Die Kunst besteht im weglassen.
But there is another weighty reason for their passivity. “Over the past years of de facto independence, the Afrin Kurds have managed to create a whole network of fortifications in the mountains. Afrin is their home and they know all the streets, paths and caves there. This is why the Turks are very careful and prefer not to imperil the lives of their soldiers. Instead, they are using pro-Turkish fighters as ‘cannon fodder’ and also their own planes and guns,” says military expert Yuri Lyamin.
After their operation against ISIL in al-Bab, the Turks realized that many of the fighters fighting on their side were inefficient. So, they prefer using own commandoes during decisive attacks. “They are killing the remains of the Kurdish self-defense army and are occupying half-ruined fortifications and settlements. You can see this in the photos they are posting in social media. While Syrian fighters are posting pictures and videos of some occupied territories and shot-down POWs, the blogger named Ihanete Bedel is publishing photos of killed Kurds, where you can see people wearing Turkish uniforms and using gestures and symbols of the Grey Wolves. The faces of some ‘Syrian fighters’ are covered with smileys. Obviously, the Jihadists are acting under the close supervision of disguised Turkish instructors,” Lyamin says.