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Kurdish Fighters Mount Counterattack Using Network of Tunnels
(Foreign Policy) Lara Seligman - The Syrian Kurds are using a sophisticated network of tunnels and other battlefield tactics to recapture some of the territory seized by Turkish-backed forces in northeast Syria, Foreign Policy has learned. Current and former U.S. officials who have worked closely with the Kurdish-led SDF confirmed that the group built a defensive network of tunnels beneath key towns as a contingency against a Turkish invasion. Now the Kurdish fighters are successfully using the tunnels to defend the border towns. "The Turks have been surprised by their effectiveness," said a senior U.S. official. In the last 24 hours, the SDF has recaptured much of the border town of Ras al-Ain and pushed Turkish proxy forces from the strategic M4 highway. The SDF said it killed 103 fighters from the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the SDF managed to recover the area. A U.S. Army officer who fought alongside the SDF in Syria noted that U.S. troops conducted several rehearsals with the group on how to coordinate in the event of a Turkish invasion. U.S. forces also trained the SDF on how to build "defense in depth" with multiple fallback lines.