Posted on 11/02/2018 8:19:53 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
Turkish military advances into northern Syria over the past two years have put US forces directly in the path of advancing troops from Turkey, Washington's main NATO ally in the region.
The two countries have been working to avert direct confrontation, even as Turkey aims to crush the Kurdish YPG militia. Considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the YPG forms the main part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that Washington backs with arms, air support and around 2,000 special forces troops on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.
To avert more fighting, the United States and Turkey agreed three months ago to hold joint patrols around the strategic town of Manbij on the west bank of the Euphrates, under a deal that also saw Kurdish fighters withdraw from the city they had captured at great cost from the IS group.
But as the joint patrols were due to begin this week, Turkey announced a new offensive against the Kurds on the opposite bank of the river, into territory where the SDF has US troop support.
Turkey's defence minister and the US-led military coalition in Syria confirmed the start of the patrols in Manbij, about 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border, on Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Turkey has been firing across the border for five days in preparation for what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says will be an offensive soon to crush the Kurdish forces along the breadth of the Turkish frontier.
Will the Western world please wake from their deep silent slumber? Does anyone still remember Holger Danske's slumber?
One of Charlemagne’s paladins!
Damn the Turks to hell. Not our friends.
God help the Kurds - good people.
Yep
Yep
Our Middle Eastern policy is schizophrenic.
Well, in the name of confronting the threat of the USSR we looked the other way. And always the Kemalist kept the Islamist in check. (and did lots of bad things that we chose to overlook)
Now with the Islamist at th helm, with the help of Obozo sending the Jihadi’s into Syria and telling Erdogan he can have it all? Now Erdogan the Islamist is panicked because his economy is crashing his military is fragmented to the point he enlists ISIS and al Qaeda (not mention of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists that headquarter in Turkey) in the FSA.
He wants the oil in Northern Syria and to kill the Kurds and to retake the long dead Ottoman Empire to return the land “to it’s rightful owners” (Erdo’s actual words).
What could possibly go wrong?
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan meet in Sochi, Russia November 22, 2017. (photo credit: SPUTNIK/MIKHAIL METZEL/KREMLIN VIA REUTERS) The Three Amigos
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