Turkey sees the SDF as an existential threat due to its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and has launched four major military offensives against the group, which controls enclaves in northeast Syria along the Turkish border.

"The SDF is clearly seeking U.S. mediation to reach a détente with Ankara," the ICG said.

"We understand that beyond rhetoric, U.S.-Turkey relations are strategic," the ICG cited SDF commander Mazlum Kobani as saying.

"Our position remains the same: we are open to any understanding with Turkey on security and beyond, despite Turkish aggression against us. And we want the U.S. to be the mediator and guarantor of that," Kobani said.

Occasional clashes continue in northern Syria in the aftermath of Turkey’s military incursions, and Turkish forces and their Syrian allied groups have been accused of violating the ceasefire, targeting civilians and committing war crimes.

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