Syrian Civil War (Graphic Photos/Vid Not Allowed)
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No they said that IF they attacked Assadists it was made by mistake. This story was made up by Assad aka Putin aka Khamenai in order to distract from their Nazi attacks on Aleppo humanitarian convoys.
In in fact Russian forces attacked Khamenaist and Assadists by mistake dozens of times.
ejaz007
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Turkey: Military preparations for Syria incursion 'complete'
Al Jazeera confirms the movement of Turkish forces and heavy weapons along the border with Syria as operation imminent.
38 minutes ago
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters played a major role in defeating ISIL in Syria [Maya Alleruzzo/AP]
MORE ON SYRIA'S WAR
But US President Donald Trump warned he would "obliterate" the NATO ally's economy if it took action in Syria that he considered "off limits" following his decision on Sunday to pull 50 American special forces troops from the border region.
The US withdrawal will leave its Kurdish-led partner - the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - vulnerable to an incursion by Turkey's military, which brands them "terrorists" because of their links to Kurdish fighters who have waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey.
Turkey's armed forces "will never tolerate the establishment of a terror corridor on our borders. All preparations for the operation have been completed", the defence ministry said on Twitter early on Tuesday.
"It is essential to establish a safe zone/peace corridor to contribute to our region's peace and stability, and for Syrians to achieve a safe life," it said.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Akcakale along Turkey's border with Syria, said Turkish troops and heavy weaponry were on the move on Tuesday.
"There's a lot of tension here. There are huge concerns about the security ramifications this operation could have," said Stratford. "It's very difficult to predict when any military operation might start."
Will Turkey's impending operation in Syria affect its economy?
'Unmatched wisdom'
Trump's warning on Turkey's economy appeared aimed at placating critics who accused him of abandoning the Syrian Kurds by pulling out US forces.
"As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey," Trump tweeted.
Lawrence Korb, former US assistant defence secretary, told Al Jazeera the president's decision was politically motivated with a 2020 election approaching.
"What this shows is that President Trump - unlike all his predecessors whether Republican or Democrat - is only concerned about himself. We have a moral responsibility to the Kurds because without them we would not have destroyed the caliphate."
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said it was Turkey's fundamental right to take necessary measures for its national security against "threats" from Syria.
"Turkey is determined to clear terrorists from the east of the Euphrates and protect its own security and survival while implementing a secure zone in order to achieve peace and stability," Aksoy said in a statement.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey plans to resettle two million refugees in northern Syria and Turkish media has said the draft resettlement plan involves a 151 billion lira ($26bn) construction project. Turkey hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
A Trump administration official, briefing reporters on a conference call, said 50 American troops in the region that Turkey has targeted would be redeployed elsewhere in Syria "where they aren't in the crossfire".
The United States has about 1,000 troops in Syria.
Joshua Landis, a Syria analyst from the University of Oklahoma, said Trump's move was the latest to throw American foreign policy into disarray.
"This shows a real collapse of the foreign policy process in the White House… People are guessing what America will do next. This is clearly not good," he said.
Iran warning
Landis said Trump clearly wants to end US involvement in Middle East wars, but his understanding of the complex situation on the ground is lacking.
"The trouble is he knows very little about the long history between the Kurds and Turkey. He doesn't realise how brutal the Turkish army will be once it gets among the Kurds," he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a phone call that Tehran is opposed to Turkey's operation in Syria.
"Zarif voiced opposition to military action" and "urged respect for Syria's territorial integrity and national sovereignty", he was quoted as saying in a foreign ministry said statement issued late Monday.
The Iranian foreign minister also "stressed the need for the fight against terrorism and for the establishment of stability and security in Syria".
Zarif told Cavusoglu the Adana agreement was "the best approach for Syria and Turkey and for addressing their concerns".
Ankara and Damascus signed the agreement in 1998 to ease tensions after Turkey threatened Syria with military action if it did not expel Turkish-Kurdish rebel leader Abdallah Ocalan from its soil.
Cavusoglu said the Turkish operation in northeastern Syria "would be temporary", according to the statement.
Erdogan has expressed Ankara's determination to clear the Syrian border area east of the Euphrates river of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Turkey says the YPG is a "terrorist offshoot" of Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The United States worked closely with the YPG to recapture swathes of territory from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS).
Why is Turkey expanding its military operations in northern Syria?
ISIL's return?
The feared Turkish invasion of northeast Syria could spark an ISIL resurgence, analysts and Kurdish forces warned, despite Ankara's pledge to prevent the fighters' return.
"The fact is that ISIS is still a threat, one that seems likely to metastasise if the SDF is forced to divert attention and resources ... to a defensive battle against Turkey," said Sam Heller of the International Crisis Group think-tank.
While a Kurdish-led operation earlier this year saw the death of ISIL's territorial gains, the organisation isn't dead and sleeper cells have been active in SDF-held areas and in Syria's vast desert, where it continues to hit Syrian government forces with deadly attacks and ambushes.
Charles Lister, director of the US-based Middle East Institute, accused Trump of granting ISIL "the gift of rebirth".
The US military has warned that, short of sustained international pressure, ISIL would soon have the ability to regroup.
"The battle against IS is not over," said Abdulkarim Omar, the top Kurdish foreign affairs official. "There are hundreds of sleeper cells in recently liberated areas."
The SDF is now concerned the armed group could replenish its ranks by freeing thousands of fighters and their families currently held in detention centres and informal settlements in Syria's northeast.
The Kurds consistently warned they would be unable to guard ISIL fighters if their forces were busy fighting off a Turkish offensive.
On Monday, Omar noted detention centres are not heavily fortified.
"They are only buildings... In the event of any security vacuum, these criminals could have an opportunity to break free," he said.
Trump threatens to 'obliterate' Turkey's economy over Syria
'Sophisticated operations'
Omar also said he was concerned about displacement camps - namely Al-Hol, the largest of the settlements, which he described as a "time bomb".
Security incidents have been on the rise in the crowded camp, which houses more than 3,000 ISIL families among its more than 70,000 residents, according to the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria.
The thousands of foreign ISIL brides held in Al-Hol are "as dangerous" as the thousands of ISIL fighters held in SDF detention centres, it said this week, noting daily killings, stabbings, and attempts to break free.
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali last month said ISIL fighters "have stepped up their regrouping efforts through women in the camp recently".
The Institute for the Study of War last week said ISIL is bribing prison guards and raising funds to smuggle women out of camps, including Al-Hol.
"ISIS is likely preparing more coordinated and sophisticated operations to free its detained members," it said in a report citing incidents in which prisoners and ISIL wives managed to break free.
Turkey, however, said on Monday it would not allow ISIL "to return in any shape and form".
But analysts argue Ankara could unintentionally help boost the armed group.
"Turkey will not intentionally target camps and prisons but it could inadvertently strike them in the process of intervention," Syria analyst Samuel Ramani said.
Heller also said a direct Turkish attack on camps and prisons was unlikely.
"What seems more likely is that these facilities, which are already vulnerable to riots and attempted jailbreaks, will be left vulnerable as the SDF redeploys the forces securing them to fight Turkey," he said.
"If ISIS cadres escape in the ensuing chaos, they could catalyse ISIS operations locally. Or, if they flee the Syrian battlefield, they could augment militant groups internationally."
INSIDE STORY
Can the US and Turkey find common ground over Syrian Kurds?
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...syria-incursion-complete-191008082547251.html
Al Jazeera confirms the movement of Turkish forces and heavy weapons along the border with Syria as operation imminent.
38 minutes ago
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters played a major role in defeating ISIL in Syria [Maya Alleruzzo/AP]
MORE ON SYRIA'S WAR
- Turkey: Military preparations for Syria incursion 'complete'today
- Syria: Kurds vow to form 'human shields' to fend off looming pushtoday
- Will Turkey's impending operation in Syria affect its economy?today
- US pullback from northern Syria: Key questions answeredtoday
But US President Donald Trump warned he would "obliterate" the NATO ally's economy if it took action in Syria that he considered "off limits" following his decision on Sunday to pull 50 American special forces troops from the border region.
The US withdrawal will leave its Kurdish-led partner - the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - vulnerable to an incursion by Turkey's military, which brands them "terrorists" because of their links to Kurdish fighters who have waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey.
Turkey's armed forces "will never tolerate the establishment of a terror corridor on our borders. All preparations for the operation have been completed", the defence ministry said on Twitter early on Tuesday.
"It is essential to establish a safe zone/peace corridor to contribute to our region's peace and stability, and for Syrians to achieve a safe life," it said.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Akcakale along Turkey's border with Syria, said Turkish troops and heavy weaponry were on the move on Tuesday.
"There's a lot of tension here. There are huge concerns about the security ramifications this operation could have," said Stratford. "It's very difficult to predict when any military operation might start."
Will Turkey's impending operation in Syria affect its economy?
'Unmatched wisdom'
Trump's warning on Turkey's economy appeared aimed at placating critics who accused him of abandoning the Syrian Kurds by pulling out US forces.
"As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey," Trump tweeted.
Lawrence Korb, former US assistant defence secretary, told Al Jazeera the president's decision was politically motivated with a 2020 election approaching.
"What this shows is that President Trump - unlike all his predecessors whether Republican or Democrat - is only concerned about himself. We have a moral responsibility to the Kurds because without them we would not have destroyed the caliphate."
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said it was Turkey's fundamental right to take necessary measures for its national security against "threats" from Syria.
"Turkey is determined to clear terrorists from the east of the Euphrates and protect its own security and survival while implementing a secure zone in order to achieve peace and stability," Aksoy said in a statement.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey plans to resettle two million refugees in northern Syria and Turkish media has said the draft resettlement plan involves a 151 billion lira ($26bn) construction project. Turkey hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
A Trump administration official, briefing reporters on a conference call, said 50 American troops in the region that Turkey has targeted would be redeployed elsewhere in Syria "where they aren't in the crossfire".
The United States has about 1,000 troops in Syria.
Joshua Landis, a Syria analyst from the University of Oklahoma, said Trump's move was the latest to throw American foreign policy into disarray.
"This shows a real collapse of the foreign policy process in the White House… People are guessing what America will do next. This is clearly not good," he said.
Iran warning
Landis said Trump clearly wants to end US involvement in Middle East wars, but his understanding of the complex situation on the ground is lacking.
"The trouble is he knows very little about the long history between the Kurds and Turkey. He doesn't realise how brutal the Turkish army will be once it gets among the Kurds," he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a phone call that Tehran is opposed to Turkey's operation in Syria.
"Zarif voiced opposition to military action" and "urged respect for Syria's territorial integrity and national sovereignty", he was quoted as saying in a foreign ministry said statement issued late Monday.
The Iranian foreign minister also "stressed the need for the fight against terrorism and for the establishment of stability and security in Syria".
Zarif told Cavusoglu the Adana agreement was "the best approach for Syria and Turkey and for addressing their concerns".
Ankara and Damascus signed the agreement in 1998 to ease tensions after Turkey threatened Syria with military action if it did not expel Turkish-Kurdish rebel leader Abdallah Ocalan from its soil.
Cavusoglu said the Turkish operation in northeastern Syria "would be temporary", according to the statement.
Erdogan has expressed Ankara's determination to clear the Syrian border area east of the Euphrates river of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Turkey says the YPG is a "terrorist offshoot" of Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The United States worked closely with the YPG to recapture swathes of territory from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS).
Why is Turkey expanding its military operations in northern Syria?
ISIL's return?
The feared Turkish invasion of northeast Syria could spark an ISIL resurgence, analysts and Kurdish forces warned, despite Ankara's pledge to prevent the fighters' return.
"The fact is that ISIS is still a threat, one that seems likely to metastasise if the SDF is forced to divert attention and resources ... to a defensive battle against Turkey," said Sam Heller of the International Crisis Group think-tank.
While a Kurdish-led operation earlier this year saw the death of ISIL's territorial gains, the organisation isn't dead and sleeper cells have been active in SDF-held areas and in Syria's vast desert, where it continues to hit Syrian government forces with deadly attacks and ambushes.
Charles Lister, director of the US-based Middle East Institute, accused Trump of granting ISIL "the gift of rebirth".
The US military has warned that, short of sustained international pressure, ISIL would soon have the ability to regroup.
"The battle against IS is not over," said Abdulkarim Omar, the top Kurdish foreign affairs official. "There are hundreds of sleeper cells in recently liberated areas."
The SDF is now concerned the armed group could replenish its ranks by freeing thousands of fighters and their families currently held in detention centres and informal settlements in Syria's northeast.
The Kurds consistently warned they would be unable to guard ISIL fighters if their forces were busy fighting off a Turkish offensive.
On Monday, Omar noted detention centres are not heavily fortified.
"They are only buildings... In the event of any security vacuum, these criminals could have an opportunity to break free," he said.
Trump threatens to 'obliterate' Turkey's economy over Syria
'Sophisticated operations'
Omar also said he was concerned about displacement camps - namely Al-Hol, the largest of the settlements, which he described as a "time bomb".
Security incidents have been on the rise in the crowded camp, which houses more than 3,000 ISIL families among its more than 70,000 residents, according to the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria.
The thousands of foreign ISIL brides held in Al-Hol are "as dangerous" as the thousands of ISIL fighters held in SDF detention centres, it said this week, noting daily killings, stabbings, and attempts to break free.
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali last month said ISIL fighters "have stepped up their regrouping efforts through women in the camp recently".
The Institute for the Study of War last week said ISIL is bribing prison guards and raising funds to smuggle women out of camps, including Al-Hol.
"ISIS is likely preparing more coordinated and sophisticated operations to free its detained members," it said in a report citing incidents in which prisoners and ISIL wives managed to break free.
Turkey, however, said on Monday it would not allow ISIL "to return in any shape and form".
But analysts argue Ankara could unintentionally help boost the armed group.
"Turkey will not intentionally target camps and prisons but it could inadvertently strike them in the process of intervention," Syria analyst Samuel Ramani said.
Heller also said a direct Turkish attack on camps and prisons was unlikely.
"What seems more likely is that these facilities, which are already vulnerable to riots and attempted jailbreaks, will be left vulnerable as the SDF redeploys the forces securing them to fight Turkey," he said.
"If ISIS cadres escape in the ensuing chaos, they could catalyse ISIS operations locally. Or, if they flee the Syrian battlefield, they could augment militant groups internationally."
INSIDE STORY
Can the US and Turkey find common ground over Syrian Kurds?
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...syria-incursion-complete-191008082547251.html
ejaz007
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- Jul 25, 2007
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Turkish military, rebels to cross Syrian border 'shortly'
Build-up of troops and tanks near border continues as president's aide warns allied forces will cross into Syria soon.
24 minutes ago
The Turkish army has deployed military vehicles and heavy weapons to the Syrian border [Mehmet Akif Parlak/Anadolu]
MORE ON TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER
Turkey has been poised to advance into northeast Syria since US troops began vacating the area on Sunday in an abrupt policy shift by US President Donald Trump that was widely criticised in Washington as a betrayal of US's allies, the Kurds.
"The Turkish military, together with the Free Syrian Army, will cross the Turkish-Syrian border shortly," Fahrettin Altun said in a Washington Post column published on Wednesday.
"Turkey has no ambition in northeastern Syria except to neutralise a long-standing threat against Turkish citizens and to liberate the local population from the yoke of armed thugs," he wrote.
More On:
READ MORE
Will Turkey succeed in creating a 'safe zone' for Syrians?
Altun added fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) - an armed group Turkey considers a "terrorist" organisation - in Syria could either defect or Ankara would have to "stop them from disrupting" Turkey's struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS).
Turkey has said it intends to create a "safe zone" in order to return millions of refugees to Syrian soil, but the scheme has alarmed some Western allies and military analysts as much as the risks posed by the military operation itself.
'Imminent attack'
On Wednesday, Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, as quoted by broadcaster NTV, said Turkey's preparations and deployments for its planned military offensive are continuing.
The defence ministry on Tuesday said "all preparations for the operation" had been completed. Turkish troops have gathering on Turkey's side of the border since Monday night.
The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Turkish forces were attacking near the border.
"The Turkish military is shelling one of our points on #SereKaniye Border with Turkey," the SDF said in a tweet late on Tuesday, referencing the key border town of Ras al-Ain. No injuries were reported.
READ MORE
Turkey-Syria border: All the latest updates
It was one of the places from which US troops withdrew on Monday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Meanwhile, US officials, who were not authorised to discuss details of military intelligence, told The Associated Press on Tuesday there are between 5,000 and 10,000 Turkish troops along the border apparently ready to go.
The officials said they expect the Turks to begin with air strikes, followed by barrages from heavy artillery along the border and the movement of ground troops into Syria.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Akcakale along Turkey's border with Syria, said "all evidence suggests that the operation could be imminent".
"Last night, we passed dozens of military vehicles heading in this direction - APCs [armoured personal carriers], what we believe to be trucks carrying ammunition, and flatbed trucks transporting tanks," he said.
Turkey: Preparations 'complete' for Syria military action
Stratford said buses of Free Syrian Army fighters were also transported from northern Aleppo in Syria across the border into Turkey on Tuesday.
"They are staying at a camp close by, and it's understood they will be joining the Turks in any sort of ground force operation," he added.
Civilians already beleaguered by eight years of conflict are concerned.
"If war erupts, people will be vulnerable and displaced. Where should we go? You ask anyone they say we are not leaving. But eventually, we will be displaced," Summaiyah Mohammed, a Kurdish citizen in northern Syria, told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw.
Mass prison break?
Jonathan Schanzer, a Syria scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said even a limited Turkish incursion into northern Syria could quickly escalate.
"The president is doubling down on this - seems to be reversing course," Schanzer told AP. "He's trying to convey to the American people that he's made the right decision. Of course, Erdogan is going to see this as a green light."
READ MORE
How would a battle between Turkey and the SDF play out?
Tamara Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy, also pointed out a frightening potential knock-on effect if Turkey is allowed to attack the Kurds: a mass prison break by ISIL detainees.
Currently militia members are manning a series of prisons in Syria containing thousands of ISIL fighters.
Those guards would presumably rush to the front lines if their comrades faced the existential threat of the Turkish military machine.
"The only foreign policy issue that Americans really care about is terrorism and the fear of terrorism," Wittes told AP. "The fear of ISIS 3.0 is very tangible and something that speaks to Americans."
INSIDE STORY
What is the US plan for Syria?
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...ss-syrian-border-shortly-191009062501223.html
Build-up of troops and tanks near border continues as president's aide warns allied forces will cross into Syria soon.
24 minutes ago
The Turkish army has deployed military vehicles and heavy weapons to the Syrian border [Mehmet Akif Parlak/Anadolu]
MORE ON TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER
- Turkey-Syria border: All the latest updatestoday
- Kurds mobilise in Syria as Turkey poised for imminent attacktoday
- Trump's Syria move 'delivers a blow to US credibility worldwide'today
- Will Turkey succeed in creating a 'safe zone' for Syrians?today
Turkey has been poised to advance into northeast Syria since US troops began vacating the area on Sunday in an abrupt policy shift by US President Donald Trump that was widely criticised in Washington as a betrayal of US's allies, the Kurds.
"The Turkish military, together with the Free Syrian Army, will cross the Turkish-Syrian border shortly," Fahrettin Altun said in a Washington Post column published on Wednesday.
"Turkey has no ambition in northeastern Syria except to neutralise a long-standing threat against Turkish citizens and to liberate the local population from the yoke of armed thugs," he wrote.
More On:
- Will the 'safe zone' idea come to pass?
- What will happen to ISIL prisoners during Turkey's operation?
- How a battle between Turkey and the Kurdish YPG could go
READ MORE
Will Turkey succeed in creating a 'safe zone' for Syrians?
Altun added fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) - an armed group Turkey considers a "terrorist" organisation - in Syria could either defect or Ankara would have to "stop them from disrupting" Turkey's struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS).
Turkey has said it intends to create a "safe zone" in order to return millions of refugees to Syrian soil, but the scheme has alarmed some Western allies and military analysts as much as the risks posed by the military operation itself.
'Imminent attack'
On Wednesday, Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, as quoted by broadcaster NTV, said Turkey's preparations and deployments for its planned military offensive are continuing.
The defence ministry on Tuesday said "all preparations for the operation" had been completed. Turkish troops have gathering on Turkey's side of the border since Monday night.
The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Turkish forces were attacking near the border.
"The Turkish military is shelling one of our points on #SereKaniye Border with Turkey," the SDF said in a tweet late on Tuesday, referencing the key border town of Ras al-Ain. No injuries were reported.
READ MORE
Turkey-Syria border: All the latest updates
It was one of the places from which US troops withdrew on Monday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Meanwhile, US officials, who were not authorised to discuss details of military intelligence, told The Associated Press on Tuesday there are between 5,000 and 10,000 Turkish troops along the border apparently ready to go.
The officials said they expect the Turks to begin with air strikes, followed by barrages from heavy artillery along the border and the movement of ground troops into Syria.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Akcakale along Turkey's border with Syria, said "all evidence suggests that the operation could be imminent".
"Last night, we passed dozens of military vehicles heading in this direction - APCs [armoured personal carriers], what we believe to be trucks carrying ammunition, and flatbed trucks transporting tanks," he said.
Turkey: Preparations 'complete' for Syria military action
Stratford said buses of Free Syrian Army fighters were also transported from northern Aleppo in Syria across the border into Turkey on Tuesday.
"They are staying at a camp close by, and it's understood they will be joining the Turks in any sort of ground force operation," he added.
Civilians already beleaguered by eight years of conflict are concerned.
"If war erupts, people will be vulnerable and displaced. Where should we go? You ask anyone they say we are not leaving. But eventually, we will be displaced," Summaiyah Mohammed, a Kurdish citizen in northern Syria, told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw.
Mass prison break?
Jonathan Schanzer, a Syria scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said even a limited Turkish incursion into northern Syria could quickly escalate.
"The president is doubling down on this - seems to be reversing course," Schanzer told AP. "He's trying to convey to the American people that he's made the right decision. Of course, Erdogan is going to see this as a green light."
READ MORE
How would a battle between Turkey and the SDF play out?
Tamara Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy, also pointed out a frightening potential knock-on effect if Turkey is allowed to attack the Kurds: a mass prison break by ISIL detainees.
Currently militia members are manning a series of prisons in Syria containing thousands of ISIL fighters.
Those guards would presumably rush to the front lines if their comrades faced the existential threat of the Turkish military machine.
"The only foreign policy issue that Americans really care about is terrorism and the fear of terrorism," Wittes told AP. "The fear of ISIS 3.0 is very tangible and something that speaks to Americans."
INSIDE STORY
What is the US plan for Syria?
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...ss-syrian-border-shortly-191009062501223.html
ejaz007
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- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
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Syria's army to deploy along Turkey border as Kurds strike deal
In a major shift in alliance, Kurdish forces announce deal with Damascus on Syrian troop deployment near Turkey border.
4 hours ago
Turkish soldiers watch as smoke billows from the border town of Ras al-Ain on October 12, 2019 [Nazeer Al-khatib/AFP]
MORE ON MIDDLE EAST
The move, announced on Sunday, represents a major shift in alliance for Syria's Kurds and came hours after the United States said it was withdrawing its troops from the area to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fast-escalating conflict.
The Kurdish-led administration in a statement on Facebook said it had brokered the agreement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to counter Turkey's ongoing push, which has drawn widespread condemnation.
"In order to prevent and confront this aggression, an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government ... so that the Syrian army can deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border to assist the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)," the statement said.
Up to 1,000 US troops to withdraw from northern Syria (5:13)
It would also allow for the "liberation" of other Syrian cities occupied by the Turkish army such as Afrin, the statement said. The Turkish army and its Syrian rebel allies drove Kurdish forces from Afrin in 2018.
Earlier on Sunday, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported Damascus, which is backed militarily by Russia and Iran, was sending troops to the country's north to "confront the Turkish aggression". It did not give further details.
READ MORE
Turkey's military operation in Syria: All the latest updates
The return of Syrian government forces to the region - where Syrian Kurds have built an autonomous administration over the course of the country's eight-year-war - could further cement Assad's hold over the country, and raise the risk of a clash between Syria and Turkey.
There was no immediate comment from Turkey. The government in Ankara considers the Kurdish People's Protection Group (YPG), which forms the backbone of the SDF, a "terrorist" group linked to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey.
The developments reflect the chaos that has unfolded in the week since US President Donald Trump ordered US forces in the region to withdraw, clearing the way for the Turkish attack on the Kurdish fighters.
Trump's decision has been broadly condemned at home and abroad by critics who accuse him of betraying the Kurds, who fought alongside the US to help defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group in Syria.
'Untenable'
Mark Esper, US defence secretary, told US broadcaster CBS' Face the Nation programme that up to 1,000 US troops would be withdrawn from northern Syria because of the increasing danger posed by the fighting.
"We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it's a very untenable situation," he said in the interview that aired on Sunday.
He added that Washington had learned "in the last 24 hours" that Turkey "likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned and to the west".
Turkey launched its military offensive on Wednesday, pledging to clear the area of "terrorist" elements and create a so-called "safe zone" to resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts on its soil.
The "safe zone" Turkey had proposed was to span a stretch of territory 120 km wide and 30km deep inside Syria. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday the area may be wider, running between the towns of Hassakeh and Kobane, a stretch of 440km.
Erdogan has said Turkey 'will not stop' the offensive 'no matter what anyone says' [Presidential Press Office handout via Reuters]
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Akcakale on the Turkey-Syria border, said the withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria had put "the whole area up for grabs".
"There's more than one player in the Syrian conflict who wants to control this territory, which has oil and is the bread basket of Syria," she said. The pact between the Kurds and Assad's government indicates the end to the Kurdish-led administration's rule in Syria, Khodr added.
"It’s unlikely that the Damascus government is going to allow them to continue governing this whole region by themselves," she said, adding the SDF had "little leverage" over Assad's government.
ISIL prison break
Turkey's official Anadolu news agency, meanwhile, said Turkey-backed Syrian forces have advanced into the centre of a Syrian border town, Tel Abyad, on the fifth day of Turkey's offensive. Turkey's Defence Ministry tweeted that its forces had taken control of the main highway running between Hassakeh and Ain Issa, the administrative centre of the Kurdish-held areas.
Casualties mounted. On Sunday, at least nine people, including five civilians, were killed in Turkish air attacks on a convoy in Ras al-Ain, according to Syrian Kurdish officials and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
READ MORE
In Pictures: Turkey's military offensive in northeast Syria
Images of the attack showed bodies and severed limbs strewn across the street. A journalist was among those killed.
The fighting has raised fears that some of the thousands of suspected ISIL fighters held by the SDF will escape or be released in the chaos, allowing the battered group to make a comeback.
On Sunday, heavy fighting reached a displaced-persons camp in Ain Issa, some 35km south of the border, that is home to some 12,000 people, including around 1,000 wives and widows of suspected ISIL fighters, and their children, held in a special detention area.
Jelal Ayaf, a senior official at the camp, told local media that 859 people successfully escaped from the section of the facility housing foreign nationals.
Ayaf also warned that "sleeper cells" had emerged from inside another part of the facility and carried out attacks, describing the situation as "very volatile". Al Jazeera could not verify the claims.
Erdogan, for his part, called the reports "disinformation" aimed at provoking the US and other western countries, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...y-border-orders-pullback-191013191238367.html
In a major shift in alliance, Kurdish forces announce deal with Damascus on Syrian troop deployment near Turkey border.
4 hours ago
Turkish soldiers watch as smoke billows from the border town of Ras al-Ain on October 12, 2019 [Nazeer Al-khatib/AFP]
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The move, announced on Sunday, represents a major shift in alliance for Syria's Kurds and came hours after the United States said it was withdrawing its troops from the area to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fast-escalating conflict.
The Kurdish-led administration in a statement on Facebook said it had brokered the agreement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to counter Turkey's ongoing push, which has drawn widespread condemnation.
"In order to prevent and confront this aggression, an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government ... so that the Syrian army can deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border to assist the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)," the statement said.
Up to 1,000 US troops to withdraw from northern Syria (5:13)
It would also allow for the "liberation" of other Syrian cities occupied by the Turkish army such as Afrin, the statement said. The Turkish army and its Syrian rebel allies drove Kurdish forces from Afrin in 2018.
Earlier on Sunday, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported Damascus, which is backed militarily by Russia and Iran, was sending troops to the country's north to "confront the Turkish aggression". It did not give further details.
READ MORE
Turkey's military operation in Syria: All the latest updates
The return of Syrian government forces to the region - where Syrian Kurds have built an autonomous administration over the course of the country's eight-year-war - could further cement Assad's hold over the country, and raise the risk of a clash between Syria and Turkey.
There was no immediate comment from Turkey. The government in Ankara considers the Kurdish People's Protection Group (YPG), which forms the backbone of the SDF, a "terrorist" group linked to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey.
The developments reflect the chaos that has unfolded in the week since US President Donald Trump ordered US forces in the region to withdraw, clearing the way for the Turkish attack on the Kurdish fighters.
Trump's decision has been broadly condemned at home and abroad by critics who accuse him of betraying the Kurds, who fought alongside the US to help defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group in Syria.
'Untenable'
Mark Esper, US defence secretary, told US broadcaster CBS' Face the Nation programme that up to 1,000 US troops would be withdrawn from northern Syria because of the increasing danger posed by the fighting.
"We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it's a very untenable situation," he said in the interview that aired on Sunday.
He added that Washington had learned "in the last 24 hours" that Turkey "likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned and to the west".
Turkey launched its military offensive on Wednesday, pledging to clear the area of "terrorist" elements and create a so-called "safe zone" to resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts on its soil.
The "safe zone" Turkey had proposed was to span a stretch of territory 120 km wide and 30km deep inside Syria. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday the area may be wider, running between the towns of Hassakeh and Kobane, a stretch of 440km.
Erdogan has said Turkey 'will not stop' the offensive 'no matter what anyone says' [Presidential Press Office handout via Reuters]
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Akcakale on the Turkey-Syria border, said the withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria had put "the whole area up for grabs".
"There's more than one player in the Syrian conflict who wants to control this territory, which has oil and is the bread basket of Syria," she said. The pact between the Kurds and Assad's government indicates the end to the Kurdish-led administration's rule in Syria, Khodr added.
"It’s unlikely that the Damascus government is going to allow them to continue governing this whole region by themselves," she said, adding the SDF had "little leverage" over Assad's government.
ISIL prison break
Turkey's official Anadolu news agency, meanwhile, said Turkey-backed Syrian forces have advanced into the centre of a Syrian border town, Tel Abyad, on the fifth day of Turkey's offensive. Turkey's Defence Ministry tweeted that its forces had taken control of the main highway running between Hassakeh and Ain Issa, the administrative centre of the Kurdish-held areas.
Casualties mounted. On Sunday, at least nine people, including five civilians, were killed in Turkish air attacks on a convoy in Ras al-Ain, according to Syrian Kurdish officials and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
READ MORE
In Pictures: Turkey's military offensive in northeast Syria
Images of the attack showed bodies and severed limbs strewn across the street. A journalist was among those killed.
The fighting has raised fears that some of the thousands of suspected ISIL fighters held by the SDF will escape or be released in the chaos, allowing the battered group to make a comeback.
On Sunday, heavy fighting reached a displaced-persons camp in Ain Issa, some 35km south of the border, that is home to some 12,000 people, including around 1,000 wives and widows of suspected ISIL fighters, and their children, held in a special detention area.
Jelal Ayaf, a senior official at the camp, told local media that 859 people successfully escaped from the section of the facility housing foreign nationals.
Ayaf also warned that "sleeper cells" had emerged from inside another part of the facility and carried out attacks, describing the situation as "very volatile". Al Jazeera could not verify the claims.
Erdogan, for his part, called the reports "disinformation" aimed at provoking the US and other western countries, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019...y-border-orders-pullback-191013191238367.html
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More Civilians Killed in Turkish Airstrikes in Syria despite Ceasefire
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least five civilians were killed during Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria on Friday while sporadic clashes continue with Kurdish forces despite a ceasefire announced earlier.
Machine gun fire and shelling could be heard while smoke arose from one part of Bab al-Kheir, a town near the Turkish border, Reuters reported.
Probable casualties and damage resulting from the clashes in the town have yet to be confirmed.
The civilians were killed following Turkish airstrikes on Bab al-Kheir which lies east of Ras al-Ayn, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The reports come only 13 hours after Turkey agreed to "pause" the assault for five days allowing Kurdish fighters to withdraw from a determined "safe zone" north of Syria.
The Turkish capital hosted more than five hours of negotiations between a US delegation and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the day.
US Vice President Mike Pence told reporters on Thursday that Ankara’s incursion "will be halted entirely on completion" of the withdrawal of the fighters.
Certain details regarding the withdrawal, however, appear to be disputed between the parties to the agreement.
Pence has said that the deal obliges Turkey to not engage in military operations in the Syrian border town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobani. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has, however, said Ankara has made no commitments about the town.
Also speaking on Thursday, Mazlum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces which leads Kurdish-led forces in the region, told a Kurdish TV station that the group would accept the deal but that it was limited to the border areas running between Ras al-Ayn and the town of Tal Abyad.
Turkey launched its invasion of Syria on October 9 with the alleged aim of creating a "safe zone" south of its border with Syria.
Ankara says Kurdish forces operating in the area are terrorists linked to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group, which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Speaking earlier on Thursday, however, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed Ankara's announced objectives in Syria.
“No matter what false slogans could be made up for the Turkish offensive, it is a flagrant invasion and aggression,” he said.
https://tn.ai/2120917
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least five civilians were killed during Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria on Friday while sporadic clashes continue with Kurdish forces despite a ceasefire announced earlier.
Machine gun fire and shelling could be heard while smoke arose from one part of Bab al-Kheir, a town near the Turkish border, Reuters reported.
Probable casualties and damage resulting from the clashes in the town have yet to be confirmed.
The civilians were killed following Turkish airstrikes on Bab al-Kheir which lies east of Ras al-Ayn, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The reports come only 13 hours after Turkey agreed to "pause" the assault for five days allowing Kurdish fighters to withdraw from a determined "safe zone" north of Syria.
The Turkish capital hosted more than five hours of negotiations between a US delegation and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the day.
US Vice President Mike Pence told reporters on Thursday that Ankara’s incursion "will be halted entirely on completion" of the withdrawal of the fighters.
Certain details regarding the withdrawal, however, appear to be disputed between the parties to the agreement.
Pence has said that the deal obliges Turkey to not engage in military operations in the Syrian border town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobani. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has, however, said Ankara has made no commitments about the town.
Also speaking on Thursday, Mazlum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces which leads Kurdish-led forces in the region, told a Kurdish TV station that the group would accept the deal but that it was limited to the border areas running between Ras al-Ayn and the town of Tal Abyad.
Turkey launched its invasion of Syria on October 9 with the alleged aim of creating a "safe zone" south of its border with Syria.
Ankara says Kurdish forces operating in the area are terrorists linked to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group, which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Speaking earlier on Thursday, however, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed Ankara's announced objectives in Syria.
“No matter what false slogans could be made up for the Turkish offensive, it is a flagrant invasion and aggression,” he said.
https://tn.ai/2120917
Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen
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Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen
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Khamenai aka Putin mercenaries bombed house with solar plant. Murdering a husband and wife and injuring their 3 children.
Whenever there is some sign of normality in Syria Khamenai and Putin rush to destroy it.
Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen
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infrastructure definition by a russian shia chinese :
Houses (military base),
animals (working for the enemy, like steel mines essential for the enemy),
Mothers (soldier factory),
children (next growing soldiers, raw meterials)
grandpa (gives advices, information and communication systems)
grandma (makes food, a chain in the food supply and military medical infrastructures)
the cat (sneaky spy)
dog (enemy alarm system)
graves (bunkers)
thats what you see..
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