ANKARA: Pro-Syrian government forces entered Syria’s north-western Afrin region on Tuesday to help a Kurdish militia there fend off a Turkish assault, raising the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict.

Soon after the convoy of militia fighters — waving Syrian flags and brandishing weapons — entered Afrin, Syrian state media reported that Turkey had targeted them with shellfire.

The confrontation pits the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebel groups directly against the military alliance backing the government of President Bashar al-Assad, further scrambling northwest Syria’s already messy battlefield.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described the convoy as being made up of “terrorists” acting independently. He said Turkish artillery fire had forced it to turn back, although the Kurdish militia denied this.

Syrian television had earlier shown the group of fighters passing through a checkpoint that bore the insignia of the Kurdish security force, some chanting “one Syria, one Syria”, and driving further into Afrin.

Ankara’s month-old offensive is aimed at driving the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as a big security threat on its border, from Afrin.

The YPG hailed the arrival of the pro-government forces - which included militias allied to Assad but not the Syrian army itself — and said they were deploying along the front line facing the Turkish border.

It made no mention of a deal that a Kurdish official said on Sunday had been struck with Assad’s government for the Syrian army itself to enter Afrin.

Erdogan said he had previously reached an agreement with Russian Presi­d­ent Vladimir Putin and Iran’s President Hassan Rou­­­hani, Assad’s main inter­­­­­national backers, to block Syrian government support for the YPG fighters.

Russians hurt in attack

Meanwhile, Moscow on Tuesday said dozens of Rus­s­­ian citizens were injured this month in Syria but de­­nied any responsibility for their activities, amid mou­n­ting reports of casualties amo­­ng Russian mercenaries.

The US coalition on Feb 7 struck a formation attacking a position of the Syrian Democratic Force east of the Euphrates river in eastern Syria, killing about 100 people.

Many Russian mercenaries were reported killed in the strike, according to their relatives and paramilitary groups, as well as political organisations that published information about the casualties.

The Russian foreign ministry, which previously said that five Russian citizens were likely killed, on Tues­day released a statement that “there are also several dozen of injured” in the attack.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018