U.S.-led coalition forces and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has reportedly pushed Turkmens and Arabs out of Tal Abyad – a border town in Syria that is under Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) control – aim to establish a buffer state to form an alternative route for Kurdish oil that flows through Turkey to reach international markets, it has been claimed. A fresh detail that emerged a day after the report carrying the claim suggests that the vacuum left behind after the operation to drive out ISIS is completed will be presented to the international community as a "safe, humane zone."

Coalition airstrikes have pounded the region and have caused a considerable amount of harm to the area. The bombs that have fallen close to where Turkmens and Arabs live have sparked a wave of migration. Sources say there is an intentional attempt to empower the PYD by the coalition forces and that a new restructuring in the region is the current aim. The forces are believed to be placed in the evacuated town.

Ankara had previously demanded a safe zone or a no-fly zone to hinder both the growth of ISIS and atrocities by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, two demands that have not been met. Now there are claims that a zone will be announced and that coalition forces will recognize it.