Current Edition About Subscribe The Jerusalem Center

Daily Alert Archive

Every Daily Alert Since 2002

Search

Search more than 90,000 news items by topic, author, or source.
Use " " to search for multiple words and phrases.

Trending Topics

October 17, 2019       Share:    

Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/15/syrian-kurdish-fighters-mount-counterattack-turkish-sdf-network-of-tunnels/

Kurdish Fighters Mount Counterattack Using Network of Tunnels

(Foreign Policy) Lara Seligman - The Syrian Kurds are using a sophisticated network of tunnels and other battlefield tactics to recapture some of the territory seized by Turkish-backed forces in northeast Syria, Foreign Policy has learned. Current and former U.S. officials who have worked closely with the Kurdish-led SDF confirmed that the group built a defensive network of tunnels beneath key towns as a contingency against a Turkish invasion. Now the Kurdish fighters are successfully using the tunnels to defend the border towns. "The Turks have been surprised by their effectiveness," said a senior U.S. official. In the last 24 hours, the SDF has recaptured much of the border town of Ras al-Ain and pushed Turkish proxy forces from the strategic M4 highway. The SDF said it killed 103 fighters from the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the SDF managed to recover the area. A U.S. Army officer who fought alongside the SDF in Syria noted that U.S. troops conducted several rehearsals with the group on how to coordinate in the event of a Turkish invasion. U.S. forces also trained the SDF on how to build "defense in depth" with multiple fallback lines.

View the full edition of Daily Alert

Back to Archive

Subscribe to Daily Alert: