The US-backed Kurdish-dominated Syrian democratic forces have cooperated with Damascus since early 2011. The Syrian regime maintains a military base in SDF's stronghold in Al-Hasaka. 

Al-Assad said in an interview with the "Russia Today" channel that "the Turkish invasion of the areas controlled by his forces will face popular resistance in the first stage.

He added that "the Syrian army is ready for direct military confrontation with the Turkish army when the appropriate military conditions are available." He noted that its forces "inflicted heavy losses on the Turkish army during the confrontation with it two years ago."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced a Turkish military operation with the aim of "cleansing" the Manbij and Tal Rifaat regions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) north of Aleppo and completing the establishment of the "safe zone" along his country's southern border with Syria, at a depth of 30 kilometers.

The confrontation that al-Assad spoke of took place in the Idlib countryside at the end of February 2020. Still, it clearly showed the weakness of his forces in the first confrontation he waged against the Turkish army without the Russian air cover, according to the leader of the Syrian opposition, Brigadier General Fateh Hassoun.

Hassoun told Al-Modon that this battle "came with the direct support of the Iranian militias, with the aim of storming opposition-controlled areas in the countryside of Idlib," explaining that it "began with an air raid attributed by Russia to the regime's warplanes, targeting a gathering of the Turkish army, which left 33 people dead in the area." The Turkish army launched Operation Spring Shield against them.

According to Hassoun, the previous battles conducted by the Turkish army with the participation of the National Army were "initially successful, and the loss of the Assad regime was self-evident."

For his part, the military and strategic analyst, Brigadier General Ahmed Rahal, said that Assad was "embarrassed" due to SDF's repeated requests for his participation in repelling Turkish operations, pointing out that the term "popular resistance" that Assad singled out during the interview to resist the Turkish army meant SDF forces.

Rahal told Al-Modon that "apart from the fact that Assad has lost his decision to wage a direct battle against the Turkish army, any bullet he fires at the Turkish forces will mean a new experience for his forces with the nightmare of the Turkish Bayraktar aircraft."

On Sunday, the commander-in-chief of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, confirmed that "the SDF will coordinate with the Syrian government forces to repel any Turkish invasion of northern Syria," noting that his forces "are open to working with the regime's forces to fight against Turkey."

In an interview with Reuters, Abdi said, "More military coordination with Damascus will not threaten the semi-autonomous rule in the areas under the control of his forces in northeastern Syria," calling on the regime's army to "activate its air defenses against Turkish planes to defend Syrian territory."