00:00How big of a threat are these clashes to Syria's stability and security? Morning
00:07Lizzy. Yeah I think the the real threat here is from the timing right you
00:11mentioned we've got that year-end deadline for the the folding in the
00:15integration of the SDF into the new national Syrian military. That was
00:22already a pretty contentious deadline. There already been a lot of public
00:26debate about what form it might take what it might look like and now we're
00:30seeing the outbreak of outright violence which I think suggests that if
00:34anything that deadline is gonna have to move or there's gonna have to be some
00:38flexibility there. That would be a symbolic blow to President Shara you
00:45know he's spent all these months since the downfall of Assad trying to unify the
00:50country and that is one of the main stumbling blocks still to be overcome.
00:55It's also a real sore spot for Turkey right. Turkey just over the border sees
01:01the SDF a Kurdish-led force as an extension of the PKK that Ankara fought
01:07on its own soil for several decades. If that integration doesn't happen Turkey's
01:13already hinted that it could consider military action to dismantle this SDF
01:18and if it won't happen I think it's only gonna strengthen the argument in some
01:22parts of Ankara for that. Well you've got the Turkish foreign minister Patrick
01:27accusing the Kurdish SDF of coordinating with Israel. Could that risk a different
01:32confrontation between Israel and Turkey? Yeah the timing was really awkward there
01:40right. Just yesterday Fidan along with the Turkish defence minister and the top
01:45intelligence chief were all visiting Syria trying to present this united front and no doubt
01:51discussing things like the integration of the SDF. I think the reason that
01:56allegation is important and potentially escalatory is that it taps into this
02:02broader Turkey-Israel rivalry that's emerging in the region at the moment more
02:08broadly right. You've got the Turkey backing the the new national government the new
02:14central government in Syria which also obviously emerged from the north and then in
02:19the south you've got Israel backing some Druze factions where we've seen clashes
02:23earlier in the year and also occupying some territory. So these two countries
02:28powerfully armed both of them are literally facing off you know over Syria
02:33through kind of proxy groups in the region. Those tensions in Syria I think
02:38themselves also an extension of the country's tensions over Gaza obviously the
02:44war there in which Israel's been trying to destroy Hamas and Turkey views Hamas as a
02:50legitimate resistance organization. So it's just another layer of tension between
02:56the two sides. I don't think we're looking at the possibility of outright
03:00confrontation between the two of them at this stage but it is another front on
03:05which they're kind of effective proxies are coming to literal blows.
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