Over 60 pct of Syrian soil controlled by terrorists

By Levent Tok and Selen Temizer

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (AA) - More than three-fifths of the territory of war-torn Syria is controlled by two terrorist organizations, according to an analysis of data by Anadolu Agency.

According to recent measurements of a map of Syria based on information from multiple sources on the ground, the PKK/PYD and Daesh terrorist groups control 61 percent of the land.

The PYD is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organization, a group outlawed by Turkey, the EU, and the U.S.

Around 38,500 square kilometers (14,865 square miles) out of nearly 185,000 sq km (71,500 sq mi) of the country are currently under the control of the PYD terrorist organization, the analysis showed.

This adds up to 21 percent of the entire country and 65 percent of the land along the Turkish border.

It covers almost all areas of northern Syria along the Turkish border, including the northeast al-Hasakah province, Kobani in the northern part of Raqqah, Manbij on the western bank of the Euphrates, and the Afrin district of the northern Aleppo province.

Daesh terrorists hold 75,500 sq km (29,150 sq mi) of land, or some 41 percent of the country.

While the PKK/PYD controls most of the country’s well-populated areas, Daesh holds comparatively less-populated areas with energy resources and supply routes.

Turkish-backed Operation Euphrates Shield forces of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) captured an area of 2,060 sq km between Manbij and Afrin in the northern part of Aleppo.

The PKK/PYD stepped up its activities in northern Syria following the uprising-turned-civil war in 2011. In July 2012, the group started gaining territories when Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad handed over the Amuda district of the Al-Hasakah province, the Afrin district of the Aleppo province, and Kobani (Ayn Al Arab) areas north of Raqqa to the terror group.

Since then, the regime and PKK/PYD seldom engaged in conflict, but have rather forged cooperation.

Al-Hasakah has ssen the strongest cooperation between Assad forces and PYD terrorists.

Both parties have been jointly providing security in the city, while the regime operates public institutions.

Moreover, the PKK/PYD operates the Rumeylan oil field in northeast al-Hasakah and shares a significant portion of the oil with the government.

The regime also supported the terror group establishing training centers in the Sheikh Maqsoud, Hellok, and Afrin regions of the northern province of Aleppo.

Relations between Damascus and the terror group have reached such a high level that regime aircraft carried scores of wounded terrorists from Kobani and Afrin to the Damascus Public Hospital.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its armed campaign in July 2015 and since has been responsible for the deaths of approximately 1,100 security personnel and civilians, including women and children.

- Assad-Daesh cooperation

Not only with the PKK/PYD, the Assad regime has also forged cooperation with Daesh terrorists in some parts of the country.

Muhammed Kasem Naser, a former public prosecutor from Palmyra, told Anadolu Agency last year that regime forces handed over the ancient city to Daesh under a mutual commitment.

After retaking the city with military assistance from Russia, the regime repeated the same scenario, handing over the city to Daesh again last December.

The latest Assad-Daesh cooperation was demonstrated during Operation Euphrates Shield in the al-Bab area as government forces stopped Turkish-backed forces from advancing toward Daesh-held areas south of the city.

When Turkish-backed FSA fighters continued advancing toward PKK/PYD-held Manbij and Daesh-held areas in the southern part of al-Bab, regime forces created a buffer zone in order to save the terrorists from Euphrates Shield forces.

The operation in northern Syria was lunched last August to sweep out the PYD and Daesh terrorists from the area and ended earlier this week following the capture of more than 2,000 square kilometers.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.