Newsweek: U.S. Wins One Major Battle in Syria but Prepares for Another as Donald Trump Tells Turkey to Back Off
The United States won a major battle in Syria as local allies ousted the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) from the final major town under its control. However, a new conflict is looming as these same Pentagon-backed fighters face an imminent threat from a fellow U.S. partner.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish group, has been the main partner of a U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS since 2015. But that allegiance is opposed by Turkey due to the connections of certain participating Kurdish militias to groups designated by Ankara as terrorist organizations due to an ongoing insurgency at home. Just as the Syrian Democratic Forces were on the verge of declaring victory over ISIS after a brutal battle for the town of Hajin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced Wednesday that his forces would launch a new offensive against "separatist terrorist organization" in Kurd-controlled areas "within a few days."
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Update: Trump administration tries to head off Turkish assault on Kurds in Syria (Stars and Stripes/Washington Post)
WNU Editor: President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan are talking .... US, Turkish Presidents Talk as Ankara Ratchets Up Syria Tension (VOA). The U.S. also has the backing of the EU .... EU urges Turkey to refrain from 'unilateral' Syria move (AFP). The U.S. is also threatening the Syrian rebels that are allied with Turkey .... US Warns Syrian Opposition, FSA not to Back Turkey's Planned Op Against YPG (Sputnik). But I do not think this is also going to stop Erdogan from green-lighting a military operation. He wants a major concession from the U.S., and from what I have been reading in social media, some are speculating that this may be it .... Turkey says Trump working on extraditing wanted cleric Gulen (Reuters).
6 comments:
This is a classic case example of the new normal. No one wants open war but a slow moving war to leverage political needs that does not ramp up is where we are and will be for the foreseeable future. Apply this to Syria, Russia, S China sea etc. interesting times for sure.
Got to be careful, it’s a Newsweek report. Weren’t they bought out for One Dollar? In the news business, ya get what ya pay for.
The Turks very well could start up an operation. However, The attrition rate will be much higher than their operation into Afrin. The Kurds have been fortifying the north for a while, and they are quite well supplied with US tech. They can't go on the offense by themselves, but they sure can hold territory.
Would the Turks win? Depends on how upset they make the US. Disregarding a major intervention, Sure they probably will. But it will cost blood.
Newsweek is the magazine bought fro $1 by husband of DEMOCRAT Congress person
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Harman
Bezos runs the Washington Post.
Trump is right. The MSM is the fake news media.
It would be nice to see 20 to 100 Turk tanks head south and get chewed up.
Trump Sharply Warns Turkey Against Military Strikes in Syria
NY Times
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