The first video showing Turkish airstrikes on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the area of Afrin in the Syrian province of Aleppo has appeared online. The video shows the destruction of YPG weapons depot near the village of Maskanli.
PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG terör örgütü tarafından Afrin’de Mühimmat Deposu olarak kullanılan tünelin tam isabetle vuruluşu. pic.twitter.com/GJQzaRHbVD
— TSK (@TSKGnkur) 21 January 2018
Meanwhile, more Turkish battle tanks were reportedly deployed near the area of Afrin within “Operation Olive Branch“. According to media reports, these battle tanks support attacks of pro-Turkish armed forces on YPG positions in Afrin.
Click to see the full-size image. Source: https://twitter.com/Acemal71/
Click to see the full-size image. Source: https://twitter.com/Acemal71/
Click to see the full-size image. Source: https://twitter.com/Acemal71/
The fact that the FSA is fighting with the Turks indicates to me that this operation is directed both against Assad and the Kurds. Giving the FSA a firmer hold in Afrin can only strengthen them. As usual the Turks have devious intent.
Paul where does it say that the FSA is fighting with the Turkish Army?? You sure you got your facts straight as this runs counter to Erdogan being very angry with the actions of the USA???
“Turkish-backed Islamist militants carried in at least 20 buses from the Kilis province into Syria.”
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/b61d3679-115a-4f81-9775-6157892e678e
Thanks for this link! So, Paul is right after all – this is astounding – so what gives this time around? Any insights as on the face of it this is a mess and getting even murkier?
Yes I do look at several sites so it is easy to conflate thing I have seen elsewhere. I am fairly sure I read this on the AMN website shortly before posting. Let’s see if the information appears more generally.
Thanks Paul – appreciated! I haven’t the time to keep up with all of this convoluted conflict especially as the main Western (US, NATO and Turkish) players play the “Chameleon Game” and use Proxies which one minute are HTS, ISIS or the FSA or some other extremist organisation. What the Russians and Assad thinks of all of this God know’s and I expect they have a “hot line” running to keep tabs on this mess.
“What the Russians and Assad thinks of all of this” – add Iran.
Here’s some AMN sources:
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-backed-fsa-ready-clean-ypg-afrin-fsa-commander/
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-backed-fsa-fighters-arrive-azaz-video/
Thanks. I don’t claim never to get confused.
I have recalled the scource now. It was not AMN but a headline on RT news. I don’t know how much this is worth but you can go a see what they are claiming.
Here’s one possible source:
“Sohtaoğlu also revealed that Euphrates Shield (ES) forces and several Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups are currently on alert and waiting for the order to launch an offensive against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin.”
https://southfront.org/turkish-army-deploys-more-troops-vehicles-around-afrin-shells-kurdish-forces-inside-it-photos-video/
Here’s a much more recent report:
“Field sources reported on Sunday that the Turkish Army troops and the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) have kicked off a major ground assault under the Olive Branch Operation against Kurdish militants in the town of Afrin in Northern Aleppo.”
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961101000721
Graeme – thanks for this – appreciated! The Turks and Kurds have been at war for a very long time. The UK disenfranchised the Kurds when it established modern day Iraq in the 1920’s. South and Eastern Turkey has a substantial Kurd population. This is all going to prove very messy. If the FSA get involved in attacking the Kurds then what will Assad then do; and, moreover, what will Russia be advising? The US has alternately been either indifferent to or supporting the Kurds when it suited them. To be frank, this whole war is getting increasingly convoluted as one side, or the other, plays for short term advantage. No doubt the Russians, in particular, will be watching this very carefully and planning accordingly. Protrraction of the war will suit the Anglo – American Zionist Bankster Cabal who want nothing less than the removal of Assad and installation of their puppet in Damascas before they move onto their next main course – Iran.
Nigel, I can only provide my assumptions and Graeme is opposing it btw. My take is that there’s Russia – Iran – Turkey agreement and Idlib was area of Turkey responsibility. US-Israel (UK and European vassals) = another players. Idlib supposed to be area under control of moderate FSA which are receiving support from both Turkey and USA/Israel. US is in charge in parts under Kurdish control. All this is mostly done by proxy forces (while US have at list 2k troops on the ground in occupied (by Kurds) areas). Many proxys have their own agenda that they hope to push “under cover “of their masters agenda. There’s a chain of events (it’s much longer but I will mention only short amount of time here): HTS was never a part of Russia/Iran/Turkey agreement and that was a weak link in Turkey’s position. HTS becomes de facto dominant force in Idlib (while at the same time ISIS is all but defeated and SAA has troops available) and than there’s mortar (with 2 casualties) and dron attack coming from Idlib. This shows that Turkey can not fulfill its obligations at governing this area. Their role in Russia/Iran/Turkey agreement is lessened. Turkish FM screaming that “Idlib offensive should stop” quickly changed to “PKK terrorists in Afrin should be attacked”. Turkey’s role now is to teach Kurds some loyalty towards their home state of Syria. With USA refusing to fight Turks on the side of Kurds there’s extremely high possibility that SDF comes next after Afrin. USA presence will be reduced Syria. But ex Kurdish occupied areas will be under Turkish control. Erdogan is the weak link here. I’ll repeat – that guy has terrible self-control issues and no one know what’s on his mind tomorrow. But I think that recent coup taught him a lesson and he started to realize that Turkey was next (after Iraq, Libia, Syria) – US/Israel don’t need partners, they only need vassals. In any case Turkey will not be able to control this areas in the long term – Kurdish resistance will be constantly present. If (when) Kurds realize that they better give back to Syria its lands that they tried to grab they will receive LEGITIMATE support from Syria and its allies (Russia, Iran) and even western public opinion will be against Turkey. In short – I think that Erdogan will be easier to kick out of Turkey than US.
Sorry Nigel, but it is well known that they are Turkish based, funded and equipped…by the Turkish; from what I can make out, it is not the original FSA that were more goody than baddy. Have a look at this – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Syrian_Army
What gets me is the US throws money at them as well.
The US are playing both sides again – the bastards. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/us-authorizes-financial-support.html
Christ almighty, I hope that the Russians and Syrians are well informed.
Thanks Al!……….Yes it is very confusing due to all the thinly veiled agenda’s. No doubt the Russians and Assad know precisely what is going on and is at stake here. The key to it is how to correctly counter these moves and the timing of when where and how to counter each successive move.
Assad wasn’t supposed to attack Idlip. This is one of the de-escalation zones established by Russia and Turkey. It that was supposed to be off limits. Endogan is coming for Assad. Assad and the Baathist had 6 years to get their act together regarding the Kurds. They are slowly losing the Syrian minorities. Afrin is home anti Damascus refugees and Kurds.
Yes I think progress in Idlib does have an influence on this.
Turkey was supposed to set up check points which they have not done and Putin questioned Erdogan over it. The drone attacks on Russian bases originated from Idlib which violated the de-escalation agreement.
HTS was never off-limits.
Wondered when someone would say that.
But HTS and many others would not sign the agreement. As you state – “Afrin is home to both anti Damascus refugees and Kurds” – personally I would just blitz it and forget what the MSM state.
HTS ( Al Nusra) is a UN proscribed international terrorist group and the de-confliction zones do not apply to them or to any persons that support them.
You evidently misunderstand how diplomatic agreements work. The Russian’s brokered the four deescalation zones with the specific intent to free up the SAA’s manpower. For years the SAA’s force multiplier was constantly degraded by being pinned down fighting and besieging militant pockets all over the country. This forced dispersal and diffusion of the SAA’s power was a very deliberate strategic doctrine emanating from US military advisers operating in southern Turkish based military control-rooms, from outset of the the conflict. Whenever the SAA made advances in one area of country, against one militant faction, another militant faction would promptly start a coordinated offensive elsewhere that slowed the SAA’s progress, as they had to back track and deal with a new field crisis elsewhere, often at their rear. This was a very deliberate and coordinated strategy against the SAA, directed by professional US/NATO advisers with far greater overview of whole Syrian military situation – satellite intelligence etc – and certainly not managed by the militants themselves on the ground, who had only very limited information and intelligence sources. The Russian’s well understood the need to counter this fundamental and very successful US/NATO strategy against SAA operations. The Russian response was to use diplomacy to leverage the escalation zone agreements into place. Thereafter the SAA was able to effectively concentrate manpower to create a large focused mobile force – and pursue defined strategic goals – without having that nagging need to turn around and deal with a flare up or crisis. Thus the SAA retook Hama from ISIS and then quickly moved on to break the long standing ISIS siege of Dier Ezzore city in remote east of country. The deescalation zones were a very agile Russian counter move against a core of the US/NATO strategy against the SAA. It’s important to fully grasp the sheer level of the Russian’s success here – they took a seriously bad military situation and turned it around with agreements in the face of massive obstacles. However, the players that agreed to the deescalation zones were not in some magical new peace accord – it was a diplomatic management of multiple conflicting agendas and an exertion of power on the ground by the Russians. The Turks agreed – but they were never going to stop sponsoring their Turkistani and FSA proxies in Idlib, and indeed most probably only agreed in order to actually protect those proxies from Russian air power. For the Russians and Syrians the deescalation zones were a necessary diplomatic counter move – but they are inherently unstable and will dissolve at some point – but they point is for that to happen when the Syrians and Russian have far greater control of the overall military situation. Turkey lost its chance to stake a claim on Damascus way back in 2015 – when Russia entered the fray – and now Turkey is only holding out for more limited gains at Syria’s expense.
Just a heads up TIP was also excluded as they are affiliated to Al Qaeda and a banned terrorist group, they suffered hundreds of dead and also casualties. Numbers for other groups are double-triple that of what was reported by SOHR.
Good name you use, also shows the Turkish operation is like your name , just as the US/NATO occupation is , all are based on lies and ignoring international laws.
Agreed
I would agree with you fully, if the operation was not called ““Operation Olive Branch“; which sounds very much a Yanker name……so I am at about 75% and I hope my scepticism is incorrect.
The Kurdish Jabhat Akhrad cut through a swathe of FSA a year or two back. The carcasses were stacked up on flat bed vehicles. They would be best advised do that all over again since these American / Turkish FSA rats are coming back again
its time to get back what u owe……hehehe
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I recall that. The FSA were so stupid as to attack when they where under pressure from ISIS at the time. I did not even believe they could be so brain dead, but it is true. :)
You got it – “American / Turkish FSA rats”; so more devious tactics by the Yanks…..!!!
A few days ago Assad said that he will destroy all Turkish airlpains if they enter Syrian airspace? What happened Mr. Assad? Lost your misiles or you just wanted to sound like a tough guy? Turks are up in your ass Mr. Assad.
The Turks are up the Kurds arse which means Turkey is against the US supported proxies which is to Assad’s advantage. He will say what he needs too to appease the Kurds while saying to Turkey go ahead while I am busy elsewhere.. Bet Putin is happy the Turks are giving the Yanks a headache ..
I am not sure if the turks entered Syria airspace. They probably fire from the border area like israel does from lebanon.
Why is it so hard for you to understand? The message was clear; “Allow Syrian armed forces to re-position in the Afrin area and they will ensure its safety”. Had the krds done that, there would have been no attack, that much is obvious. They were given that option merely a week ago, but they refused…
Meant also giving up the Deir ez Zoir Oilfields and gas fields whivch they opposed and said the US would certainly oppose it too. This shows US is firmly planted according to the SDF in violating Syria’s Sovereign territory,seems obvious anyways and without any real troops but mercenaries. This attack was orchestrated by the US/NATO it is too apparent their finger prints are on this.
No – apparently it was a technical issue and has been cleared up. Allegedly there is harmony between the 2 sides at this time.
Unofficially, he is against he SDF! Remember he called them traitors? U know that the SDF is a proxy of the US and therefore the enemy! Syria is allowing this!
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-jets-strike-main-us-supply-airport-kurdish-forces-northern-aleppo/
So basically the Turks are blowing up a whole bunch of NATO tanks and Israeli arms and munitions supplies…. What’s not to love about this?
If you listen to this X22Report, he clearly distinguishes the Cabal YPG Kurds and the FSA Kurds that Trump had cut financing last year. Turkey has liaised closely with Russia, Trump and Syria on this, hence the “Olive Branch”, to destroy the weapons of the (Cabal) Kurdish forces – and expecting to be completed in time for the Sochi talks. You can take it from the 14:00 min. mark: https://x22report.com/news-episode-1477/
Reporting in these times really needs to clearly distinguish between Trump’s United States v/s Corporate USA as the Russians, Chinese and Turkish are with Trump to bring down the Cabal. And Pence is going down for Paedophile /Human trafficking network through his Indiana. Wonder what he was over in Saudi Arabia for?