Unnamed U.S. officials have warned that Washington is increasingly worried that Turkey and its militias are preparing for a large-scale military incursion into Syrian territory controlled by US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Citing a reported significant Turkish military build-up and presence, including the deployment of uniformed Turkish commandos, artillery units, and allied militias to strategic positions along the border – near the town of Kobani, or Ayn Al-Arab, the officials told WSJ that the movements resembled those seen ahead of Turkiye’s 2019 incursion into northern Syria, with one warning that “a cross-border operation could be imminent” yet again.

The development comes amid the boiling tensions between the Kurdish militias and the Turkish-backed militias, despite a pact that was struck between the SDF and the new Syrian government.

The pact appeared to halt clashes temporarily, but new clashes are reported to have erupted between the SDF and SNA factions, with Ankara looking committed to crushing the Kurdish militias and destroying their capabilities.

A senior official in the SDF-led administration, Ilham Ahmed, was quoted by the WSJ saying that Turkey aims to capture Syrian Kurdish territory before Trump takes office in January to force the new U.S. government to recognize Turkish authority in those areas.

Cautioning that “the consequences will be catastrophic” if Turkey goes ahead with the attack, Ahmed reminded Trump of his past guarantees that “the United States wouldn’t abandon the Kurds.” He further stated that Trump’s “decisive leadership can stop this invasion and preserve the dignity and safety of those who have stood as steadfast allies in the fight for peace and security.”

Meanwhile, during a phone call with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that all terror groups operating in Syria must be eradicated.

“President Erdogan said that Syria has entered a period when its people will decide about the future of their country. And it is vital to eliminate all terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and Islamic State (to defend its territorial integrity,” Erdogan’s office said.

Erdogan told Nehammer that Syrian refugees begin to return to their homeland and noted that this process will depend on living conditions in that country. “President Erdogan also stated that support from the international community is needed to recover Syria and its infrastructure destroyed as a result of the civil war,” it added.

Turkey’s Wicked Game?

The prominent role played by Turkey (Türkiye) in toppling the over five-decades-long Assad-family regime in Syria has once again brought focus to a country that is playing an outsized role in global geopolitics despite a wrecked economy, severe domestic disturbances, and few true friends on the international stage.

From Libya in northern Africa to Cyprus in the Mediterranean, Syria and northern Iraq in the Middle East to the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there is one common thread: Ankara. Turkey’s reckless foreign policy is on full display in all these states.

By destabilizing these regions, one state at a time, Turkey is slowly but certainly expanding its strategic footprint from northern Africa to the Middle East, Asia Minor and the Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Balkans, and the Mediterranean.

Turkey has successfully weaponized the refugee problem to blackmail and arm-twist the European Union while at the same time recruiting these refugees to export mercenary Jihadist fighters from Syria to Libya.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is trying to position himself as the leader of the Sunni world, a neo-Ottoman Sultan, and simultaneously focusing on the revival of a “greater Turkey” that renews a classical, civilizational model of the Ottoman Empire’s legacy.

Ankara’s promotion of a pan-Islamist, Neo-Ottoman ideology has dangerous implications for the whole Middle East, the eastern Mediterranean world, northern Africa, Asia Minor, and the Balkans, and its ramifications are felt as far as in Pakistan, south-western China, and Malaysia.

It is remarkable how Ankara is pulling this off despite a flailing economy with one of the highest inflation rates in the world, severe domestic upheavals in the Kurdish-majority areas, and a serious lack of genuine friends on the international stage. It can be a textbook case of how to punch above your weight in the global arena.