The war in Syria should be ending. ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State.
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In the past, Washington has backed Syrian rebel groups but has since backed off from their support. But the war refuses to die.
Turkish authorities have detained 24 people on suspicion of disseminating “terror propaganda” against Turkey’s military operation inside Syria, state media said on Monday. Following the announcement of the project January 14, Erdogan pledged “to strangle it before it’s even born”.
While the United States supports YPG forces as part of the SDF now battling the Islamic State in Syria’s eastern desert, the US-led coalition has not intervened so far during the attack on Afrin.
“We call for a halt to the bombardment and [Turkish] military operations”, read the KNC statement. Turkish security forces have been fighting the PKK off and on since 1984. It has declared the instrument for these ambitions within Turkey, the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), as a terrorist organisation. There will be more clashes as the Turkish and FSA forces clamp down on the YPG-held town.
The offensive follows a report earlier this month that the US planned to build a 30,000-strong border force with the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the group that served as the proxy ground force in Washington’s ISIS fight and received weapons, air strike support and special forces advisors.
Mr. Tillerson had denied the incorrect words of a high official of US Defence Department according to which the US was preparing a permanent security force at the Syrian Turkish border of 30 000 men, half of which were Kurds.
The main goal of this sudden escalation in the USA commitment in Syria is presumably to stop the Russians from winning a total victory in the country. On Sunday, Turkish troops crossed into Syria, supported by rebel factions.
The answer is never.
It’s the northeastern, relatively empty half, with less than one-fifth of Syria’s population, but it includes all of Syria’s border with Iraq and nearly all its border with Turkey. Even if Turkey doesn’t attack Manbij, the fall of Afrin will weaken the Kurds, and that will weaken the US influence with the Kurds, Tol said.
The United States, meanwhile, has armed and aided the YPG as its main ground allies against Islamic State militants.
“By controlling half of Syria’s energy resources, the Euphrates dam at Tabqa, as well as much of Syria’s best agricultural land, the United States will be able to keep Syria poor and under-resourced”.
She said representatives of the Kurdish “people’s protection group”, known as the YPG, met with Syrian regime officials at the Russian airbase of Hmeimim on Saturday. Both have shared interests, which make a deal possible.
On its official website, the PUK highlighted a protest Sunday within Iraqi Kurdish territory against Turkey. “Neither can rebuild alone”.
“Who authorized this strategic commitment, of indefinite duration, in Syria, when near two decades in Afghanistan have failed to secure that nation against the return of al-Qaida and IS?” asked US conservative political commentator and author Pat Buchanan in a recent article.
“The United States has made several mistakes since the beginning of the Syrian war”. But, confounded by a lack of a ground army in Syria, the US allied with the SDF in the war against the IS. For the Turkish government, any training of these fighters is seen as a threat and the leadership of Turkey has indicated that if the US continues its training efforts, those actions will negatively impact the relationship between the two countries.
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“How long have you been in Afghanistan?”
