The relationship between the YPG and Bashar al Assad is complicated

It's been three weeks since Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch, to clear Syria's Afrin region of the YPG terror group. The campaign has seen heavy fighting in pockets along Afrin's northern and western borders with Turkey. Free Syrian Army opposition fighters, backed by the Turkish military have surrounded Rajo Mountain in the northwest. Turkish backed forces have also captured several villages from the YPG. There are also reports, pro-regime forces attacked US-backed YPG/SDF positions in Manbij. The alleged attack prompted a massive US response, with reports saying dozens of pro-regime fighters had been killed. So how has the PKK linked groups consolidated over the period of forty years? Strait Talk host Ali Mustafa speaks to Mehmet Celik from the Daily Sabah newspaper, who specialises in Turkish foreign policy and the country's relations with the US. And Huseyin Alptekin, an Assistant Professor at Istanbul Şehir University and researcher at the Turkish think tank, SETA.