The Forest and the Trees: Syrian Reactions to Foreign Actions Against ISIS
The Washington Post last week reported that Syria strongly denounced the decision by Turkey to allow ten Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross the border from Turkey into the Syrian town of Kobane. (Turkey also appears to have permitted 50 Free Syrian Army fighters to cross into Kobane as well.) In the Post’s words, “Syria expressed fury” at Turkey and called its behavior “disgraceful.”
This reaction is notable mostly because Syria’s “fury” about this small incursion onto its territory stands in stark contrast to its deafening silence about the much greater intrusion of Syrian sovereignty that has been going on for months in the form of military air strikes by the coalition fighting ISIS. That coalition includes the United States, of course, but also the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Bahrain, each of which has engaged in kinetic air strikes in Syrian territory. And states such as the UK and France may also be conducting unarmed reconnaissance flights in Syrian airspace.