Abstract
This chapter analyzes the Obama administration’s “surrogate warfare” in Syria and the pitfalls of its policy of recruiting PYD/YPG to fight against ISIS, the two new international actors of the post-Westphalian Middle East. Surrogate warfare aims to externalize the strategic, operational, and tactical burden of a foreign policy crisis to other states or non-state actors, which are directly affected by this crisis. In fact this is not a strategy uniquely applied to Syria but has long been a US tactic to achieve foreign policy targets through regional proxies including violent non-state actors (VNSAs). As this chapter points out, the Achilles’ heel of this strategy, however, is the potential of losing control over these VNSAs and the damage they might do to relations with traditional regional allies. This is exactly what happened in Obama’s Syria policy, which tried to remote control the crisis with relatively smaller costs and liaised with the VNSAs without considering regional sensitivities. This has been the main reason behind the recent tension with Turkey, which expects a greater US involvement in Syria and considers PYD/YPG to be as dangerous as ISIS due to PYD/YPG’s links with Ankara’s arch enemy PKK. This chapter first makes a comparative analysis of the main characteristics of “surrogate warfare” and then focuses on Syria as a case study, to highlight Washington’s efforts to externalize the burden of the Syrian crisis thereby damaging its relations with neighboring Turkey.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
VNSAs are considered as a distinct form of non-state actors, resorting not only to random or opportunistic aggression but to collective violence as a tool to achieve certain goals. Their non-state character distinguishes them from police forces and military. “VNSAs, such as terrorist organizations, play an increasingly important role in the international security environment” (Bartolomei et al. 2004, p. 1). VNSAs are also known as armed non-state actors (ANSAs). The Geneva Call uses the concept of ANSAs to refer to “armed entities that are primarily motivated by political goals and operate outside effective state control. They include armed groups, de facto authorities, and non or partially internationally recognised states” (Geneva Call’s Report 2011, p. 9). Pointing out the link between fragile statehood and ANSAs, Schneckener underlines that ANSAs, ranging from rebels or guerrilla fighters to militias or paramilitaries, from clans chiefs and warlords to terrorists and criminals and from mercenaries and private security companies to marauders, may formally or informally be supported by state actors (Schneckener 2006, pp. 25–27).
- 2.
I would like to thank Dr. Andreas Krieg for his useful insights above, on how to distinguish surrogate warfare from the widely used concept of proxy warfare. (Information exchange through e-mail on 5 May 2017). Krieg’s and Jean Marc Rickli’s coming book, Surrogate Warfare—A Mode of War for the 21st Century will cover many interesting details on this war concept.
- 3.
For a chronology of the events during the US intervention in Nicaragua, see: “Timeline: Nicaragua”, https://web.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/discovery_eng/timeline/
- 4.
A public survey made in the USA on 14–19 November 2014 showed that 57% of Americans were against sending US ground troops to fight ISIS. Among those who favor to send ground troops, the Republicans were the majority, although both Democrats and Republicans perceived ISIS as a threat by 70–72%. In the same survey, it was also revealed that 43% of the Americans saw ISIS as an extension of Al-Qaida, while only 16% of them considered ISIS as a threat against vital US interests. The survey also points out that ISIS will return even if the US intervenes (56%) and that it is better not to fight Assad’s army to allow them to fight ISIS instead (60%). (Brookings Institute’s Survey on American Public Attitudes toward ISIS and Syria, 2015, January 8).
- 5.
Although it was designed to be a centrally commanded organization, FSA soon became decentralized, and this decreased the chance of its success against the regime forces. Lister claims that this might well be a result of the late and insufficient support of the USA (Lister 2016, pp. 3–6).
- 6.
Lawson gives the details of the gradually increasing rivalry between the main opposition groups in Syria, including the FSA and the PYD/YPG (Lawson 2017).
- 7.
Soon after returning from Washington, President Erdogan mentioned that Turkey was ready to retaliate if they faced any threat from the YPG at their border (Reuters 2017). In response to this, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis sent a letter to Ankara noting that the alliance with Turkey was permanent and strategic, while the cooperation with the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was just tactical (Middle East Observer 2017).
References
Amnesty International. (2017, June 9). Syrian Kurdish activists arbitrarily detained. Accessed June 12, 2017, from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE2463812017ENGLISH.pdf
Art, R. J. (1998/1999, Winter). Geopolitics updated: The strategy of selective engagement. International Security, 23(3), 79–113.
Bartolomei, J., Casebeer, W., &Thomas, T. (2004, November). Modelling violent non-state actors: A summary of concepts and methods. Research Paper for the Institute for Information Technology Applications. Colarado: United States Air Force Academy.
BasNews. (2016, August 30). PYD-affiliated forces detain rival people in Afrin: KDP-S. Accessed June 20, 2017, http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/middle-east/296381
BBC News. (2015, October 9). US to abandon training new Syria rebel groups. Accessed May 23, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34486572
Beinart, P. (2014, August 28). Actually, Obama does have a strategy in the Middle East. The Atlantic. Accessed May 27, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/actually-obama-does-have-a-strategy-in-the-middle-east/379368/
Boot, M. (2002). The savage wars of peace: Small wars and the rise of American power. New York: Basic Books.
Brookings Institute’s Survey on American Public Attitudes toward ISIS and Syria. (2015, January 8). Principal Investigator: Shibley Telhami. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute. Full Report. Accessed February 28, 2017, from Available Online: www.brookings.edu/ISISopinionpoll
Clausewitz, C. V. (1976). On war (M. Howard & P. Paret, Ed. & Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton.
Cook, R. (2005, July 8). The Struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means. The Guardian. Accessed May 12, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/08/july7.development
Davis, D. E. (2009). Non-state armed actors, new imagined communities, and shifting patterns of sovereignty and insecurity in the modern world. Contemporary Security Policy, 30(2), 221–245.
Day, A. E. (2002, February 4). Implications of surrogate warfare. Paper submitted to the Faculty of the Naval War College in partial satisfaction of the requirements of the department of Joint Military Operations. Accessed February 10, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235129598_Implications_of_Surrogate_Warfare
Drezner, D. W. (2011, July/August). Does Obama have a grand strategy? Foreign Affairs, 90(4), 57.
Ganji, A. (2014, August 31). US-Jihadist relations—Part 1: Creating the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Huffington Post. Accessed May 10, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akbar-ganji/us-jihadist-relations_b_5542757.html
Garofano, J. (2002). The intervention debate: Towards a posture of principled judgment. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.
Geneva Call’s Conference Report on Armed Non-State Actors and Protection of Internally Displaced People. (2011, March 23–24). Geneva. Accessed April 23, 2017, from https://genevacall.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2013/11/20110324_protection_-of_internally_displaced_people.pdf
Gerges, F. A. (2013, March). The Obama approach to the Middle East: The end of America’s moment? International Affairs, 89(2), 299–323.
Guardian. (2017, June 6). US-Backed Syrian forces launch offensive to retake Raqqa from Isis. Accessed June 20, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/06/syrian-forces-launch-offensive-to-recapture-raqqa-from-islamic-state
Jongerden, J., & Akkaya, A. H. (2013). Democratic confederalism as a Kurdish Spring: The PKK and the quest for radical democracy. In M. Ahmed & M. M. Gunter (Eds.), The Kurdish Spring: Geopolitical changes and the Kurds (pp. 163–185). Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.
Kayhan Pusane, Ö. (2017). How to profile PYD/YPG as an actor in the Syrian Civil War: Policy implications for the region and beyond. In O. Z. Oktav, E. Parlar Dal, & A. M. Kursun (Eds.), Violent non state actors and the Syrian Civil War: The ISIS and YPG cases. New York: Springer.
Keohane, R. O., & George, A. L. (1980). The concepts of national interests: Uses and limitations. In A. L. George (Ed.), Presidential decision making in foreign policy (pp. 217–237). Boulder, CO: Westview.
Kornbluh, P. (1987/1988, Winter). The Iran-Contra scandal: A postmortem. World Policy Journal, 5(1), 129–150.
Krieg, A. (2016a). Externalizing the burden of war: The Obama Doctrine and US Foreign Policy in the Middle East. International Affairs, 92(1), 97–113.
Krieg, A. (2016b, December 12). Surrogate war and the illusion of state-centrism. Defence-In-Depth. https://defenceindepth.co/tag/surrogate-warfare/
Lawson, F. H. (2017). The assistance front versus the popular protection units versus the Islamic state: Reciprocal mobilization and the ascendance of violent non-state actors in the Syrian Civil War. In O. Z. Oktav, E. Parlar Dal, & A. M. Kursun (Eds.), Violent non state actors and the Syrian Civil War: The ISIS and YPG cases. New York: Springer.
Le Nouvel Observateur. (1998, January 15–21). The Brzezinski interview. Accessed May 12, 2017, from http://dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu/brzezinski_interview
Lister, C. (2016, November). The free Syrian army: A decentralized insurgent brand. Analysis Paper (Brookings Institution No.26).
Machiavelli, N. (2006). The art of war (H. Neville, Trans.). Mineola, NY: Dover.
Middle East Observer. (2017, June 22). US to take back weapons from PKK/YPG when Daesh defeated: Mattis. Accessed June 23, 2017, from https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2017/06/22/37662/
Milliyet. (2017, March 30). Fırat Kalkanı Harekâtının 216 günlük bilançosu. Accessed May 29, 2017, from http://www.milliyet.com.tr/firat-kalkani-harekatinin-216-gundem-2423279/
Mumford, A. (2013). Proxy warfare. Cambridge: Polity.
National Security Strategy. (2015). p. 9. Accessed May 27, 2017, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2015_ national_security_strategy.pdf
New York Times. (2013, February 28). U.S. steps up aid to Syrian opposition, pledging $60 million. Accessed May 22, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/world/middleeast/us-pledges-60-million-to-syrian-opposition.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Rasid, A. (2000). Taliban (Published in Turkish). Istanbul: Everest.
Reuters. (2017, May 18). Turkey ready to retaliate against any threats, Erdogan warns. Accessed June 23, 2017, from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-erdogan-idUSKCN18E0H6
Sarı Ertem, H. (2013, May 15). Assessing the U.S. inaction in Syria: The limits of ‘leading from behind’ in the Arab Spring (Revue Française EurOrient, Syria Special Issue. No:41-42). Paris: l’Harmattan, pp. 305–330.
Schneckener, U. (2006). Fragile statehood, armed non-state actors and security governance. In A. Bryden & M. Caparini (Eds.), Private actors and security governance (pp. 23–40). Berlin: Lit-Verlag.
Sly, L. (2017, January 7). U.S. military aid is fueling big ambitions for Syria’s leftist Kurdish militia. The Washington Post. Accessed May 29, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-military-aid-is-fueling-big-ambitions-for-syrias-leftist-kurdish-militia/2017/01/07/6e457866-c79f-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.dfb7fcb7cc6b
Smith, K. H. (2006, May). Surrogate warfare for the 21st Century. Monography prepared for the School of Advanced Military Studies. Fort Leavenworth, KS: United States Army Command and General Staff College. Accessed February 10, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37163034_Surrogate_warfare_for_the_21st_century
Snow, S. (2017, May 7). Syrian Kurds are now armed with sensitive US weaponry, and the Pentagon denies supplying it. Military Times. Accessed May 29, 2017, from http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/syrian-kurds-ypg-us-military-weapons
The State of the Union. (2013). The White House. Accessed April 20, 2017, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2013
Thucydides. (2009). The Peloponnesian War (M. Hammond, Trans.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Timeline: Nicaragua. Accessed May 11, 2017, from https://web.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/discovery_eng/timeline/
Tzu, S. (2003). The art of war (L. Wusun, Trans.). San Francisco, CA: Long River.
Ünver, A. H. (2016, Spring/Summer). Schrödinger’s Kurds: Transnational Kurdish geopolitics in the age of shifting borders. Journal of International Affairs, 69(2), 65–98.
Wall Street Journal. (2012, December 12). U.S. formally recognizes Syria’s main rebel group. Accessed May 22, 2017, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324339204578173272657834096.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sarı Ertem, H. (2018). Surrogate Warfare in Syria and the Pitfalls of Diverging US Attitudes Toward ISIS and PYD/YPG. In: Oktav, Ö., Parlar Dal, E., Kurşun, A. (eds) Violent Non-state Actors and the Syrian Civil War. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67528-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67528-2_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67527-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67528-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)