WAR Syria - Turkish troops launch anti-ISIS offensive in northern Syria (8/24/16)

H

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
(I figured this warranted a fresh thread...HC)

:dot5: :siren: :dot5:

Hummmm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/middleeast/turkish-troops-isis-syria-operation/

Turkish troops launch anti-ISIS offensive in northern Syria

By Euan McKirdy, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Isil Sariyuce, CNN
Updated 4:04 AM ET, Wed August 24, 2016

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) ¡X Turkey has launched a military operation against ISIS in the north of Syria, Turkish state media has reported.

The aim of the operation, codenamed "Euphrates Shield" is to secure territory along its border with Syria from the ISIS threat, officials told Turkey's semi-official Anadolu agency.

Turkish artillery units and warplanes belonging to the U.S.-led coalition pounded the ISIS-held Syrian town of Jarablus in the early hours of Wednesday.

Turkish tanks and special forces units are also operating along the border, CNN affiliate CNN Turk reported.

Jarablus lies along the west bank of the Euphrates River, less than a kilometer from Turkey. It's the last major town held by ISIS on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Map

Turkey has been hitting targets inside Syria for the past three days, following a mortar attack on residential areas in Karkamis, a town on the Turkish side of the border.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Turkey will "fully support" operations against ISIS positions in Jarabulus.

Troops will create a 90 km by 40 km (55 mile by 25 mile) safe zone for refugees between the towns of Marea and Jarablus, Turkish media said.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala, in an interview with state media, said "we are working together with coalition and moderate opposition. Turkey will not allow terrorist organizations next to us to threaten Turkey. What is indispensable for Turkey is the territorial unity of Syria."

Meanwhile, US Vice-President Joe Biden has arrived in Ankara, the country's capital, where he is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Rocked by terror

Karkamis is in Gaziantep province, whose capital was struck by a devastating bomb attack on a wedding Saturday night that was blamed on ISIS. That attack killed 54 people -- the deadliest in a long string of blasts across Turkey this year.

READ: Understanding Turkey's catalog of enemies

Turkey has vowed to eradicate ISIS from its border regions in the wake of Saturday's atrocity.

"Our border must be completely cleansed of Daesh," Cavusoglu said in televised remarks Monday, referring to ISIS by another name.

War on two fronts

Turkey also shelled Kurdish YPG fighters Monday in northern Syria, attacking them north of Manbij, a city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Jarablus.

US-backed Kurdish forces have been eager to drive ISIS out and to remove the group's access to resupply of materiel and fighters from Turkey. Last month they secured a significant victory in Manbij, driving the terror group from the city and toward the north; now Jarablus is in their sights.

But while Turkey and the Kurdish YPG share a common enemy in ISIS, Turkey remains determined to keep the Kurdish fighters from advancing on its border.

Turkey says the YPG is linked to its own Kurdish insurgents, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who have been blamed for a string of deadly attacks in the country since a ceasefire crumbled last year.

READ: Turkey strikes ISIS, Kurds in northern Syria

CNN's Isil Sariyuce reported from Istanbul and Mohammed Tawfeeq from Atlanta. Euan McKirdy wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Tim Hume contributed to this report.

-----

Military.com: US Scrambles Fighters After Syrian Aircraft Bombed Near SpecOps Forces
Started by Possible Impact‎, 08-19-2016 12:50 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ian-Aircraft-Bombed-Near-SpecOps-Forces/page2

New Russia-China-Iran Alliance Could Push US Out Of Much Of The Middle East
Started by Possible Impact‎, 08-22-2016 07:47 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-Could-Push-US-Out-Of-Much-Of-The-Middle-East

CONFIRMED: India pledges support for Assad after meeting in Damascus
Started by Possible Impact‎, 08-22-2016 09:21 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...s-support-for-Assad-after-meeting-in-Damascus

Sources say 51 people dead, 94 wounded in blast at wedding in Turkey - Isis blamed
Started by mzkitty‎, 08-20-2016 02:39 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ded-in-blast-at-wedding-in-Turkey-Isis-blamed

SCMP: Chinese military to provide ‘aid and training assistance’ to Syrian government
Started by Possible Impact‎, 08-16-2016 06:30 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...and-training-assistance’-to-Syrian-government

Reuters: China says seeks closer military ties with Syria
Started by Possible Impact‎, 08-16-2016 07:29 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...na-says-seeks-closer-military-ties-with-Syria

Pentagon Refuses To Disclose How Many U.S. Troops Are Fighting ISIS
Started by BetterLateThanNever‎, 08-12-2016 06:27 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...sclose-How-Many-U.S.-Troops-Are-Fighting-ISIS
 
Last edited:
danielboon

danielboon

TB Fanatic
hmmmm indeed

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 18m18 minutes ago
BREAKING: Turkey will attack #YPG until they retreat to eastern #Euphrates river: Turkish FM - @BarzanSadiq
 
H

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37171995

Syria Jarablus: Turkish tanks roll into northern Syria

8 minutes ago
From the section Europe

A dozen Turkish tanks have rolled across the Syrian border after heavy Turkish shelling of an area held by so-called Islamic State (IS).

Military sources told Turkish media 70 targets in the Jarablus area had been destroyed by artillery and rocket strikes, and 12 by air strikes.

Turkish special forces entered Syria earlier as part of the offensive.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and Kurdish fighters.

Turkey shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in the region this week, determined not to let them fill the vacuum if IS leaves, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports from Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.

The concern in Ankara is that the Kurds could create an autonomous area close to the border which might foster Kurdish separatism within Turkey itself, our correspondent says.

In another development, counter-terror police in Turkey's main city, Istanbul, launched dawn raids targeting IS suspects across the city.

US Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in Turkey on Wednesday in the highest-ranking visit by a Western official since the failed coup on 15 July.

◾Bomb survivor haunted by attacks
◾Turkey v Syria's Kurds v Islamic State
◾How dangerous is the instability in Turkey?
◾Islamic State: the full story

_90888774_syria_turkey_kurds_v6_624map.png

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/...on/_90888774_syria_turkey_kurds_v6_624map.png

Twin attack

The tanks were followed by pick-up trucks believed to be carrying Turkish-backed Syrian rebels from the Free Syrian Army.

"At 04:00 [01:00 GMT] our forces began an operation against the Daesh [IS] and PYD [Kurdish Democratic Union Party] terror groups," President Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

The offensive is aimed at "putting an end" to problems on the border, he said.

The Turkish town of Karkamis - just across the border from Jarablus - was evacuated as a precaution following earlier IS mortar attacks.

Turkey has vowed to "completely cleanse" IS from its border region, blaming the group for a bomb attack on a wedding that killed at least 54 people in Gaziantep on Saturday.

This is Turkey's first known ground incursion into Syria since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February of last year.

The air strikes are Turkey's first inside Syria since the downing of a Russian jet in November. Moscow and Ankara only mended ties in June after punitive Russian sanctions.

'A buffer against the Kurds'

An unnamed senior US official in Washington told BBC News before the start of the Turkish operation that it was "partly to create a buffer against the possibility of the Kurds moving forward".

"We are working with them on that potential operation: our advisers are communicating with them on the Jarablus plan.

"We'll give close air support if there's an operation."

Fighters from the Syrian Kurd YPG militia - the military wing of the PYD - led the battle to drive IS out of the strategic crossroads town of Manbij earlier this month.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy since the 1980s, but the YPG is backed by the US as one of the most effective forces battling IS.

On Tuesday the YPG took control of most of the north-eastern Syrian city of Hassakeh. A truce was reportedly brokered there by Russia after recent clashes between the Kurds and Syrian government forces.

President Erdogan said he would press Vice-President Biden for the extradition of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt.
◾Turkish arrest warrant for Gulen


Turkish media round on Biden

Several pro-government papers accuse Washington of dragging its heels after Turkey's call for the extradition of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. "Gulen's protector" says a headline in Aksam, which notes his "late" visit in the wake of last month's coup attempt.

Gunes newspaper says pointedly that "the Turkish government and 79 million Turks are waiting for concrete steps" from him, adding that "Biden will be... asked to behave like an ally".

The pro-government Star agrees that Mr Biden will have to explain US support for the "Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation" (FETO). Karar says the visit will open a new chapter in bilateral ties but says Washington must show its support for Turkey.

Pro-government daily Milliyet publishes a column by Mr Biden himself where he praises Turks for thwarting the coup attempt. He also says that claims that Gulen's extradition is simply a political matter are "damaging" for bilateral ties.


More on this story

Turkey plans active Syria role
20 August 2016

Turkey v Syria's Kurds v Islamic State
23 August 2016

Video Agony after wedding bomb
22 August 2016

How dangerous is Turkey unrest?
22 August 2016

Turkey caught in overlapping security crises
14 March 2016
 
P

Possible Impact

TB Fanatic
ElevenO

ElevenO

Veteran Member
cornanj said:
The Red Dragon is rising.
Click to expand...


Everybody is rising right now. We're all headed towards World War 3, whether we want to be or not. There's powder kegs in the middle east, europe and asia (and this doesn't include such issues as the economy, immigration or, in the case of the United States, ongoing election campaigns for numerous offices at all levels of government). There's numerous leaks in the dam but not enough fingers and toes to stop them up. Sooner or later, something will give and.....that will be that.

All that's needed now is somebody with a proverbial book of matches who isn't afraid to light one up and toss it onto one of the aforementioned kegs of powder. Sooner or later, somebody or some thing is gonna go "boom" and, after it does, the rest of the world will immediately change and go "boom" with it. The day will come where we'll all wake up in one world but fall asleep in another. One day there will be (relative) peace and the next there will be global war.
 
almost ready

almost ready

Inactive
Holy Toledo!

Turkey launches an offensive against what they say are western forces on the 500th anniversary of a most important battle, decisively winning the Middle East for Turkey - the battle of Dabiq.

And to make it even juicier, it, too, was fought at/near Aleppo, Syria.

I think the west has been played, and played perhaps for years, by Turkey to build them up and position them for this move.

It all fits.

Now we get to watch while their asset, Obama, dithers. Is Erdogan not Obama's stated closest personal friend of the world leaders? And Turkey was the first country he visited as president in 2009, where he went to a mosque and said, in Arabic "I am one of you".

Now we will get to watch and see if that was just politician talk or had actual meaning.
 
P

Possible Impact

TB Fanatic
Leith Abou Fadel ‏@leithfadel 2h
There are more countries competing in Syria than the Olympics


Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 38m
TURKEY: We must preserve the unity of Syria
and prevent the creation of any Kurdish entity: Turkish PM

^^^ Words required by Russia before they would allow
this operation. Also, this sets Turkey against US plans
to split Syria into Ethnic Cleansed regions.
(Which is funny coming from Turkey, who has used the technique many times
in the last hundred years.)


Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 25m
BREAKING: Biden says Syrian Kurdish forces will lose US support
if they don't retreat to east bank of Euphrates
- @joshledermanAP
 
Ordinary Girl

Ordinary Girl

Veteran Member
After all that has happened, why are we helping Turkey? I understand the "destroy ISIS" rhetoric, but O doesn't want to destroy them. I didn't think Erdogan did either.
 
Be Well

Be Well

may all be well
Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 49m
Turkish media says Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have taken four villages
& killed 46 I.S. militants in their operation in Syria so far
Click to expand...

Let me grok this.

Syrian rebels, not the regular Syrian Army, are hitting ISIS? Is this new? And I thought Turkey supported the regular Syrian gov/mil. Am I missing something here??/
 
P

Possible Impact

TB Fanatic
Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 6h
pts: FSA units involved in Jarablus op are Turkman & Arab;
ID'd by blue & red armbands, respectively (v @3z0ooz)
Cqn_4hDUIAAZTd8.jpg:small


Cqn_5eZUAAAaDPo.jpg:small



Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 6h
pts - Key Syria units involved:
Faylaq al-Sham
Jabhat al-Shamiya
Nour al-Din
al-Zinki
Sultan Murad
13th Division
Suqor al-Jebel
(1/2)

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 6h
pts - Key Syria units involved:
Jaish al-Tahrir
Hamza Division
Jaish al-Nasr
Mutassim Brigade
Ahrar Tel Rifaat
Liwa al-Fateh
(2/2)


Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 4h
BREAKING: Faylaq al-Sham declares Jarabulus fully captured.

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 18m
FaylaqSham & JaishTahrir commanders inside Jarablus
CqpT5G9VUAA8ZG-.jpg:small


CqpT5KiVYAARGzR.jpg:small


CqpT5MOUMAEERNH.jpg:small




Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 6h
pts - Ahrar al-Sham is also involved (confirmed by source)
in the Jarablus offensive, though more quietly than other
FSA/vetted groups.


Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 5h
Assuming Jarablus op ends up successfully uprooting ISIS there,
its safe to assume the next target will be Al-Bab (further blocking YPG).


Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 5h
pts - Also feasible that Turkey may seek to create
a semi-permanent military position outside Jarablus (post-ISIS),
to ward off YPG.



Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 4h
pts - Tough day for the #YPG,
whose territorial advances facilitated by US air support
have now been forced back


Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 4h
Jarablus has fallen;
FSA control former ISIS HQ.
Phase II of operation will seek to connect with Al-Rai.
Phase III = to capture Al-Bab.


:siren:
Phil Heaver ‏@PhilHeaver 2h
.@Charles_Lister : Jabhat al-Nusra's rebranding and "break" from AQ
must be analyzed in context of methodical expansion of local influence


Phil Heaver ‏@PhilHeaver 2h
.@Charles_Lister within Syria, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham won't be
taking orders from AQCore, but interestingly, Zawahiri's Deputy
is in Syria...



Phil Heaver ‏@PhilHeaver 2h
Another interesting note from @Charles_Lister
- half of Jabhat al-Nusra's Shura Council has rejected so-called "rebranding"



zerohedge ‏@zerohedge 2h
U.S. WARPLANES CONDUCTING AIRSTRIKES IN JARABULUS
IN SUPPORT OF TURKISH OPERATIONS AGAINST IS: OFFICIAL

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 47m
SOHR says IS withdrew from Jarablus days ago
​



:siren: :siren: :siren:
Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 28m
YPG Spox:
Our forces within SDF in W of Euphrates are in our own country,
we wont withdraw just because Turkey wants - @mutludc
 
P

Possible Impact

TB Fanatic
Be Well said:
Let me grok this.

Syrian rebels, not the regular Syrian Army, are hitting ISIS? Is this new? And I thought Turkey supported the regular Syrian gov/mil. Am I missing something here??/
Click to expand...

Syrian rebels and the regular Syrian Army, are hitting ISIS.
Some Syrian rebels are also hitting other rebel groups, and some are hitting Turkish groups.

Turkey supports the regular Syrian gov/mil. starting TODAY...
They were actively supporting rebels groups that were fighting the Syrian Army,
and were calling for the removal, by force if necessary, of Assad.
 
Be Well

Be Well

may all be well
Possible Impact said:
Syrian rebels and the regular Syrian Army, are hitting ISIS.
Some Syrian rebels are also hitting other rebel groups, and some are hitting Turkish groups.

Turkey supports the regular Syrian gov/mil. starting TODAY...
They were actively supporting rebels groups that were fighting the Syrian Army,
and were calling for the removal, by force if necessary, of Assad.
Click to expand...

Aha, that clears that up. I had remembered that they were supported rebels, but recently their talk changed, IIRC. Basically this is a fluster cluck, right?
 
P

Possible Impact

TB Fanatic
P

Possible Impact

TB Fanatic
Richard said:
Why send in Biden who has no grasp of the situation......
Click to expand...

White House/State Department can deny anything he says,
because everyone knows "he has no grasp of the situation",
a 'real diplomat' would need to be careful of committing the US
to a particular policy by speaking.
 
T

TerryK

TB Fanatic
Richard said:
Why send in Biden who has no grasp of the situation......
Click to expand...
Actually Biden was first to recommend partitioning Iraq into 3 countries. One for the majority shite, one for the sunni and one for the Kurds.

Instead we decided to put the majority Shites in charge of the whole country. They promptly disenfranchised the Kurds and the Sunnis.
A short time later we now have ISIS formed and led by a bunch of pissed off sunnis. :shk:

Hell the British screwed up the original middle east when they split up the former Ottoman empire and created all kinds of artificial countries without regard to religion or tribes.

The only way to win in the middle east is not to play in the first place.
Leave them alone, and if they insist on exporting their craziness to the West, bomb the shit out of them and leave them to bury their dead and rebuild their cities on their own. NO aid, No trade, No refugees.
 
Be Well

Be Well

may all be well
TerryK said:
Actually Biden was first to recommend partitioning Iraq into 3 countries. One for the majority shite, one for the sunni and one for the Kurds.

Instead we decided to put the majority Shites in charge of the whole country. They promptly disenfranchised the Kurds and the Sunnis.
A short time later we now have ISIS formed and led by a bunch of pissed off sunnis. :shk:

Hell the British screwed up the original middle east when they split up the former Ottoman empire and created all kinds of artificial countries without regard to religion or tribes.

The only way to win in the middle east is not to play in the first place.
Leave them alone, and if they insist on exporting their craziness to the West, bomb the shit out of them and leave them to bury their dead and rebuild their cities on their own. NO aid, No trade, No refugees.
Click to expand...

You should offer to be Trump's SoT.
 
ElevenO

ElevenO

Veteran Member
Be Well said:
Aha, that clears that up. I had remembered that they were supported rebels, but recently their talk changed, IIRC. Basically this is a fluster cluck, right?
Click to expand...




Yes, it is and, in my opinion, we have no business getting involved with it one way or the other. I can understand and support the idea of going after ISIS but I don't think the US has any good reason to be picking sides in who does or does not run the nation of syria. However, for some reason, obama like erodogan so he'll likely follow through on any request erodogan makes of him which just provides further proof that obama is a lapdog instead of a leader.
 
ElevenO

ElevenO

Veteran Member
TerryK said:
Actually Biden was first to recommend partitioning Iraq into 3 countries. One for the majority shite, one for the sunni and one for the Kurds.

Instead we decided to put the majority Shites in charge of the whole country. They promptly disenfranchised the Kurds and the Sunnis.
A short time later we now have ISIS formed and led by a bunch of pissed off sunnis. :shk:

Hell the British screwed up the original middle east when they split up the former Ottoman empire and created all kinds of artificial countries without regard to religion or tribes.

The only way to win in the middle east is not to play in the first place.
Leave them alone, and if they insist on exporting their craziness to the West, bomb the shit out of them and leave them to bury their dead and rebuild their cities on their own. NO aid, No trade, No refugees.
Click to expand...



For the most part, I could probably support some or all of this idea. I would just want to keep strong political, military and economical ties with israel first but, besides that, I could support the idea of just fencing the rest of the middle east off and letting them kill each other. We could deal with whoever "wins" later.
 
danielboon

danielboon

TB Fanatic
S

Shacknasty Shagrat

Has No Life - Lives on TB
'Hell the British screwed up the original middle east when they split up the former Ottoman empire and created all kinds of artificial countries without regard to religion or tribes.

The only way to win in the middle east is not to play in the first place.
Leave them alone, and if they insist on exporting their craziness to the West, bomb the shit out of them and leave them to bury their dead and rebuild their cities on their own. NO aid, No trade, No refugees. '
I strongly agree with your comments.
And I think Mr. Trumps foreign policy approach follows your thoughts.
SS
 
Be Well

Be Well

may all be well
ElevenO said:
For the most part, I could probably support some or all of this idea. I would just want to keep strong political, military and economical ties with israel first but, besides that, I could support the idea of just fencing the rest of the middle east off and letting them kill each other. We could deal with whoever "wins" later.
Click to expand...

Yes, and also taking out any Christians who want to leave (the few left will probably want to leave so they don't get raped/tortured/killed too).
 
H

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/0...-as-turkey-continues-anti-isis-operation.html

Syria

US-backed Kurds pulling back in north Syria as Turkey continues anti-ISIS operation

By Lucas Tomlinson
·Published August 25, 2016
· FoxNews.com

1472118070859.jpg

http://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxne...0.img.jpg/876/493/1472118070859.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
Aug. 25, 2016: Turkish army tanks and armored personnel carriers move toward the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey. (AP)

A day after Turkish tanks crossed the border into northern Syria, a US-backed largely Kurdish army has moved east of the Euphrates River on Thursday, according to a U.S. military spokesman.

Turkey had called on the Kurds to leave Arab lands in Syria and return east of the Euphrates to traditional Kurdish territory.

The United States is supporting the Turkish military operation with airstrikes and conducted at least eight against ISIS targets on Wednesday, according to a senior defense official.

But the US is also supporting Kurdish fighters in Syria, including a militia known as the YPG, seen as the best ground force against ISIS in Syria. Some US special operations forces have embedded with the YPG, part of the 300 US troops sent to Syria earlier this year.

Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization, the Syrian affiliate of a Kurdish separatist group in Turkey, the PKK. The State Department lists the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization. The PKK has fought a decades long insurgency against Turkey killing tens of thousands of civilians. Attacks by the PKK have increased in recent months. Turkish jets have bombed PKK positions in response, including some at training camps in northern Iraq.

The Obama administration considers the YPG and PKK separate groups.

Turkey had been calling on the Kurds to move east of the Euphrates River since a successful US-backed operation to route ISIS in Manbij, a logistics hub for the terrorist group 20 miles from Syria's border with Turkey located on the western side of the river.

Wednesday, Turkey's president said his country's military operation into northern Syria would target both ISIS and Kurdish fighters of the YPG, calling both groups terrorist organizations.

OIR Spokesperson
✔ ý@OIRSpox

The Syrian Democratic Forces have moved east across the Euphrates to prepare for the eventual liberation of Raqqa, Syria #defeatdaesh

12:50 AM - 25 Aug 2016

117 117 Retweets

58 58 likes
Click to expand...

Syrian Democratic Forces, as the US-backed largely Kurdish fighting force is called, also includes some Arab fighters as well as the YPG.

Late last week, Syrian jets from President Bashar al-Assad's Air Force bombed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria with US special operations forces nearby, according to a US defense official, in another sign of the increasingly complex battlefield in Syria. US jets were sent to the area in response.

Turkey and Syria are long-time enemies.

But in recent days, Turkey has backed off calls for Assad to step down immediately, instead saying he could be part of a transitional government before leaving in the future.

Turkey's President Recep Erdogan met with Russian President Putin earlier this month in Moscow, in a sign of increasing ties between the two counties. It was the first visit since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November.

Russia has supported the Syrian government in the past year by sending dozens of jets and attack helicopters to Syria to carry out airstrikes against rebel forces.

Turkey has long supported Syrian rebels fighting President Assad's regime forces during the five-year civil war.

The Obama administration has repeatedly called for Turkey to take more steps to seal its border with Syria to ISIS fighters.

Turkey's military operation into northern Syria Wednesday was seen as a welcomed step by senior defense officials in Washington.


Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews
 
ElevenO

ElevenO

Veteran Member
Good grief, I practically need a scorecard and a notebook to keep everything straight here as all of the (so called) alliances we're involved in [in syria] right now seem so tangled up and confused that it is beyond ridiculous and, in fact, it's downright dangerous and ripe for a catastrophic mistake, sooner or later.

Let me see if I have this straight.

First of all, according to various news reports that I've seen, this latest excursion by Turkey into Syria was----and, I guess, still is-----being backed up by U.S. air power in the region. Turkey is (supposedly) going after both ISIS and the Kurdish YPG group. However, according to the article above, we have some U.S. Special Forces personnel that are attached to the YPG group of fighters (who are also supposed to be fighting ISIS, as well).

This tangled up mess has a potential for a friendly fire, blue on blue, accident written all over it because Turkey could easily request air support from U.S. fighters when they are busy fighting the YPG group which may, at the same time, have U.S. S.F. forces attached to them. You could have U.S. aircraft who could end up bombing our own guys on the ground.

Not only that, supposedly the obama administration has wanted assad gone for a while now and, while I have no basic problem with that in and of itself, it now appears that Turkey is having a slight change of heart and instead of remaining loyal to us and our position it now seems that erdogan is now slowly allying himself towards russia's position over ours.

We're already on a collision course with russia, anyway, but does this mean that we're now on another one with turkey, as well? If that's the case then we should remove ALL U.S. military personnel and assets out of Turkey completely and, instead, transfer them to some place like Greece or perhaps even to Israel. Maybe even both.

Right now, our foreign policy in Washington is so messed up and confused (and, for that matter, outright dangerous TO OUR OWN SELVES) that it's practically immoral and certainly questionable. I swear it seems like our foreign policy is being determined by a group of retarded monkeys from the congo who are all still on an acid trip from woodstock back in the 60's.

:shk: :dstrs: :confused: :screw: :shr: :soap: :hlp: :bhd: :bdsk: :kpc: :( :sht: :shkr:
 
H

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
ElevenO said:
Good grief, I practically need a scorecard and a notebook to keep everything straight here as all of the (so called) alliances we're involved in [in syria] right now seem so tangled up and confused that it is beyond ridiculous and, in fact, it's downright dangerous and ripe for a catastrophic mistake, sooner or later.

Let me see if I have this straight.

First of all, according to various news reports that I've seen, this latest excursion by Turkey into Syria was----and, I guess, still is-----being backed up by U.S. air power in the region. Turkey is (supposedly) going after both ISIS and the Kurdish YPG group. However, according to the article above, we have some U.S. Special Forces personnel that are attached to the YPG group of fighters (who are also supposed to be fighting ISIS, as well).

This tangled up mess has a potential for a friendly fire, blue on blue, accident written all over it because Turkey could easily request air support from U.S. fighters when they are busy fighting the YPG group which may, at the same time, have U.S. S.F. forces attached to them. You could have U.S. aircraft who could end up bombing our own guys on the ground.

Not only that, supposedly the obama administration has wanted assad gone for a while now and, while I have no basic problem with that in and of itself, it now appears that Turkey is having a slight change of heart and instead of remaining loyal to us and our position it now seems that erdogan is now slowly allying himself towards russia's position over ours.

We're already on a collision course with russia, anyway, but does this mean that we're now on another one with turkey, as well? If that's the case then we should remove ALL U.S. military personnel and assets out of Turkey completely and, instead, transfer them to some place like Greece or perhaps even to Israel. Maybe even both.

Right now, our foreign policy in Washington is so messed up and confused (and, for that matter, outright dangerous TO OUR OWN SELVES) that it's practically immoral and certainly questionable. I swear it seems like our foreign policy is being determined by a group of retarded monkeys from the congo who are all still on an acid trip from woodstock back in the 60's.

:shk: :dstrs: :confused: :screw: :shr: :soap: :hlp: :bhd: :bdsk: :kpc: :( :sht: :shkr:
Click to expand...

Yup...and that's the "Readers' Digest" version....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top