SDF operations in opposition-held areas as an approach to respond to the Turkish escalation

On February 3, 2022, a bus carrying 3 field commanders from the Northern Brigade of the "Revolutionaries for Liberation" was targeted with an explosive device in front of a military headquarters in the village of Bir Maghar, which is located near the lines of contact with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Jarabulus area, northeast of Aleppo.

This attack came just two days after Turkey launched Operation Winter Eagle, which targeted the headquarters, weapons stores, supply lines and cadres of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the “Al-Malikiyah” area and the “Karachuk” mountains in the “Al-Hasakah” governorate in eastern Syria, and in the “Sinjar” district of Nineveh governorate. " Northern Iraq.

Anyway, this is not the first time that SDF operations in opposition areas coincide with attacks carried out by Turkey on the former's positions east of the Euphrates. In the second half of 2021, SDF launched at least 5 attacks against fixed and mobile targets belonging to the Turkish forces and opposition factions in response to the bombing campaign that the Turkish air force carried out against them in the governorates of Aleppo, Raqqa and Al-Hasakah.

Obviously, the SDF uses these operations as a systematic approach and behavior to respond to Turkey's military escalation against it, which leads to undermining stability and raising the security, humanitarian, and economic costs on Turkey in the areas under the protection of its forces, hoping that this will put pressure on it and discourage it from engaging in further escalation.

In carrying out security operations, the "SDF" relies on an intelligence service called the "Managing Operations and Security Warfare", for which a budget of $5 million per month has been allocated, according to previous confessions of a cell arrested by the opposition factions.

Moreover, this apparatus exploits the commercial exchanges between the SDF and the opposition's areas, by preparing car bombs without the knowledge of their owners, paying bribes or sums of money to make security breakthroughs by recruiting agents or collaborators and other tools.

In practice, the SDF takes advantage of the existence of loopholes and weaknesses in the security system within the opposition areas to transport explosive materials, form cells or recruit collaborators. This security flaw is linked to the slow pace of reform, and the uneven size and effectiveness of these reforms from one region to another, in addition to the lack of the necessary financial and logistical resources.