The commander of US-backed Kurdish forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria on Friday urged Russia and Iran to prevent Turkiye from launching a new attack in the country’s north, days before an expected Syria summit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who will meet his Russian and Iranian counterparts next week to discuss Syria – has warned that he may soon launch a new operation in Syria against Kurdish fighters.

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), the lead commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, accused the international coalition of taking a “weak” stance that is “insufficient to repel the threats.”

Abdi said that following negotiations with Russia, Kurdish forces had allowed the Syrian government to bring more troops into Kurdish-controlled areas such as Kobane and Manbij in the north of the country.

Russia, Turkiye, and Iran have in recent years been holding talks on Syria as part of the “Astana peace process” to end more than 11 years of conflict in the West Asian country.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi is set to welcome Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran on Tuesday.

Turkiye has conducted different operations in neighboring Syria since 2016, targeting Kurdish militants as well as forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian government has repeatedly condemned Turkish operations as occupation and has called Erdogan’s bid to create a so-called “safe zone” inside Syria aggression on its territorial integrity.

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