Has the new offensive against Shengal and Rojava begun?

Following the visit of Barzani to Turkey and the KDP military activity on the border with Rojava, the Kurdish people asked whether the KDP and Turkey have begun a new offensive targeting Shengal and Rojava.

At a time when the Turkish state's invasion attacks and new invasion projects against Başûr (South) Kurdistan and Rojava continue, the KDP is building outposts and observation points on the Rojava border.

In the last month, the KDP has built new outposts and observation points on the Rojava-Bakur (North)-South Kurdistan border triangle up to the Shengal border in the south, and trenches in some areas.

While the Turkish state's invasion attacks on the Medya Defense Zones, especially Heftanin, in Başûrê Kurdistan continue, the building of KDP's police stations on the Rojava border, from where no threat is coming, raise some question marks.

Following the visit of Nêçirvan Barzani, the President of the South Kurdistan Region to Ankara on September 4, the Turkish state's reconnaissance activity has increased in the region simultaneously with the military activity on the border.

The KDP has established many military points along the line, starting from the Rojava-Bakûr-Bashur border triangle, along the Tigris river to the Sêmalka region, the village of Xanika, the villages of Mexfer and Sihêla, and has dispatched many peshmerga to the region.

The KDP peshmerga, which renewed and strengthened the outposts built during Saddam Hussein's period, also established many points along the Tigris valley, and in some places they dig trenches.

The KDP has been working feverishly along the border to the south from the Sihêla region, where the Tigris river leaves the territory of Rojava to cross the borders of South Kurdistan.

Military sources in the region have informed ANF and said that the movement at the border has intensified in the last 20 days and that the activity of Turkish state reconnaissance planes has also increased in the region.

At a time when the Turkish state is busy with invasion attacks against South Kurdistan, the military activity carried out by the KDP on the Rojava border causes concerns.

The police stations built on the border with Rojava by the KDP, which has imposed an embargo on Maxmûr for more than a year and sent forces to the Zînê Wertê region before the Turkish state's invasion attacks on the Medya Defense Zones, raise many questions.

In addition, Nechirvan Barzani visited Turkey before the activity on the border started and the KDP said there had been Turkish air attacks on Shengal, while at the same time issuing threats to Shengal.

The KDP media, on the other hand, has recently started an intense black propaganda against Shengal, trying to win the support of international powers.

Speaking at a press briefing in August, Joey Hood, the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said: “If you could have the Kurdistan Regional Government, the federal government in Baghdad, and Turkey working together with advice and support from the United States and other coalition countries, you could see where maybe a place like Shengal could be cleared out of militias, including the PKK.” A statement which drew some attention.

There is clearly a lot of movement going on in the region, which is what caused the people of Kurdistan to ask whether the new offensive has begun.