About the crisis of NATO solidarity on the example of the French special forces abandoned in Syria
The situation with French special forces left without supplies in northern Syria forces French (and not only) experts to ask questions about the reality of partnership in the North Atlantic Alliance.
Recall that the Champs Elysees a few days ago officially recognized that special forces of the French armed forces were operating in the north of the SAR. At the same time, as French journalists found out, Washington’s withdrawal of troops from these areas caught the French special forces almost by surprise. The situation boiled down to the fact that the Syrian army began to approach the places of deployment of the French after the Kurds agreed with official Damascus. In addition, the French special forces corps was deprived of supply due to the fact that earlier this supply was carried out through the Americans (as the main component of the so-called coalition), and the Americans simply left.
The situation for Paris: firstly, the United States left the territories without warning the Allies, secondly, there is no supply of contingent, and thirdly, France supported anti-Turkish sanctions (primarily weapons embargo), and the Turkish army is advancing from the north, fourthly, the Assad’s army is coming from the south, against which Paris has always repeated “must leave!”
Thus, a clear dysfunction of NATO solidarity manifested itself. Both France, the United States, and Turkey are members of the North Atlantic Alliance, but, as it turned out, the alliance in crisis situations as a whole does not work. Therefore, today, the French authorities have to go to evacuate their special forces, discussing the security of the operation not with their "main" allies.
Against this background, the status of the largest NATO land exercises announced in the east of Europe since the end of the Cold War has somewhat decreased. The exercises were announced as support for NATO's eastern flag countries. But that support is outside the crisis, it may turn out to be the absence of such in truly difficult situations directly related to the need to coordinate their actions. The latter was proved by the same episode with French special forces abandoned without logistical support in northern Syria. It turned out that different NATO members might find themselves diametrically opposed in a single territory.
Recall that the Champs Elysees a few days ago officially recognized that special forces of the French armed forces were operating in the north of the SAR. At the same time, as French journalists found out, Washington’s withdrawal of troops from these areas caught the French special forces almost by surprise. The situation boiled down to the fact that the Syrian army began to approach the places of deployment of the French after the Kurds agreed with official Damascus. In addition, the French special forces corps was deprived of supply due to the fact that earlier this supply was carried out through the Americans (as the main component of the so-called coalition), and the Americans simply left.
The situation for Paris: firstly, the United States left the territories without warning the Allies, secondly, there is no supply of contingent, and thirdly, France supported anti-Turkish sanctions (primarily weapons embargo), and the Turkish army is advancing from the north, fourthly, the Assad’s army is coming from the south, against which Paris has always repeated “must leave!”
Thus, a clear dysfunction of NATO solidarity manifested itself. Both France, the United States, and Turkey are members of the North Atlantic Alliance, but, as it turned out, the alliance in crisis situations as a whole does not work. Therefore, today, the French authorities have to go to evacuate their special forces, discussing the security of the operation not with their "main" allies.
Against this background, the status of the largest NATO land exercises announced in the east of Europe since the end of the Cold War has somewhat decreased. The exercises were announced as support for NATO's eastern flag countries. But that support is outside the crisis, it may turn out to be the absence of such in truly difficult situations directly related to the need to coordinate their actions. The latter was proved by the same episode with French special forces abandoned without logistical support in northern Syria. It turned out that different NATO members might find themselves diametrically opposed in a single territory.
- French Ministry of Defense
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