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

[Doomer Doug]

Turkish allies torture Kurdish POW's. NATO member Turkey openly tortures any Kurds it captures. As usual, total silence from the USA, NATO and the EU.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/010920164


Syria
Syrian rebels captured by YPG confess to torturing Kurdish fighters
By Rudaw 4 minutes ago

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--The Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) counter-terror unit (YAT) captured two members of the Sultan Murad brigade, a force fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The two were captured in a special operation and according to the YPG confessed to have been involved in torturing Kurdish fighters who were taken captive a few days ago near Jarablus.

The YPG released a video of the two Syrian opposition rebels captured by their counter-terror units, according to the Hawar news agency (ANHA).

YPG’s spokesperson, Redur Xelil, on his twitter on Thursday announced “Those who tortured our fighters in Jarablus were captured in a special operation by the counter-terror units YAT.”

The two captives are “Muhamad Ahmad and Ali Muhamad from Hama city, who soon stated that they were deceived by the Turkish state,” according to ANHA.

In the video, the two men confessed that they were part of the group who tortured the four YPG fighters, and they said their brigade receives support from Turkey.

Rebel Muhamad Ahmad said, “The officials told us we will fight ISIS and the Kurds. Kurds are bad, and we are right.”

“But when we entered Jarablus, it was empty and there was not anyone there,” he explained.
The YPG fighters shown in the video being beaten by rebels were handed over to Turks by the Sultan Murad brigade, the two men confirmed.

A video obtained by Rudaw showed soldiers of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) beating and kicking YPG fighters taken captive in fighting, including child soldiers.

Another video shows four YPG fighters who were taken captive on Sunday. In the video, Syrian rebels call the captives “separatists.” They said that, at the "request of the people in the villages south of Jarablus, we came today and liberated the villages from these separatists."

"Our first and last goal is the unity of Syria, and we want to cleanse Syria from these separatist groups, the Assad regime and ISIS," the rebels said.

 

[Doomer Doug]

TURKEY EXPANDS WAR IN SYRIA

Anybody who thought Turkey wasn't going to kill all the Kurds they can doesn't understand Erdogan's true goals in Syria.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/280820163

Turkey shelling SDF in Syria’s Jarablus
By Rudaw 28/8/2016

Turkey reportedly fired 224 rounds of ammunition at 63 targets in less than two hours on Wednesday morning. Photo: DHA.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish warplanes have been shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) around the city of Jarablus, north of Aleppo, on Sunday morning.

The Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) reported that Turkish warplanes bombarded villages north of the Sajoor River and Turkish tanks have been bombing the village of Ammarna.

In addition, Turkish media reports said that gunshots and a large explosion were heard following the shelling.

After the death of one Turkish soldier and three other fighters south of Jarablus, Turkey sent more units into Jarablus on Sunday, including Leopard tanks from Karkamis.

Turkish media reports said Saturday that SDF rockets destroyed two tanks west of Jarablus, killing one soldier and wounding two.

Since the Turkish incursions on Jarablus began four days ago, for the first time clashes started between the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) and SDF on Saturday.

 

[Doomer Doug]

TURKEY OPENLY ALLOWS ISIS SCHOOL TO TRAIN CHILD TERRORISTS IN ANKARA.

Man, this is a HUGE DOT. So much for Turkey's "war on ISIS."

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950611000382

Thu Sep 01, 2016 5:20
Turkish Daily: ISIL Training Children in Ankara School

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported that the ISIL is administering a school in Ankara, training Wahhabi thoughts and ideology to children and teenagers.
ARA News quoted Milliyet as reporting that the ISIL has a school in Turkey's capital in which it trains 30 children and teenagers between the ages 9 to 17 years old, including the girls.

Stressing that the Turkish officials are fully informed of the ISIL school, Milliyet reported that the militant group has rented the 5-story building in Ulucanlar street as an office but it is using the place as a school to teach and train the children.

It added that the ISIL has done the children's application registration and admission through the social media and will give them a certificate after the end of their trainings.

The daily also elaborated that the ISIL members residing in Ankara have shaved their beards to escape identification and peddle in streets, adding that their gathering center in Haci Bayram district in Ankara has been destroyed.

The report on the ISIL school in Ankara surfaced the media after security sources in Nineveh disclosed that the terrorist group has named a German kiddo for leading its execution squad in the province.

"The ISIL has started recruiting 10 to 17-year-old children and is using them for suicide attacks against the security forces in Nineveh and is now using the same kids for firing squads," the security sources told al-Soumeriya news website on Wednesday.

"After the ISIL decreased the salaries of its members, many of them have defected or are refusing to fight and therefore, the ISIL has been forced to use children," the source added.

"The ISIL has now chosen a German child as the commander of its execution brigades," he said.

A shocking new video released by the ISIL terrorist group earlier this month showed a British boy executing a prisoner with a handgun in Syria.

The blue-eyed white boy, identified in the video as Abu Abdullah al-Britani, was one of five children carrying out executions of Kurds in the city of Raqqa.

The boys, believed to be from Britain, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia and Uzbekistan, made statements in Arabic before raising their handguns and executing the kneeling men in front of them.

The child executioners, believed to be about 10 to 13 years old, were clad in camouflage gear and black gloves and their faces were clearly on display.

One of the boys reportedly shouted in Arabic, “No one can save the Kurds even with the support of America, France, Britain, Germany, the devils in hell.”

They then placed handguns to the backs of the prisoners’ heads and pulled the trigger.

 

[Be Well]

Turkish allies torture Kurdish POW's. NATO member Turkey openly tortures any Kurds it captures. As usual, total silence from the USA, NATO and the EU.

DISGUSTING. is there any "regular" news that carries all the info on this thread? Why don't our congress-eunuchs or military say anything? By saying nothing they are as evil as Erdog.

 

[Doomer Doug]

Be Well, I go to Rudlaw, which is a Kurdish news service. I also go to FARS which is an Iranian news service. After wading through the garbage, you can find stories like this. The torture story is actually sourced from a Turkish news source. Apparently Ergogan's thugs haven't beaten the staff to death on that one.

This is a documented example of TURKISH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR ISIS. It combines with the many many stories of TURKISH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR ISIS TO TRANSIT OIL THROUGH TURKEY AND TO LOAD TANKERS AT TURKISH PORTS.

Now, the idea that the EU, NATO and the USA don't know that is insane.

Turkey openly supports ISIS and has for some time now. Ergo, the Turkish military invasion of Syria is ONLY designed to kill Kurds and seize Syria for Erdogan's new Ottoman Empire.

It is illegal under the NATO and EU charter to torture POW's. NATO's silence on a member nation, Turkey, openly allowing its proxy forces at least, to torture captives is also illegal.

NATO is finished as a functioning military alliance, which is what Russia's goal has always been. The fact that NATO is self destructing must amuse Putin very much.

 

[Housecarl]

Be Well, I go to Rudlaw, which is a Kurdish news service. I also go to FARS which is an Iranian news service. After wading through the garbage, you can find stories like this. The torture story is actually sourced from a Turkish news source. Apparently Ergogan's thugs haven't beaten the staff to death on that one.

This is a documented example of TURKISH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR ISIS. It combines with the many many stories of TURKISH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR ISIS TO TRANSIT OIL THROUGH TURKEY AND TO LOAD TANKERS AT TURKISH PORTS.

Now, the idea that the EU, NATO and the USA don't know that is insane.

Turkey openly supports ISIS and has for some time now. Ergo, the Turkish military invasion of Syria is ONLY designed to kill Kurds and seize Syria for Erdogan's new Ottoman Empire.

It is illegal under the NATO and EU charter to torture POW's. NATO's silence on a member nation, Turkey, openly allowing its proxy forces at least, to torture captives is also illegal.

NATO is finished as a functioning military alliance, which is what Russia's goal has always been. The fact that NATO is self destructing must amuse Putin very much.

Yeah, the "normal sources" should be screaming blue bloody murder with regards to Turkish behavior onto the MSM.

That it isn't happening and we have to go find it says an awful lot.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-idUSKCN1175O1

WORLD NEWS | Thu Sep 1, 2016 1:22pm EDT

After sweeping into northern Syria, Turkey faces hard choices

By David Dolan | JARABLUS, SYRIA
Flashing victory signs and firing in the air, the young rebels who took this Syrian town from Islamic State a week ago may be jubilant, but their ability to hold territory will hinge on Turkey's appetite for keeping its forces inside Syria.

Sweeping in to Jarablus may have been the easy part. Backed by Turkish tanks, jets and special forces, Arab and Turkmen fighters under the loose banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) drove out Islamic State in a matter of hours last Wednesday.

It could prove more difficult for the rebels, who number only around 1,500 fighters, to push west and secure the 90 km (56-mile) stretch of Islamic State-held border territory that Ankara has touted as a potential buffer zone.

They face not only the challenge of displacing the ultra-hardline Islamist group but of preventing Kurdish militia fighters, backed by the United States but viewed as a hostile force by Turkey, from filling the void.

"Daesh and the Kurds are the same. Both of them brought these people to hunger," said Fikret Ismail, a rebel fighter in his late 20s, using an Arabic name for Islamic State.

"We will fight for our land with our last blood," he said, as he patrolled a street near the Jarablus town centre, brandishing a rifle and surrounded by a group of small children.

Turkey has revealed little about the strategy behind its first major incursion into Syria, beyond saying it wants to drive Islamic State and Kurdish fighters away from the border.

"Operation Euphrates Shield" has drawn criticism from NATO ally Washington, which has called on Turkey to avoid confrontation with Kurdish-aligned forces and stay focused instead on the joint battle against Islamic State.

The United States sees the Syrian Kurdish YPG as its strongest ally against the Sunni radicals. Turkey views them as a terrorist group and is worried that their advance in northern Syria will embolden a Kurdish insurgency at home. It has said no one can tell it which terrorist group it should fight.

On Thursday, the Turkish military said it had taken three more villages around 20 km (12 miles) west of Jarablus and hit 15 militant targets with howitzers and four more in air strikes. It gave no details on the targets, but the villages were in an area still held by Islamic State.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, confirmed the takeover of 3 villages near the border.

COHERENT FORCE

Jarablus had been under Islamic State rule for three years and its black and white murals can still be seen on the walls. The town is slowly coming back to life. Women walk the streets, their faces uncovered. One man told Reuters one of his first acts when the group fled was to trim his beard.

A week after it helped drive out the jihadists, there is no sign of the Turkish military in Jarablus itself. Instead, the town was filled with the scruffy young rebels Ankara is backing, some driving their Toyota trucks, machine guns mounted in the back, at high speed through the streets.

Turkey's aim is to turn the fractured Free Syrian Army into a coherent force as a counterweight to the Kurdish YPG, said Metin Gurcan, a former major in the Turkish military and an analyst for the Al Monitor journal. Which group gained control of al-Bab, a town to the south, would be critical, he said.

Al-Bab, held by Islamic State, lies on the southern edge of what Ankara sees as its potential buffer zone. Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of the ultra-hardline Islamist group's most prominent leaders, is thought to have been killed in a U.S. air strike there this week.

"You have two forces who are very eager, highly motivated, to capture al-Bab. At the end of the day, this serves the strategic interests of the U.S., which is prioritising the fight against ISIS," Gurcan said.

Turkish-backed forces have also been advancing towards Manbij, a city around 30 km (20 miles) south of Jarablus that was captured last month from Islamic State by a U.S.-backed coalition that includes the YPG.

Ankara, which accuses the YPG of "ethnic cleansing" in northern Syria, has demanded that Kurdish fighters return to the east of the Euphrates river. Manbij, like Jarablus, is west of the river. Turkey has long said that a Kurdish presence west of the Euphrates is a "red line" it cannot abide.

Mohammed, a 16-year-old rebel in Jarablus who had been fighting with the FSA for just a month, told Reuters he was from Manbij and had no desire to fight the Kurds.

"Everything is destroyed in Manbij now," he said, blaming the ruin on Islamic State.

BUFFER ZONE

Turkey has repeatedly lobbied for the creation of a "buffer zone" just inside Syria to help secure its border and create a protected area for displaced civilians. But the idea has failed to resonate with NATO allies, who see such a move as requiring a prolonged intervention and whose focus is on Islamic State.

Turkey has taken in nearly 3 million Syrian refugees since the start of its neighbor's five-year war, and is under pressure from Europe to stem the flow of migrants trying to travel onwards illegally from its shores.

Ankara has been providing aid to tens of thousands of displaced civilians just inside Syria, effectively a step towards creating a de facto safe zone.

"In order to create a 'buffer zone,' Turkey would have to keep a significant force on the Syrian side of the border," said James Stavridis, former NATO supreme commander and dean at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Such a strategy appeared immediately unlikely, he said, but added it could not be ruled out in the longer term.

"Turkey will have a set of unpalatable choices ahead of it having entered into serious military operations in Syria."

Colonel Ahmad Osman, head of the Sultan Murad forces, one of the main Turkish-backed rebel groups, told Reuters last week that the priority was now to advance some 70 km westward to the town of Marea, long a frontline with Islamic State.

The next phase of their operation could take weeks or months, he said, and could require an increase in the number of rebel fighters from their current level of 1,200-1,500.

While they did not wish to fight Kurdish forces, they would do so if necessary, Osman said.

For Turkey, which has long called for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, containing advances by the Kurdish militia appears to have eclipsed all other concerns.

"The fundamental Turkish red line is not Assad," Stavridis, the former NATO commander, said. "It is against the formation of a Kurdish state."

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Istanbul, Tom Perry and John Davison in Beirut; Writing by David Dolan and Nick Tattersall; editing by Anna Willard)

ALSO IN WORLD NEWS

Venezuelan opposition floods Caracas in vast anti-Maduro protest
U.S., others agreed 'secret' exemptions for Iran after nuclear deal: think tank
U.S. troops in Iraq increasingly active as Mosul battle nears
Germany, Italy, France to meet with Turkey on migrants: Merkel

 

[Be Well]

Yeah, the "normal sources" should be screaming blue bloody murder with regards to Turkish behavior onto the MSM.

That it isn't happening and we have to go find it says an awful lot.

It says that when Trump gets in the WH he has to do as much as (if not more) housecleaning as positive actions.

 

[Doomer Doug]

I think with all news sources you have to do a bs check and figure out whether it is credible. Fars, the Iranian news source, puts out the official line, although they are accurate regarding Turkey's support of ISIS. Granted, Fars has an agenda.
The other thing that got lost in the chaff the last few days was the announcement the EU, the European Union, wanted to create its own "army." This is a huge dot in my view. It seals the fate of NATO. If NATO were functional, which it is most certainly not, why would the Germans, ie Merkel, push for a separate EU funded military?
NATO is on its way out. Trump will either defund it, or make NATO members pay what they are required to. The EU army will drain funds and troops from NATO.

I realize in the cynical world of global politics nobody in power really cares if NATO is ignoring a member, Turkey, engaging in war crimes. Still, it strips NATO of its original mandate which was to be the good guy against the Soviet barbarian bad guy. Well, NATO is now an imperialist, eastward expanding force solely designed to crush Russia. NATO's fatal move to the east, combined with its lack of European support, and now combined with its brazen moral squalor has destroyed NATO's foundation. I don't know if the so called EU army will come into being. I do know that the average American, in a Trump era, will look at those cheapskates, amoral opportunists and say screw NATO. The fact that NATO is openly tolerating war crimes by Turkey will make it even more unpopular.

Erdogan and Turkey are now totally out of control on so many levels. They have invaded Syria, engaged in war crimes, and are clearly out to stage a Kurdish genocide.
The other players in the game: Assad junior, Iran and Hezzbollah, Russia and the Kurds aren't going to tolerate Erdogan's increasing lunacy.

For one thing, and yes it got buried in the rubble Iran just told Turkey to get out of Syria. It won't be long before Turkey and their war criminal FSA will be engaging not just the Kurdish Peshmerga, but Hezzbolah and Syrian regular military forces.

Can you say free for all, Housecarl and Be Well? he he he I still have that mental image of Slim Pickens riding the nuke bomb down while he waves his hat and screams into the wind. <G>

 

[danielboon]

As always DD spot on gets more interesting by the day

 

[Housecarl]

http://www.tigersweat.com/movies/strange/strange15.jpg

Yeah, the thing about multinational alliances is they're only as "good" as the politicians in the leadership roles of the member countries...Just as the US November 2016 election is being seen as a "change election" so to and arguably more so are those coming up in the EU member countries.

A reorg of NATO or a launching of an "EU Army" all come down to the devil in the detains, the biggest of which are TPTB within them calling the shots setting goals and policy.

Pulling Russia into "the tent" instead of having her urinating on the outside of it is IMHO a better move than what's been pursued of late, particularly when you look at the behavior of Xi et al in the frenemy PRC.

 

[Doomer Doug]

Oh my,

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160831/1044813431/kurds-turkey-syria-aleppo.html

Ankara’s Syria Operation Aims to Fight Kurds, Gain Control of Aleppo © AP Photo/ Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The real aim of Ankara’s military operation in Syria is to fight Kurdish militants and to reach Aleppo in a bid to retake the city before Syrian-government troops can, Rodi Osman, the head of Syrian Kurdistan's representative office in Moscow, told Sputnik. “Turkey’s main aim in Syria is not countering Islamic State [IS], because Turkey has never fought IS… All they say about fighting Islamists is a cover story. Turkey’s real aim is to fight the Kurds,” Osman said, adding that "Turkey is concerned by the strengthening of the Kurds, their advance on the west and liberation of the city of Manbij."

The representative of Syrian Kurdistan added that Turkey is also afraid that the Kurds may seize control of the Syria-Turkey border and link the Kurdish autonomous regions of Afrin and Kobani in northern Syria, separated by jihaidists-occupied territories at the moment. According to Osman, after taking control of Jarabulus, the Turkish troops will advance toward Aleppo, capturing the cities of Al-Rai and Al Bab on the way. "The City of Al Bab is very important, as it opens the way to Aleppo, because Turkey's main goal is Aleppo. It is necessary for the realization of Turkey's neo-Ottoman plans," the Kurdistan spokesman said. Such advancement to the south would allow Ankara forces and Turkey-supported Syrian opposition groups to unite with other militants south of Aleppo, he said. “Without such a ‘corridor,’ the Syrian rebels south of Aleppo are doomed, as the city might be taken by [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's troops,” Osman said.

According to Osman, Daesh militants left the town of Jarabulus before the Turkish forces arrived there, as there is no real confrontation between Daesh and Ankara. "IS militants either retreat in advance — the way they did in Jarabulus, when they simply gave up the town — or change clothes. Today they are IS militants, tomorrow they are the Free Syrian Army or some other armed group," Osman said. © REUTERS/ STRINGER

Erdogan: Turkish Operation in Syria Aimed at Eliminating Threats From Daesh, Kurds The Kurdistan representative said that since nobody can distinguish one fighters from the other, they can easily move from group to group. "It looks as though the Syrian opposition, with the support of Turkey, liberated Jarabulus from IS. While in reality, the fighters simply changed flags," Osman said. On August 24, Ankara announced that Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, had begun a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear Jarabulus of the Daesh jihadist group, outlawed in Russia. Syrian Kurds and Damascus have accused Ankara of violating the territorial integrity of the country. On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Syrian Kurdish militia would become a target for Turkish forces carrying out a military operation in northern Syria unless they move east of the river Euphrates.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160831/1044813431/kurds-turkey-syria-aleppo.html

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.realcleardefense.com/art...suit_of_isis_is_not_what_it_seems_110005.html

Why Turkey’s Hot Pursuit of ISIS Is Not What It Seems

By Lionel Beehner
August 31, 2016

Last week, in what commentators are calling an escalation in the Syrian Civil War, Turkish tanks rolled across the border near Jarablus, ostensibly in “pursuit” of ISIS militants holed up there. But Turkey has never waivered from sending military forces across its border with Iraq or Syria. By my count, Turkey has done so on at least a dozen other occasions since the 1990s. Ankara has signed agreements with both the former Iraqi regime under Saddam and with Assad’s father to carry out such incursions, which gave rise to speculation last week that the Turkish operation may have had the implicit backing of the Assad regime.

Nor can this be seen as an escalation in the conflict per se. There are some 400,000-plus Syrians killed, millions displaced, and a number of other states – Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United States, etc. – whose militaries are already jostling in Syrian territory and airspace. What’s surprising is that Turkey did not intervene more forcefully sooner.

Hot pursuit has been a regularized feature of conflict zones, stretching back to mid-19th century U.S. incursions against “marauding” Indians who fled into Mexico. In past multisided conflicts with proxy-war dynamics – chief among them the civil war in Angola and multiple civil wars in Myanmar – hot pursuit has been commonplace. The mechanism is that non-state actors typically rely on safe areas beyond one’s borders for shelter, sometimes at the request of the neighboring state. International law prohibits such incursions on land, unless in self-defense, yet rarely do such operations go punished.

Although there are often tit-for-tat dynamics present, seldom do such operations escalate militarily. In other words, Syria will not retaliate against Turkey. Not because it is a weaker state but rather because norms have emerged that have allowed some degree of cross-border kinetic actions against non-state actors. Turkey could rightfully claim self-defense, in light of an ISIS operative who killed over fifty wedding goers in Gaziantep. But such cross-border attacks are generally permitted, so long as Turkish forces do not set up a permanent base in, say, Hassakeh or Idlib.

The real target of Turkey’s is the Kurds, which is where the operation gets murky. Much like during the Angolan civil war, where South Africa was the principal pursuer of pro-separatist rebels, Turkey finds itself in the awkward position of being partners with the United States (and hosting its vice president) even as America’s chief proxy in the region – the Kurds – are its sworn enemy. Turkey has downplayed this division by alternately calling for an end to the Assad regime or a no-fly-zone. Its motivation is threefold: To stem the tide of refugees flowing across its border, to stamp out any inkling of an autonomous Kurdish state, and to stop the recent string of terrorist attacks.

Turkey, in a matter of only a few years, went from a policy of “Zero Problems” on its border to one where it is engulfed by conflict, externally as well as internally. Efforts to mend fences with Russia and Israel reflect its unenviable position. And incursions into Syria will be part of the new norm.

Lionel Beehner is an assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and director of research at the Modern War Institute (MWI). The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, or U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

This article originally appeared at Modern War Institute.

 

[Doomer Doug]

ERDOGAN IS NOW SHOOTING KURDISH PROTESTERS. ERDOGAN IS NOW SEALING OFF HIS SYRIAN BORDER WITH A WALL. ERDOGAN IS ALSO SAYING HE WILL CREATE HIS OWN SYRIAN BUFFER ZONE AND CALLS ALL KURDS TERRORISTS.
Gee, you think he is going to back off now?



Erdogan is building a wall in Kobane to seal it off. The wall is inside of Syria. He has wounded 40 people, killed two using his troops to shoot protesters.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/020920161

UPDATED: Turkish forces open fire on protesters in Kobane, 2 killed, 40 injured
By Rudaw 7 hours ago

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The number of Kobane residents injured by the Turkish military as they protested at the border has risen to 40 and one people, one aged 17-year old, have been killed, according to the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), as Turkish forces continue to use tear gas and live ammunition.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/020920162

We will never allow a Kurdish 'terror corridor' in Northern Syria, Erdogan vows
By Rudaw 21 minutes ago

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed that his country will never permit the establishment of a “terror corridor” in northern Syria set up by the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

“Nobody should expect that we’ll agree to the establishment of a terror corridor along our southern border in northern Syria,” Erdogan said at a press conference on Thursday, according to Hurriyet news.

He was apparently referring to the Syrian Kurds linking Kobani up with their remaining isolated western canton of Afrin, a move Turkey has long opposed.

Erdogan also added that the world powers do not have to make a choice between either “Daesh [Islamic State], the [Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units] YPG or PYD terrorist organizations.”

“There are no differences between these terrorist organizations in terms of method, targets and points of view regarding human life,” Erdogan said, going on to say that Turkey views “statements from some circles from the West with astonishment.”

“Those who act with the logic of ‘the enemy of Daesh is our friend’ are deluded and in a position of being a friend to other terror organizations,” Erdogan said, alluding to US support of the YPG, which Turkey says is directly linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), against ISIS.

Turkey intervened against both ISIS and Syrian Kurdish forces based on the western side of the Euphrates on August 24. Erdogan denied claims made by US officials which asserted that the YPG had withdrawn to the eastern side of the river.

“They are saying the YPG has crossed back. We are saying no they haven’t, based on our own observations,” the Turkish president declared.

 

[danielboon]

Hmmm wonder when the Kurds will take it to Turkey

 

[Doomer Doug]

Erdogan is now unleashing a total offensive into Syria. Erdogan is going after Al Bab which is the entry way to Aleppo, WHERE ALL THE HEZZBOLLAH, SYRIAN ARMY AND RUSSIAN MARINES ARE!!!!!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37267111

IS conflict: Turkey sends more tanks into Syria

Turkey has sent more tanks into northern Syria, in an operation against the Islamic State (IS) group, Turkish media reports say.
The tanks crossed the border near the Turkish town of Kilis and journalists later heard firing and saw plumes of smoke rising on Syrian territory.
Civilians were seen fleeing as the Turkish military advanced.
The tanks were backed by artillery, which fired on IS positions in the area, Turkish media said.
The reports said about 20 tanks, five armoured personnel carriers and other armoured vehicles were involved in the assault.

 

[Shacknasty Shagrat]

Erdogan is now unleashing a total offensive into Syria. Erdogan is going after Al Bab which is the entry way to Aleppo, WHERE ALL THE HEZZBOLLAH, SYRIAN ARMY AND RUSSIAN MARINES ARE!!!!!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37267111

IS conflict: Turkey sends more tanks into Syria

Turkey has sent more tanks into northern Syria, in an operation against the Islamic State (IS) group, Turkish media reports say.
The tanks crossed the border near the Turkish town of Kilis and journalists later heard firing and saw plumes of smoke rising on Syrian territory.
Civilians were seen fleeing as the Turkish military advanced.
The tanks were backed by artillery, which fired on IS positions in the area, Turkish media said.
The reports said about 20 tanks, five armoured personnel carriers and other armoured vehicles were involved in the assault.

Tanks and APCs are fast and get there first and can hold for a while..
Artillery is slower and the 155s make a bigger and more serious bang than the 120 mm tank cannon.
Artillery kills people and breaks big things.
Stay tuned.
SS

 

[danielboon]

Erdogan is now unleashing a total offensive into Syria. Erdogan is going after Al Bab which is the entry way to Aleppo, WHERE ALL THE HEZZBOLLAH, SYRIAN ARMY AND RUSSIAN MARINES ARE!!!!!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37267111

IS conflict: Turkey sends more tanks into Syria

Turkey has sent more tanks into northern Syria, in an operation against the Islamic State (IS) group, Turkish media reports say.
The tanks crossed the border near the Turkish town of Kilis and journalists later heard firing and saw plumes of smoke rising on Syrian territory.
Civilians were seen fleeing as the Turkish military advanced.
The tanks were backed by artillery, which fired on IS positions in the area, Turkish media said.
The reports said about 20 tanks, five armoured personnel carriers and other armoured vehicles were involved in the assault.

He is also going full tilt in Turkeys southeast conflictnews @conflicts 21Turkish security forces killed in escalating fighting with PPK forces in country's southeast

 

[danielboon]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
MAP: Situation on Turkish border as Turkish backed rebels try to link Jarabulus & al-Rai.http://syria.liveuamap.com/

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-...ish-border-completely-secured-from-is/7813274

Syrian-Turkish border completely secured from Islamic State, Turkey's Prime Minister says

Posted about 6 hours ago

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says his nation's forces and Syrian rebels have expelled the Islamic State (IS) group from the last areas of the Syrian-Turkish border under its control.

"From Azaz to Jarabulus, our 91-kilometre border has been completely secured. All terrorist organisations have been repulsed and they have gone," Mr Yildirim said during a televised speech while visiting the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that IS lost its last stretch after the few remaining villages it controlled were recaptured by rebels.

The Britain-based monitor said "rebels and Islamist factions backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes" had taken several villages on the border "after IS withdrew from them, ending IS's presence".

The loss of the Turkish border will deprive IS of a key transit point for recruits and supplies, though the group continues to hold territory in both Syria and Iraq.

The advance comes after Turkey launched an operation on August 24 dubbed Euphrates Shield, saying it was targeting both IS but also Syrian Kurdish forces that have been key to driving the jihadists out of other parts of the Syrian-Turkish border.

The Kurdish YPG militia is a key partner of the US-led coalition against IS, and has recaptured large swathes of territory in Syria from the extremist group.

But Ankara considers the YPG a "terrorist" group and has been alarmed by its expansion along the border, fearing the creation of a contiguous, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria.

'Terror corridor'

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan raised concern about the formation of a "terror corridor" along Turkey's Syrian border.

Mr Erdogan was speaking to reporters after a meeting with US President Barack Obama at the G20 gathering of world leaders in China.

"It is our wish that a terror corridor not be formed across our southern border," Mr Erdogan said.

Mr Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkey's allies should not be making a distinction between IS and the YPG as both groups pose a threat to Turkey.

AFP/Reuters

 

[Possible Impact]

MFA Russia ‏@mfa_russia 16m
We call on Turkey to refrain from steps that could further destabilize Syria
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2424916 …



Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 8m
STATEMENT:
Russia expresses "grave concern" towards further Turkish operations in #Syria.
- @mfa_russia

^^^

 

[danielboon]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
STATEMENT: Russia expresses "grave concern" towards further Turkish operations in #Syria. - @mfa_russia

 

[danielboon]

Conflictnews @ conflicts reports Of Turkish shelling ofYPG positions in Afrin Canton. Unconfirmed report's of casualties

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/turkey-iraq-what-turkish-army-doing-in-mosul.html

What is Turkish army really doing in Iraq?

A cannon shot roared into the night. The target was in the town of Bashiqa in northern Iraq, seized by the Islamic State (IS) in 2014. Seconds after the explosion, the clatter of a collapsing building echoed in the mountain.

Summary: It is not clear who will take control if Mosul is liberated from the Islamic State, but Turkey and its allies want nothing more than to prevent the Kurds from declaring a semi-autonomous state in the region.

Author Wilson Fache
Posted September 6, 2016
Comments 44


For months now, the Turkish army has repeatedly targeted IS from positions they hold 15 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Mosul.

“The main goal of this base is to fight against Daesh [Arabic acronym for IS],” one Turkish soldier told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “We deployed some fire-support vehicles, artillery, tanks and mortars, among other things, to destroy them,” he added.

According to the soldier who was reading from a statement, Turkish troops deployed in northern Iraq have eliminated numerous targets, including 602 fighters, 416 buildings used by the Sunni hard-line group, 83 armored vehicles and 17 artillery positions.

Beyond its direct engagement against IS, the Turkish army is also training and arming Hashd al-Watani, a predominantly Arab Sunni militia created by Atheel al-Nujaifi, the former governor of Ninevah province and, along with his highly influential family, a close Turkish ally.

“We train them for close quarter combat, which will take place in Mosul in the near future,” the Turkish soldier said, adding that local fighters were all provided with AK-74s and ammunition.

In a country where the number of militiamen fighting for a religion, an ethnic group or a region seems to be growing by the day, Hashd al-Watani’s leaders do not shy away from voicing their ultimate prize: capturing the IS de-facto capital in Iraq. “Mosul is ours. If we get inside, all of it will be for us,” Brig. Gen. Mohamed Tahma Talib, who is commanding Hashd al-Watani, told al-Monitor.

To be able to reach the outskirts of the city, Hashd al-Watani is working in cooperation with the Kurdish peshmerga, the army of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

According to peshmerga Gen. Bahram Arif Yassin, stationed at Bashiqa Mountain, the Kurdish forces will seize the town of Bashiqa and advance toward Mosul, paving the way for the Ankara-backed fighters.

“We will recapture the area around Mosul. We will [stop] 2 kilometers [1 mile] from the city. And then,” Yassin said, “we will open a way for Hashd al-Watani to go inside Mosul.”

Dismissed by Iraqi parliament members for corruption and alleged complicity with IS, Nujaifi has since found exile in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region. Like most Sunni leaders, Nujaifi initially opposed Kurdish autonomy, which he saw as a first step toward total independence.

“Our relation with the KRG is not like before. We have a positive relationship now,” Nujaifi told Al-Monitor, referring to the peshmerga and Kurdish de-facto President Massoud Barzani as “allies.”

“We wait for the peshmerga to do their part, and then our role will start,” he said. Now, Nujaifi argues that the Ninevah region should follow the lead of its Kurdish neighbors and transform itself into a semi-autonomous region as well.

Turkey, the KRG and Nujaifi’s partially colluding interests have led to a “marriage of convenience” to better secure their interests at the moment and eventually during the political vacuum that could follow Mosul’s liberation, according to Renad Mansour, an El-Erian fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

“He [Nujaifi] still considers himself as someone who will return, who will have a big homecoming in Mosul. … He seems to be sort of trying to fight a military war, a political war, and obviously he is getting a lot of support. So you have this really odd sort of triangle of Nujaifi, Barzani and Turkey working together,” Mansour said.

“Turkey wants to maintain some form of regional power in these parts. Particularly now, it will have to start using proxies even more. … Turkey needs to rely on allies, and typical allies Turkey has had in northern Iraq have been the Barzanis and also the Nujaifis,” he added.

In 1994, a civil war erupted between the two main Kurdish factions in the north: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is the political party of the Barzani clan, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which was aligned with Iran and Ankara’s long-time enemy, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). That war paved the way “for an open-ended Turkish presence at several Iraqi bases with the KDP's tacit and gradually open cooperation,” an analysis published by the Washington Institute stated.

Last December, when Turkey deployed an additional 150 troops and 25 tanks to positions close to IS-held Bashiqa without asking Baghdad for permission, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office called the action a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty,” and later threated to take the matter to the UN Security Council. It was Erbil that had reportedly leased Ankara the rights to the Bashiqa military camp.

While Ankara has been nurturing over the years an economically and politically profitable relationship with the KRG, it has been repeatedly pounding Kurdish groups in Turkey and Syria, including the People's Protection Units, one of the main ground forces battling IS.

Ankara’s viewing a Kurdish state as a bigger threat than IS has led to numerous accusations of its tacit support for the self-styled caliphate.

On Sept. 4, the rebels — mainly Syrian Arabs and Turkmens fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) — took control of the frontier between Azaz and Jarablus after seizing 20 villages from IS, the Turkish military said in a statement. But Turkey’s perceived inability — or unwillingness — to clear until now its border to prevent the stream of foreign jihadists pouring into Syria from Turkey has been a cause of concern.

“They have actually, some would argue, helped facilitate [IS] in Syria at a certain point — maybe not directly, but indirectly through porous border management. In any case, it seems like now the No. 1 priority for Turkey would be to limit the PKK,” Mansour said.

While the Turkish-backed FSA aim at Syrian Kurdish fighters, Turkish-backed Hashd al-Watani is working in cooperation with Kurdish peshmerga as they advance toward Mosul. But the militia still needs to prove its military capability, said Gen. Sirwan Barzani, a nephew of Massoud Barzani and the commander of a 120-kilometer-long (75-mile-long) front line east of Mosul. “They are not good fighters for an offensive,” he told Al-Monitor, “but they are from the region; they are good for holding [recaptured] ground.”

With the support of Turkey, Nujaifi’s private army could soon demonstrate what it is capable of as the eventual battle for Mosul draws closer. But for Lt. Gen. Najim al-Jibouri, leading the Iraqi army offensive to retake IS' last stronghold in the country, Hashd al-Watani will have to follow his command.

“The prime minister told us about Hashd al-Watani. He wants them to fight with us under the Iraqi flag,” Jibouri said, “not under any other flag.”


Related Articles

Iran

Will Turkey be dragged deeper into Syria?
Kadri Gursel

Syria

Shiite alliance against Saudis grows tighter
Ali Mamouri

Saudi Arabia

Why did Iraq ask Riyadh to change its ambassador?
Mustafa Saadoun

Iraq

Will Popular Mobilization Units participate in Iraqi elections?
Omar al-Jaffal

 

[danielboon]

Al Arabiya English;@AlArabiya_Eng · 1 hod.
#Breaking FM: Ankara is preparing biggest military operation in its history against Kurdish militia in the south
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News...l-support.html

Qalaat Al Mudiq;@QalaatAlMudiq · 26 min.
#EuphratesShield: important build-up of Turkish armours continuing near #Syria|n border, via @EuphratesShield.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cr1fNSAWIAA8PPH.jpg:large

 

[danielboon]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
TURKEY: FM says Ankara is preparing the biggest operation in its history against Kurdish militia sth. of the country

 

[Doomer Doug]

Like I said before, Russia is growling and letting Turkey know there is a limit to how much it can screw with the Kurds. Further, Turkey is getting GDCLOSE to Aleppo, with its Russian Marines, Hezzbollah, Syrian Army and Kurdish Peshmerga units. Gee, can anybody say ClusterF$%%%.

I haven't heard from Lurkey in a while, so I guess he thinks Erdogan isn't as crazy as he really is.

Putin is feeling like Turkey is based on the Chinese North Korea relationship. Putin is dropping sanctions on Turkey to get close; yet, he is watching Turkey seize much of Syria as part of its new Ottoman Empire. Putin also just missed being whacked in the car crash, so he isn't likely to be in a patient mood.

The fun and games will really start when the Russians and the Turks lit it up against each other outside of Aleppo.

The video of Johnson, the Libertarian, and I apologize to real Libertarians, candidate foaming at the mouth about "illegal immigrants," smoking pot and then not even knowing where Syria was, well that is just freaking funny he hasn't even heard of Aleppo, or what is going to happen there when Putin and Erdogan go head to head.

Sheesh, Daniel and Housecarl, forget about the whiskey, I WANT TO KNOW WHO PUT LSD IN MY MORNING COFFEE!!! WA! WA! WA!

I can't believe we are talking about a leader like Erdogan who actually thinks he is going to restore the Ottoman Empire and start a war to do so.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/10/world/europe/ap-eu-syria-diplomacy.html

Europe

US, Russia Seal Syria Cease-Fire, New Military Partnership

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEPT. 10, 2016, 4:09 A.M. E.D.T.

GENEVA — The United States and Russia working in lockstep against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria. A rejuvenated truce that will compel President Bashar Assad's air and ground forces to pull back. New flows of badly needed humanitarian aid.

Those details emerged Saturday as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov capped another marathon meeting in Geneva to present their latest ambitious push to end Syria's devastating and complex war.

The potential breakthrough deal, which launches a nationwide cessation of hostilities by sundown Monday, will hinge on compliance by Assad's Russian-backed forces and U.S.-supported rebel groups, plus key regional powers such as Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia with hands directly or indirectly in Syria's 5-1/2 years of carnage.

"We believe the plan as it is set forth — if implemented, if followed — has the ability to provide a turning point, a moment of change," Kerry said as he and Lavrov laid out the contours, but admittedly not too much fine print, of the hard-won accord.

The ultimate hope is to silence the Syrian guns so that the long-stalled peace process under U.N. mediation can resume between Assad's envoys and representatives of the opposition, while the two world powers focus on battling jihadis.

The deal, at least publicly and for now, appears to overcome months of distrust between Russia and the United States that President Barack Obama had cited less than a week ago.

Now, the two powers are lining up in an unexpected new military partnership targeting IS and al-Qaida-linked militants, while trying to prod Assad and opposition groups to end a civil war that has killed up to 500,000 people and displaced millions.

"This is just the beginning of our new relations," Lavrov said of the U.S.

Washington must persuade Syrian rebels to break ranks with Fath al-Sham, an al-Qaida-linked group previously known as the Nusra Front, which has intermingled with U.S.-backed fighters. Moscow is to pressure Assad's government to halt all offensive operations against the armed opposition in specific areas, which were not detailed.

"The Syrian government has been informed of these arrangements and is ready to fulfill them," Lavrov said at a news conference alongside Kerry after midnight.

Kerry said the arrangement depends on "people's choices. It has the ability to stick, provided the regime and the opposition both meet their obligations, which we — and we expect other supporting countries — will strongly encourage them to do."

He also alluded to the possibility of backsliding that all but doomed a previous U.S.-Russia cease-fire initiative earlier this year, which briefly halted the fighting and paved the way for new aid convoys before a resurgence of bloodshed.

"No one is building this based on trust," Kerry said. "It is based on a way of providing oversight, and compliance, through mutual interest and other things. If this arrangement holds, then we will see a significant reduction in violence across Syria."

The deal culminates months of frenetic diplomacy that included four meetings between Kerry and Lavrov since Aug. 26, and a lengthy face-to-face in China between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The military deal would go into effect after both sides abide by the truce for a week and allow unimpeded humanitarian deliveries. Then, the U.S. and Russia would begin intelligence sharing and targeting coordination, while Assad's air and ground forces would no longer be permitted to target Fath al-Sham; they would be restricted to operations against the Islamic State.

The arrangement would ultimately aim to step up and concentrate the firepower of two of the world's most powerful militaries against IS and the group once known as Nusra, listed by the United Nations as terrorist groups.

Both sides have failed to deliver their ends of the bargain over several previous truces.

But the new arrangement goes further by promising a new U.S.-Russian counterterrorism alliance, only a year after Obama chastised Putin for a military intervention that U.S. officials said was mainly designed to keep Assad in power and target more moderate anti-Assad forces.

Russia, in response, has chafed at America's financial and military assistance to groups that have intermingled with the Nusra Front on the battlefield. Kerry said it would be "wise" for opposition forces to separate completely from Nusra, a statement Lavrov hailed.

"Going after Nusra is not a concession to anybody," Kerry said. "It is profoundly in the interests of the United States."

The proposed level of U.S.-Russian interaction has upset several leading national security officials in Washington, including Defense Secretary Ash Carter and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, and Kerry only appeared at the news conference after several hours of internal U.S. discussions.

After the Geneva announcement, Pentagon secretary Peter Cook offered a guarded endorsement of the arrangement and cautioned, "We will be watching closely the implementation of this understanding in the days ahead."

At one point, Lavrov said he was considering "calling it a day" on talks, expressing frustration with what he described as an hours-long wait for a U.S. response. He then presented journalists with several boxes of pizza, saying, "This is from the U.S. delegation," and two bottles of vodka, adding, "This is from the Russian delegation."

The Geneva negotiating session, which lasted more than 13 hours, underscored the complexity of a conflict that includes myriad militant groups, shifting alliances and the rival interests of the U.S. and Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Turkey and the Kurds.

Getting Assad's government and rebel groups to comply with the deal may now be more difficult as fighting rages around Aleppo, Syria's most populous city and the new focus of the war.

Assad's government appeared to tighten its siege of the former Syrian commercial hub in the last several days, seizing several key transit points. Forty days of fighting in Aleppo has killed nearly 700 civilians, including 160 children, according to a Syrian human rights group.

Kerry outlined several steps the government and rebels would have to take. They must now pull back from demilitarized zones, and allow civilian traffic and humanitarian deliveries — notably into Aleppo.

"If Aleppo is at peace, we believe that the prospects for a diplomatic solution will brighten," he said. "If Aleppo continues to be torn apart, the prospects for Syria and its people are grim."

But as with previous blueprints for peace, Saturday's plan appears to lack enforcement mechanisms. Russia could, in theory, threaten to act against rebel groups that break the deal. But if Assad bombs his opponents, the U.S. is unlikely to take any action against him given Obama's longstanding opposition to entering the civil war.

 

[Doomer Doug]

This should stir up things nicely. We are looking at Mosul turning into Manila in 1945, or Stalingrad in 1943.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37353081

Is Mosul heading for a last 'apocalyptic' IS stand?
By Orla Guerin
BBC News, Kurdish frontline, Bashiq Mountain
14 September 2016

Whatever else the battle for Mosul may involve, it will not be the element of surprise.
The operation to drive so-called Islamic State (IS) from Iraq's second-largest city has been long promised and much delayed.
The latest indications are it could begin next month, more than two years after IS took Mosul and proclaimed its caliphate.
The northern city is now the last bastion of IS in Iraq. The authorities in Baghdad say the liberation of Mosul will spell the end of IS on Iraqi soil.
Some predict the likely power-struggle afterwards could spell the end for Iraq, in its current form.
For the Peshmerga (whose name means "Those who confront death") the push to Mosul cannot come soon enough.

The formidable fighting force of the autonomous Kurdish region has a 620-mile (1,000km) frontline with IS.
Peshmerga fighters, on the jagged peaks of Mount Bashiq, have spent two years staring across the parched plain of Nineveh towards Mosul, a tantalising seven miles (12km) away.
The nearest IS fighters are closer still.
"Between us and them there is just one kilometre," said Gen Nabi Ahmed Doulemeri - a squat figure with a neat moustache - pointing to the town of Bashiq at the foot of the mountain.
"They have tried to attack us 30 or 40 times but each time we have defeated them. And we will defeat them in Mosul, God willing."
'Fight for humanity'
Within minutes of our arrival, IS fired a mortar at his sandbagged frontline position, but it fell short. Commanders said the militants were registering our presence.
The Peshmerga are confident of victory, though they lack basic equipment.
"A lot of these guys have bought their own weapons, shoes and uniforms," said Alan Duncan, a British army veteran who has taken up arms with the Kurds.

"If Daesh [IS] got their caliphate here the next step for them would be Europe," he said. "Nice, Paris would be nothing to what we would see. The fact of the matter is that the Peshmerga held the line, and has started to push them back.
"This isn't a fight just for the Peshmerga, just for Kurdistan, this is a fight for the West, this is a fight for humanity."
The Scottish volunteer - a sniper - rode shotgun us as we bumped along dirt tracks touring the frontline in a Humvee.
He said he had no hesitation pulling the trigger on IS. "They are nothing," he said. "It's like putting your foot on an ant. They are savage, they are not humans."
New boundaries
In their push against IS, the Kurds are already redrawing the map of northern Iraq. They have expanded the area under their control by an estimated 50%.
Over glasses of hot, sweet tea, veteran Kurdish commander Gen Wasta Rasul said there would be no pulling back.

"Why should we withdraw? If we do, the enemy [IS] can come back in. We should have new negotiations with Baghdad, and these areas should be part of Kurdistan."
The general, who has 23,000 men under his command, insisted the Peshmerga would enter Mosul to help drive IS out, in co-ordination with the Shia-dominated Iraqi army.
Once the extremists are defeated (estimates range from weeks to months) he says both forces should withdraw from the city, where most of the population are Sunni Arabs.
After the Mosul offensive, he says the Kurds will be pressing ahead with a referendum on independence in their areas. "Iraq can't stay as one unit, " he says. "There should be three federations - Sunni, Shia and Kurds. For me there is no unified Iraq."
Network of tunnels
Whatever the future of Iraq - or lack of it - the immediate challenge is expelling the extremists from Mosul.
They have dug in for a long fight, according to an IS defector now in Kurdish hands. The 23-year-old turned himself in, complete with his IS-issued radio and assault rifle.
We have decided not to identify him as he has relatives living in areas under IS control.

 

[danielboon]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 3h3 hours ago
UPDATE: Turkish army kills 5 PKK militants suspected of politician's murder: sources http://reut.rs/2d4YGuA - @ReutersWorld Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
VIDEO: Alleged footage of Turkish armor entering Hawar Kilis village near Azaz in N. #Aleppo - @NorthernStork https://twitter.com/conflicts?lang=en

 

[danielboon]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
VIDEO: US forces chased out of rebel held al-Rai after tension with Turkish backed rebels - @ValkryV https://twitter.com/conflicts?lang=en

 

[Possible Impact]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
VIDEO: US forces chased out of rebel held al-Rai after tension with Turkish backed rebels - @ValkryV https://twitter.com/conflicts?lang=en

Serge ‏@Zinvor 34m
Moderate rebels armed by the US
threaten to slaughter & behead US soldiers;
proceed to chase them out of Al Rai.


The 'Nimr' Tiger ‏@Souria4Syrians 3h
Moderate FSA chase US soldiers out in Al Rai & promise to slaughter them,Aleppo
The same FSA US arms with TOWs



Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 3h
25 US special operators tried to enter Al-Rai today,
to assist Turkey & FSA offensive on ISIS in Al-Bab. Syria

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 3h
#pt: A dispute erupted when FSA fighters
accused U.S. SOF of being pro-YPG
= American personnel withdrew;
some to Turkey, some to Tathamus.

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 3h
#pts: Heated tempers & YPG relations aside,
this was big mistake by FSA.
But it does go to show the diplomacy now required
to make it work.


Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 2h
#pts: Notwithstanding damage caused by all-cards-in relations with YPG,
just imagine the consequences of joint military action with Russia.

​

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 1h
Via multiple sources:
- U.S SOF are back in Al-Rai, accompanied by FSA units.
- Those involved in earlier protest have been “discharged."



Why they attacked the US Special Forces?


Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 31m
US Air Force accidentally bombs own rebels in Aleppo: Al-Amaq
https://aml.ink/fp9Ro #FSA #ISIS



US Air Force accidentally bombs
own rebels in Aleppo: Al-Amaq

By News Desk -
16/09/2016
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-air-force-accidentally-bombs-rebels-aleppo-al-amaq/


ALEPPO, SYRIA (5:20 P.M.) - The U.S. Air Force accidentally bombed
the moderate rebels they are backing inside the village of Al-Ra'i
in the northern Aleppo countryside, the Islamic State's official media
wing "Al-'Amaq" reported on Friday.

According to the terrorist group's media wing, the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition
mistakenly bombed the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) positions in the western
countryside of Al-'Ra'i.

The U.S. Air Force was intending to bombard the Islamic State terrorists
that were combatting their ground allies at the western farms of Al-Ra'i;
however, they attacked the Free Syrian Army instead.

This latest report comes just hours after the same rebel groups
chased the U.S. Army out of Al-Ra'i.

 

[Shacknasty Shagrat]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2h2 hours ago
VIDEO: US forces chased out of rebel held al-Rai after tension with Turkish backed rebels - @ValkryV https://twitter.com/conflicts?lang=en

Any secondary source?
How far did the US forces retreat and to where?
What type and size US units were involved?
Was equipment lost?
SS
ETA -Thanks, PI, you are always on the job.

 

[LightEcho]

We are led by evil and stupid people. It is very simple to take the right side if we are guided by principles that are honorable. Obviously we have decision-makers led by corruption.

Turkey needs to be blasted out of Syria and Iraq.

And why have a cease-fire when the ISIS devils are being mopped up? Keep killing them off until there are none left. You don't bargain with devils.

 

[Possible Impact]

We are led by evil and stupid people. It is very simple to take the right side if we are guided by principles that are honorable. Obviously we have decision-makers led by corruption.

Turkey needs to be blasted out of Syria and Iraq.

And why have a cease-fire when the ISIS devils are being mopped up? Keep killing them off until there are none left. You don't bargain with devils.

The "cease-fire" is with AL-qaeda groups fighting the Syrian Government, not ISIS.
Turkey, Russia, Syria, and the US Coalition continue the anti-ISIS bombing in eastern Syria,
totally separate from the attempted 'rebel cease-fire' negotiations in northwest Syria.

 

[OldArcher]

Outside of Israel, the entire mu-slime breeding ground needs to be glazed...

OA

 

[Possible Impact]

Barbara Starr ‏@barbarastarrcnn 5h
US Special Operations Forces in northern Syria for the first time
are now accompanying, advising and assisting Turkish forces:Pentagon

Barbara Starr ‏@barbarastarrcnn 5h
Initial reports indicate US Special Ops forces in Tell Abyad Syria
put up US flag to show identity as they came under fire: US officials


Barbara Starr ‏@barbarastarrcnn 4h
New US SOF mission in northern Syria to advise assist Turks
is called "Operation Noble Lance" US officials tell CNN




tahtakuslar ‏@taylieli 3h
New: 5 TAF backed fsa militants killed, 17 wounded
due to the American strike on their positions S of Ar-Rai.

^^^ TAF = Turkish Armed Forces


Riam Dalati ‏@Dalatrm 3h
Syria FSA Ahrar Al-Sharqiya+others:
"We suspend participation in @EuphratesShield as USA fighting with YPG"


Riam Dalati ‏@Dalatrm 2h
Ahrar Al-Sharqiya and other group's decision to suspend participation
is proof that USA SOF are still inside Syria



Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 3h
Ahrar al-Sharqiya *had* been a CENTCOM-vetted unit
but it lost its status recently, after problems w. New Syria Army


Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 3h
pt: Ahrar al-Sharqiya also claim to have been the victim
of a recent "U.S airstrike" that “targeted" their leaders
in southern Aleppo.


Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister 3h
pts: Some opposition sources suggest Ahrar Sharqiya's decision
to join the fight in S. Aleppo had seen them work alongside Fateh al-Sham.

 

[Be Well]

If there is a list of all the different factions in Syria with acronyms, full names and whose side they are on (at the moment), or at least who they are (apparently) fighting against, it would be enlightening. Is there such a thing?

ETA:

WTF????????????

Barbara Starr ‏@barbarastarrcnn 5h
US Special Operations Forces in northern Syria for the first time
are now accompanying, advising and assisting Turkish forces:Pentagon

 

[danielboon]

Tick tock tick tock

Conflictnews @ conflicts Breaking UN security council cancels meeting on Syria : Diplomats- Afp

 

[TheSearcher]

If there is a list of all the different factions in Syria with acronyms, full names and whose side they are on (at the moment), or at least who they are (apparently) fighting against, it would be enlightening. Is there such a thing?

ETA:

WTF????????????

You are NOT the only one confused.