The real danger in Efrin? Kurd critical mass.
I the Kurds were to suddenly have manpods and ATGW’s in great numbers, the Turks could be in serious trouble in Afrin.
They can pull experience soldiers from Iraq, Iran and Turkey to fight the Turks in Syria.
A this point the US shows no indication of removing protection from Kurds in Rojava. And the Arabs around them support the Kurds.
This below is an opinion piece, so it doesn’t mean it is so, especially coming from Oklahoma State U prof. Joshua Landis’ website:
Link: http://aina.org/news/20180131131523.htm AINA is Assyrian International News Agency
Why the US Will Dump Kurds for Turkey
By Abd al-Qadir Abu Yusuf
http://www.joshualandis.com
Posted 2018-01-31 18:15 GMT
Operations by the Turkish army and Syrian rebels against the Syrian Democratic Forces’ [SDF] enclave of Afrin in northwest Aleppo province has brought to the forefront the issue of relations between international powers regarding the Syrian crisis, especially Russia, Turkey and the United States. Abd al-Qadir Abu Yusuf, a well-connected independent media activist based in the key rebel-held north Aleppo countryside town of Azaz, offers his perspective on these matters. I have known him since 2014 when he was the spokesman for the Northern Storm Brigade, which is presently part of the Shami Front that is participating in the Afrin operations against the SDF. Like many people in Azaz, he is a supporter of the ‘Olive Branch’ operations against the SDF in Afrin. The views expressed in this piece are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect my opinions or those of Syria Comment. — Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, Translator
The dreams of the PKK- bearing the title of SDF in Syria- broadened when it saw Turkey enter into a great crisis because of its great disagreement with Russia and bringing down Russian aircraft, so it strove to seize half of the north Aleppo countryside through an alliance with Russia that responded to the bringing down of the aircraft by striking the allies of Turkey: the Free Army.
And what increased Turkey’s crisis is America’s retreat to the backseat, the withdrawing of MIM-104 Patriots and the lack of entry of the NATO alliance with Turkey into its crisis with Russia. The pressure also increased on Turkey through the broadening of SDF’s operations in east Syria with absolute American support for operations against the Dawla organization [Islamic State], including the Turkish red line west of the Euphrates: Manbij.
See the rest at link.