Turkish president announces new push on Syria IS stronghold

The United States can ill-afford to lose Turkey and Operation Burning Lance has a chance, albeit a minor one, of repairing some of the political cracks.

A small group of USA special forces troops entered the Syrian town of al-Rai, already occupied by Turkish troops and were quickly forced to flee from the city, amid vocal threats from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), accusing the U.S. of being “crusaders” and vowing to “slaughter” them.

The fight with Turkey along the northern border is part of broader U.S. efforts to counter Islamic State and alleviate a humanitarian crisis in Syria. And US Central Command says it’s looking into the incident.

“There’s been no violence, no one is hurt and we are still there”, the official said. The crowd of armed men observing them becomes much louder after the U.S and Turkish troops pass, shouting and chanting and raising their weapons into the air.

American special operations troops have arrived in Syria to help Turkish forces fight the Islamic State, but it appears that some of the US -backed rebel fighters there aren’t too happy about that support.

Five or six USA military personnel were forced to withdraw toward Turkey, Reuters cited the commander saying. The joint mission will take the forces east toward the northern Syrian town of Dabiq, a strategically important ISIS stronghold.

Both the Department of Defense and the US Central Command in the region told VICE News they were aware of the reports, but could not confirm.

The significance of Dabiq to Isis is not lost on the United States or Turkey, who have deliberated over how to deal with the town as they advance towards al-Bab, a far more significant military target that houses the foreign intelligence arm of the group responsible for organising terrorist attacks. So it is in Syria with the American-Turkish operations named Operation Noble Lance.

As more than 18 million children began the new term after the summer break, Huseyin Ozev, president of the Istanbul teachers’ union, told AFP there were fears the academic year would begin with “chaos” because of huge staff shortages. Actually, the coalition forces were backed these operations by the airstrikes.

The operation that offers support to the FSA on the ground is progressing well as of now, the president said. “Ankara now faces a hard diplomatic balancing act if it is to win worldwide support for the more permanent “safe zone” cleared of militants it wants on its border”.

Authorities have blamed the attempted coup on Erdogan’s arch-enemy, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, and followers of his moderate Islamic “Hizmet” movement which encourages its members to work in the public sector.

For the Kurds, the feeling is mutual. Their military advice always was useful to the anti-ISIS Kurdish and the Syrian Democratic Forces as well.