On Saturday, clashes broke out again in the vicinity of Darat Azza west of Afrin between the YPG and and Islamist opposition forces including the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Ahrar al-Sham.
According to Kurdish sources, Turkish artillery units deployed in Azaz shelled the villages of Qatma and Vilat al-Qadi in eastern Afrin. YPG responded with shelling positions of the Islamic forces in Darat Azza town and its vicinity.
According to Kurdish sources, FSA forces in Azaz arrested dozens of civilians who were on their way to Afrin in the coming days.
YPG has also detained civilians from the Euphrates Shield-held areas and the Idlib countryside. The Turkish-Kurdish tensions seem to be turning into an open battle in the northern Aleppo countryside.
There have been unconfirmed reports of continued Turkish military reinforcements reaching the Euphrates Shield-held areas in the northern Aleppo countryside and to positions of the Turkish Army at the Syrian-Turkish border.
While opposition sources claim that the Turkey aims to attack Afrin inorder to open the Azaz-Idlib road, other sources argue that the Turkish Army may be planning to enter Idlib also at the same time.
Nice propaganda picture…
Obviously the owner was concerned with scratching the paint so they had them put a blanket under the machine gun….
Indeed. Without being for or against: are there estimates of how much the Kurdish ladies actually contribute on the front lines? And prop or not, at least these folks are not medieval apes; it’d be a negative for all if they squander their own place in the future of Syria.
Yes, one of the many advantages the SDF has over islamists. YPJ ladies have no beards. Another one is they fight better too.
That may now get tested–I mean the latter part, I think we can take the beard part for a fact. Not that I look forward to it.
Brilliant! You made me laugh which is not easy.
Cute young ladies. ;)
“young” ladies? reported to the FBI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JK.
What is going on in afrin? Did those Syrian kurds betray Syria, and formally join the SDF?
As of when is for a Syrian to join a Syrian militia fighting within Syria against IS being a betrayer?
Of whom?
Not even the Syria government has declared the SDF to be illegal and even if they had, who cares?
Ah but you see, the US is also claiming to fight IS all these years; must have been some dust in the drone optics when those enormous oil convoys were rolling ahead right under their noses. There are people who feel that the things SDF is doing *besides* fighting IS show they no longer consider themselves part of the neighborhood. Those same people might start to treat them accordingly, and yes they have guns too. Some things in life are neither just nor wholesome, but foreseeable nonetheless.
Those ‘oil convoys’ that you speak of where rolling right into Turkey. It seems when the house is on fire, your dear neighbour will lend a helping hand to relieve you of your belongings.
But at least Turkey has seen the writing on the wall, the Kurds have not. That is to their detriment.
Once a thief, always a thief Mr. Erdogan.
… and the notion that Russia was going to restore state order becomes an ever more distant mirage. Dialogue is great, but people listen better if it has an “or else” part. Kind of how Obama handled the Republican opposition. Probably too late now to keep the local rascals in line.
This media is hyping and almost panting on the thought of having rebels and turks invading Afrin.
It almost sounds they want it to happen.
For Syria it would be a tragedy. Hundreds of thousands refugees more, thousands killed, a region destroyed, Syria will lose another region forever to Turkey.
How can Syria remain one country if internal factions are not only willing to turn on eachother but also willing to have malevolant external actors turn on a Syrian faction they do not like, to the detriment of Syria as a whole.
Is there anybody who believes Erdogan is acting in the best interest of Syria?
Such a country as the presented Syria can better be split.
“How can Syria remain one country if internal factions are not only willing to turn on eachother but also willing to have malevolant external actors turn on a Syrian faction they do not like, to the detriment of Syria as a whole.”
Ask the YPG which allies with a declared enemy of Syria , which is the US.
Ahh. So give the examples where SDF attacked the SAA. You will hardly find them, if any, other then where SAA or NDF started first.
As for allying themselves with the US. What choice did they have as neither Assad nor SNC were willing to admit they exist and have rights and still do not? What choice did they have being attacked by IS, AlQaeda, Ahrar, other FSA and islamists and by Turkey and being abandoned by Assad and the SAA?
They were forced to become warriors and now that they are, all their opponents will have to bear the consequences of their (in)actions.
SDF attacked saa in Aleppo.
Also they attack the Syrian govt forces in the far north east (I think its called Quasmili) which is right next to the American air base in Syria.
They actually shelled a road in Aleppo so that saa forces could,not use the road when the FSA rebels infiltrated the surrounded city of Aleppo.
In other words they were aiding the FSA rebels.
These are facts. The SDF even tweeted about it.
Yet until a week a go, saa never attacked Kurds.
This has been going on for some time. Stealing Syrian oil, then talking about declaring themselves sovereign. I have no sympathy for backstabbing opportunists. They should never have aligned with the US and the terrorists. Now that shit is getting real, they need to turn to Syria…but they won’t, believing again, that the US will help. They will, just like they did went Saddam was slaughtering them. Not.
I recommend strongly the lecture of this interview:
https://english.aawsat.com/ibrahim-hamidi/interviews/ford-asharq-al-awsat-gave-syrians-false-hope
http://thesaker.is/russia-sitrep-june-25-2017/
Interview with former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford by the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on June 20.
Ford: Kurds will pay the price for trusting the Americans…
Let us start with an essential point: your visit to Hama in June 2011. Why did you go? And do you think this was a wise decision? “A. The two questions are legit. Why did I go? The answer is easy. We obtained information indicating that Hama was besieged and that the army is besieging the city. We were worried about violence during the protests on the following day. I went there on Thursday to be a witness to any potential violence and to know who started it because the main question in Washington will be: Who started the violence? Was it the protestors or the government…? Also my visit included a message to the Syrian government indicating that we’re taking this matter seriously and you should not be dispatching the army to the city…
“Q. Was that a wise decision?
“A. There are two aspects: one positive and one negative aspect. My visit showed the Syrians that we’re interested in Human Rights issues. I still meet Syrian people now who tell me: Thank you for visiting Hama… But there are also two negative points concerning my visit: First, the Syrian government used the visit to support its propaganda on the Syrian revolution being an external conspiracy. Second, one student of mine at Yale is writing a thesis about this: my visit and other actions in Syria in 2011 encouraged the growth of the protest movement. However, the Americans were not willing to dispatch the army to help the Syrians. This means that we gave the Syrians a fake hope.
“…Q. After six years, did you expect that Al-Assad will still be in power despite all that happened in the country?
“A. In late 2013, I thought the attrition war will be harsh on the regime and that they will be negotiating a deal. Some will ask for a pardon and leave to Algeria or Russia or Cuba. [I thought] that a coalition cabinet will be formed…and because the Syrian army will be weak, the regime will accept to save itself in return of giving up on the Al-Assad and Makhlouf families.
“Q. Did you really think that the regime will be negotiating its end?
“A. Yes. This is the biggest political mistake that I made. I did not expect Iran and Hezbollah to send thousands of fighters. I did not expect Hezbollah to sacrifice its reputation in the Arab world for Al-Assad…
“Q. Why has Washington failed to modify the state of stagnation?
“A. Al-Assad won. He’s a victor or so he thinks. Maybe in ten years, he will take the whole country. The regime won’t be held accountable for the chemical weapons, the killings, the torture, the explosive barrels, the refugees and the displaced people. No accountability. Al-Assad might be visiting Paris or London, but no one will visit Damascus to take the regime’s officials to be tried in The Hague. No one. The regime might require some time to restore Deraa. Sooner or later, it will go to Idleb. The Russians will help. It [the regime] will go to Qamishli and strike a deal with Iran and Turkey to destroy the Kurds.
“Q. What about the Americans? Will they not protect the Kurds?
“A. Do you think the Americans will be fighting in Qamishli?
“Q. The Americans are supporting the Kurds to liberate Raqqa from ISIL
“A. Did you hear an American official say, or read an American statement indicating: we will defend West Kurdistan after ISIL’s defeat?
“Q. No. What does that mean?
“A. Is this a coincidence? They will not defend the Kurds against the Al-Assad forces.
“Q. So they’re using the Kurds only to free Raqqa from ISIL?
“A. Yes. For this reason, I believe that what we’re doing with the Kurds is not only political stupidity but also something immoral. The Americans used the Kurds for long years during the Saddam Hussein rule… The Syrian Kurds are making the biggest mistake by trusting the Americans…
“Q. What is Trump’s ultimate goal?
“A. He wants to reduce the Iranian authority. That’s what I heard from one of Trump’s advisors a few weeks back. But he doesn’t know that the game is over. They are very late. Obama did not leave the Trump Administration with many choices to realize its objectives.”
You do realize that these people are *trained* to lie, right? Look at how he treats Assad’s chemical attacks as fact long after they’ve been debunked. If you want to see US Syria policy early in this crisis, read the Roebuck memo on Wikileaks: they *chose* to destabilize; the initiative lay with them.
Not saying Assad should’ve whacked either a US ambassador or peaceful protesters (if any were peaceful), but why did he let this snake meddle in a national-security crisis? How does Washington manage to mind-fuck *everyone*?
Thank you for the advice. I took this interview to show the standpoint of the ambassador on behalf the kurds . But you are right , the ambassador follows the White-House narrative about fake “chemical-attacks”.
Yes, especially when one decides to proclaim Syrian territory theirs. When ISIS is gone, what then?