[BeauBo]

Wow, Turkey is bleeding in Afrin, and just crawling in terms of advances. They are also paying a diplomatic price for this invasion.

Because Afrin is so small, and they have invested so much prestige domestically in gearing up for this invasion, I fear they might choose to double down and give heavy reinforcements a try, before accepting defeat. Hopefully diplomatic pressure can prevent that, but if not, I’d anticipate a fresh push, and maybe new tactics in the next week or two.

If they were sufficiently threatened in behind the scenes discussions, or shown significant military deterrent (like a bunch of anti-tank and anti-air missiles being provided to the Kurds), they might hunker down and dig in for a while, or even pull back to defensible positions. Maybe even declare victory and head home.

Extremely Extreme Extremist in Post #3 asked an interesting question: Israel opening up a can?

Israel came close to full war with Syria/Iran/ Hizbollah this weekend. If they wanted Kurdish support against Iranian militias, the Kurds in return would want the means to drive Turkey from Afrin (and maybe al Bab as well).

If Israel gets into Syria (which seems inevitable, given the Iranian threat), I’d expect a dramatically quicker pace of operations than the combatants there have grown used to - and some unexpected moves. Getting the Kurds to go for it against Iran would be a huge gamble for them, but it would have an element of strategic surprise.

The USA and the Saudis each might also be tempted to join in a strategic strike to remove Iran from Syria. The possibilities are endless in the Armageddon that is today’s Syria - and each of the enemies gets their own vote as well.

[Texas Fossil]

Thanks for perspective.

Yes, lots and lots of unpredictable elements.

[Zhang Fei]

The possibilities are endless in the Armageddon that is today’s Syria - and each of the enemies gets their own vote as well.

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I have my doubts about the eschatological aspect of this conflict. It’s just another conflict in a region that, via a combo of foreign domination (Persian, Mongol, Turkish, then European, followed by the Cold War), that froze so many disputes in amber, was never really free to settle its differences in a massive bloodbath as other places have had free rein to do, over the past thousand years. All those deferred conflicts are now coming to a head.

[MinorityRepublican]

What’s in it for Israel to invade Iran? Right now, the status quo is in Israel’s favor. Their enemies are caught in a quagmire and there’s no way of getting out anytime soon. In other words, this is an ideal period for Israel because their enemies are too distracted to contemplate an attack on the Jewish State.