In a unusual escalation, the National Syrian Army (NSA), Turkey’s main proxy in Syria, announced on August 5 that it had shelled positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern Aleppo countryside.
The Turkish-backed coalition released photos showing its fighters firing mortar rounds at the Kurdish-dominated group’s positions east of the towns of Marea and Herbel.
Click to see full-size image
Click to see full-size image
Northern Aleppo witnessed several clashes between the two sides during the last few months. However, this was the first time the NSA openly announced an attack on the SDF, since Operation Olive Branch in Afrin last year.
The attack came less than 24 hours after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s promise to enter the Kurdish-held territory in northeastern Syria.
“We shared this [the plan to enter northeastern Syria] with Russia and the U.S. As long as harassment fire continues, we cannot remain silent,” the Daily Sabah quoted Erdogan as saying.
The Washington Post reported that the U.S. is making a “last-ditch effort” to stop a Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria by presenting a joint plan to Ankara.
Previous U.S.-Turkish agreements, like the one on Manbij, failed as a result of Washington’s blind commitment to the SDF. This explains why Ankara would prefer military action over any unguaranteed political agreement.
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US does not have a blind commitment to SDF. Until recently it has shown a blind commitment towards Turkey, in spite of Turkish Nato betrayal, atrocities, provocations. It is time to put a halt to Turkey. It needs to be violently or at least harshly curtailed.
You Kurds are the last people to speak about betrayal.
Sorry. For Turks it is inconceivable that that anyone criticising Turkey is not a Kurd. However, my family is dutch at least for two centuries and I do not know any kurd personnally. I do know many turks personnally. Almost all are personnally nice but all have a blind spot for turkish history and behaviour. They regard Erdogan as germans did Hitler before WWII. He has build highways and modern Turkey. So what. So did Stalin and so did Mao. All mass murderers.
You were here during Afrin operation talking about how brave YPG was , how TR would lose. We were reading your groundbreaking analyses everyday.The day Afrin fall , you disapperaed. Your personal recovery took almost a year , now you are back in town.
So please spare your 2 centturies old dutch bloodline , your imaginery friends , your carefully chosen nickname emphasizing your acclaimed ethnicity, and all other BS. Never been a fan of Erdogan, and never will be. But that does not mean that we have to swallow whatever you are selling here.
You know that old duck test , dont you ? If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Erdogan can never come close to Hitler , Mao , Stalin ( not even speaking about the fact that these tree are not even comparable to each other ) and with your mentality , one can even declare Truman, Churchill , Napoleon and many others as well. So please dont exaggerate and learn where to draw the line.
can you share your opinion about the main question posed by the article?will Turkey attack on the east front?my opinion is that it will reach the river and stop there, for a while at least. US will be humiliated AGAIN since they will fail to protect their proxies there as they did in Afrin before. Turkey will celebrate a new victory annex land and kill Kurds. Russia will have a happy ally. Syria a big problem in the future
IMO , any Operation will be limited at this stage. The West part of crescent is complete , ( Afrin , Idlib ) but the east part ( the part starts from Iraq ) is still in the making. TAF is presently about 30 km inside Iraq securing East part of Crescent. At least 2 to 3 months needed before a full scale offensive in Syria.
Meanwhile , they are also preparing inside the country ; %15 raise for beverages, cigarettes, raw meat , electricity, LNG as of last friday , although USD keeps losing value against TRY since almost 2 months. Erdogan is securing the cost of the operation.
The target will be SDF , not Kurds. If SDF is not solely a Kurdish entity, ( which SDF itself claims it is a multinational force ) then we can not speak about ‘killing Kurds’ or whatsoever, the offensive will be against some potential national security risk, a rebel group heavily armed by US. If they are really Kurds as you claimed, then it means that someone is lying from the beginning and they are creating a second israel there, a puppet Kurdish batallion state which they will use against Iran,Iraq and Turkey when the time comes. In short , It is all about security of Israel.
Can you think another reason why US finances these people so hardly and even risks to confront a NATO ally like Turkey located in such a critical geographical location ?
well Sdf is supposed to have Arab fighters as well but its mainly a Kurdish organisation its no secret. US is calling them Arab-Kurdish army just for Turkeys sake. You are mixing economy with war preparations above……there is an increase of goods because of the inflation which is running wild. furthermore 3 months ago it was 1EURO=6.80TRY now its at 6.25 same as with the USD was at its peak at May at 6,19 now it is at 5.58……that can be explained by the control that the state has over banks. Banks were ordered to support the TRY but the cost will be huge in the long run. Banks owe billions of USD….cant afford to spend money they dont have for politics.
The 300,000 displaced Kurds that had their homes given to the terrorists [that Erdogan rescued from Ghouta when the SAA were attacking them] would disagree that Erdogan is nothing like Hitler. And the 10,000 civilian Turks he locked up and tortured after the coup attempt might also disagree with you. And the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who’ve been affected by his continued support for the most vicious terrorists operating in Syria would also disagree I’m sure. And to be honest I have to disagree with you as well, I also think he’s a lot like Hitler, and if he was left alone for long enough unchecked, I think he’d end up just as bad as Hitler. He’s already followed in all of Hitler’s earliest footsteps towards brutal dictatorship, and he hasn’t got that many more steps to follow and he’ll be at the same spot Hitler was.
There are also 3,5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, almost more than 700k YPG occupied territories , kicked by YPG during Kurdification process, you forgot to mention .
Close to 2,8 million refugees from other parts in Turkey, mainly from the parts controlled by Assadists, but you are ok with it.
Kurds which constitute %9 of total population grabs almost %40 of Syrian land and %70 of nations natural resources, you are fine with it as well.
All dissidents disappear in Syria, Russia and Iran , they jump from buildings , they die from exotic poisons , strange and unindetified gasses , get hanged in streets , thousands get arrested in Moscow streets, but Assad,Putin, Jinping, Hamaney are not Hitler in the making.According to you they are fine and dandy. But hey, you can use Norwegian democracy standards when you judge a counrty that you dont like, just because it fits your argument.
Seriously , how do you draw the line among them while you declare one being Hitler like and others as savior of their people and state ? Where is the difference ?
I am afraid what leads your political view is exparte hearing, selective perception, emotional judgement and blind prejudice.
No offense just my thoughts..
No I’m not OK with some Kurdish behaviour, especially their continued enforced recruitment of civilians into the military SDF, especially children, or their confiscation of any and all territory outside their traditional Kurdish homelands. You quote UN refugee figures and assertions in your comparisons and I don’t believe their numbers at all, I can see with my own eyes the numbers they’re quoting are exaggerated, I think the official Syrian government estimates are closer to the reality. And what about US leaders like Bush and Obama, how many people died due to orders given by them, not just enemy combatants but civilians too, how many people starve in Iran and go without medicine due to US sanctions, we could add a lot of leaders to the Hitler wanna be list if we wanted too. I don’t use Norwegian democracy standards to suit my arguments, I have my own conscience for that purpose, that’s the standard I apply to everything, and my exparte hearing, selective perception, emotional judgement and blind prejudice, is all attributable to that alone, nothing else. No offence taken, opinions if given without malice and offensive language are never wasted on me, I like to know what other people think, that’s just one of the important and enlightening benefits of having a conversation with someone you don’t agree with, I never go away empty handed. Cheers.
Sounds to me u have a selective perception as well. Turkey created the ” Kurdish problem” themselves by oppressing and murder the Kurdish people and displace them from their land.
Turkey also contributed to the war in Syria and so created its “refugee problem” by supporting Isis and other jihad terrorist headchopping scum.
Turkey abuses those self created problems to have an alibi invading their neighbouring countries to occupy land and expand power and influence.
The Kurds were massacred by Isis in Kobani and elsewhere, while the Turks were watching from the other side of the France. The only power to help them Kurds and Yezidis was the US for their own sick agenda.
That is the truth of it. Erdogan is more or less where Hitler was in 1938. We all know appeasement led to WWII. Let us prevent another appeasement to a vile dictator, maybe preventing another all out war in Mena. Let us prevent Chechoslovakia 1938/9 and a general war.
I sense a change in attitude towards Erdogan by both Trump and Putin, I don’t think they’re listening to him anymore, so I have a feeling they won’t be appeasing his wishes for much longer, because that’s what happens when you lose important bi elections, you’re political longevity suffers, both domestically and internationally.
The SDF are Filthy Traitors & Should be treated accordingly….Kurds better get some Ears to Hear or be Crushed between Nations
“Previous U.S.-Turkish agreements, like the one on Manbij, failed as a result of Washington’s blind commitment to the SDF”. LOL, previous U.S.-Turkish agreements, like the one on Manbij failed because Trump kept saying no we won’t let you, and they’re still saying we won’t let you. Bring on the invasion, let’s all find out what does really happen, fireworks or fizzle. Trumps cancelled the Russian/US ballistic missile treaty, cancelled the Iran nuclear deal, and confronted China on both military and trade levels, and yet some of us still believe he’ll be too afraid to confront Erdogan militarily and will eventually capitulate to his demands, but I don’t.