Pro-Syrian-government fighters entering Afrin with YPG fighters greeting them welcome. Photo courtesy AFP
Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and allied forces, in 2016, conducted a months-long offensive against predominantly Turkey-backed Islamist militants in and around the city of Aleppo. The city is Syria’s industrial capital. The currently U.S.-backed People’s Protection Units, the main constituent of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have controlled small enclaves in Aleppo city since December 2016. The YPG contributed to the Syrian Arab Army’s success in Aleppo city.
Media close to the Syrian government reported on Thursday morning that the YPG would “hand over” the areas. The YPG has not confirmed any such an agreement. A spokesperson for the YPG in northwestern Aleppo’s Afrin district has denied previous deals between the YPG and Damascus. “We are fed up of this news,” said spokesperson Brusk Hasake on Monday “…we will not hide it from you and the public.”
Salih Muslim, the founder and former co-chair of the Syrian-Kurdish Patriotic Union Party (PYD), explained that for the YPG, “being oppressed” by the Baathist party of Assad or by Turkey “does not constitute a difference for them. … At the moment there are negotiations with the Syrian government on the mediation of Russia, but not yet reached an agreement,” he told Germany’s Deutsche Welle on Monday.
Syrian Kurdish YPG presence during battle for Aleppo in November 2016
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag on February 22 said the Syrian regime and the YPG had “negotiated” for the northwestern Syrian district of Afrin but “could not strike a deal.” “There is intelligence that dirty negotiations have been conducted between the Syrian regime and the YPG in the Afrin region, but there is also information that they could not strike a deal. It has not been verified that the regime will place official troops in the Afrin region,” Bozdag told state-run Anadolu Agency in Ankara.
Bozdag’s response came after the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on February 19 that pro-regime “Popular Protection Forces” would enter Afrin, where Turkey’s military is carrying out an operation to clear the area of YPG militants, which Ankara sees as terrorists for the group’s links to the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).
Threatening Syria directly, Bozdag said “If the regime disguised as the YPG enter the region, then they will be the target. If militants enter, they will not be discriminated against. Whoever fights the Turkish Army alongside those terrorist organizations are a target for us.”
The YPG pocket in Aleppo city has not been incorporated into the Northern Syrian Federation known as Rojava by Kurds. The YPG is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Rojava consists of three regions: Afrin in the west, Euphrates in the centre, and Jazira in the east. The PYD is the dominate party within the federation. Through the seven-year conflict, Kurdish and Syrian-regime fighters have largely avoided full-scale battles for territory and they have, in many cases cooperated directly or indirectly, in the fight against the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), the predominantly Qatar-backed Jabhat al-Nusra and its incarnations, and the Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL, IS, Daesh). Logistic and other support for the latter could in many cases be traced back to Saudi Arabia and networks within the United States.
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2018/02/22/forces-loyal-to-syrian-government-raised-their-flag-in-aleppo-neighborhoods-under-ypg-control/
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