A deal negotiated by Russia last week in Manbij went into effect today, and saw the Syrian military taking over a series of military positions west of the city of Manbij, handed over to them by Kurdish forces from the YPG’s Manbij Military Council.
Turkey had said they intended to invade Manbij next, and the deal saw Syrian military forces setting up a ring around the western side of the city, with the villages’ handover. Turkey and the Syrian military are in a state of ceasefire, which seemingly precludes Turkey trying to advance.
Turkish officials have long insisted the Kurds must not be allowed west of the Euphrates, and Manbij is on the west bank of the river, leading them to demand the YPG unconditionally hand the city over. The Obama Administration had previously been said to have promised such a handover, though it never happened.
Now, Syrian troops are in the way, Russian troops are in the way, and even some US troops are in Manbij itself, so Turkey’s hope of taking over the city seems pretty remote indeed for the time being. Where that leaves Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria remains to be seen, but they might ultimately cross the Euphrates eastward to try to hit other Kurdish towns.
Turkey made announcement that Syria’s control is acceptable to them. Also, US taking control of YPG inside the city, must be acceptable to Turkey. Turkey just does not want the city that was majority Arab prior to Kurds occupation — stay under Kurdish rule. So, the objective met.
It remains to be seen how does it translate into getting Raqqa freed up from ISIS, as well as other little towns in the region. The real issue there is — Kurds are not wanted. Arabs there are already starting to form self-defense units. So, US will need to reconsider the issue of partner with boots on the ground. Turkey is far more attractive option, as it is a NATO member, so it will safe US face. And the population there would prefer Turkey to either Kurds or Syria’s Army. The transition from ISIS is going to be hard. We shall see, as the end-game is approaching. Unless somebody like Saudi Arabia throws a clip into the works.
Why not just simplify it and say the US, instead of suggesting Saudi will interrupt the peace process?
I think that what is most likely is that Obama’s meddling in Syria with his red line speech has put the US war plans on hold for a while. So even though the US is currently fabricating stories of Syria using chem/bio weapons, the rest of the world aren’t quite buying it.
The simple fact of the matter is that Assad complied with the Obama/Putin demands of him getting rid of his chem/bio arsenal of weapons. A huge tactical mistake by Obama to ever allow it to happen. Had Rumsfield been at the wheel, that would have never been allowed to happen. Even if it was proven over and over again that Assad had complied, it would have never been accepted as the truth.
It is hard to take you seriously. What on earth are you doing on Antiwar
platform. You are. PNAC man — self identified, nobody forced you to fes up. Now, you see as a mistake that Obama allowed a verifiable removal of chemical weapons ftom Syria — as now the lies are hollow. Or that we failed in Iran — so the implications of “finishing off Iran are gloomy”. So, from Antiwar to Neocon — in a moment! Your concern about Iranian bombs are neocon obsessions — Trump voters are quite content with deal renegotiation, not regime change nor humanitarian intervention. But you sound more like those whose principles depend on one’s specific interests. Some people serm to quickly go from the most broad minded global thinkers to most vile criminal minds when their own narrow interests and fantasies are foiled.
You see, to Trump supporters PNAC is dead. And even if Trump is shackled and gagged in the White House, and made recite neocon mantras, he will never go to the dark side. Voters have made him — not the other way around.
And Americans are going to learn sooner or later why such fear that Americans will get to know Russians, and find out just how much they have in common. This is a deal danger — the fear that American gaze would lift from the Middle East, and discover the world. Trump created a crack in the fake universe our PNAC masters created. The masters are trying their level best to fix the breach.
And keep American citizens in the bubble to applaud is craziness, while getting poorer by the day.
May be you will deny that there was a meeting between the heads of military forces of Turkey, US and Russia in Antaliya? Syria on their mind.
Bianca please! You of all people have to know that I was being facetious on what Obama did. It’s always been in the interest of having somebody challenge my words and thereby agree. And you did it! And of course I’ve said that Obama made a horrible deal on Iran because it’s just the opposite.
Then when you said: ” Trump voters are quite content with deal renegotiation, not regime change nor humanitarian intervention.”
You just completely blew your cover! Is it really possible that you didn’t get that I was saying that Obama is responsible for a ‘great’ deal on Iran. And you’re opposed to that deal because Trump says he’s going to renegotiate it?
And that it’s obvious that Iran isn’t going to renegotiate and that gives Trump his excuse for war on Iran. Which we know by news report stats is how the American people feel about the Iran deal. They have been convinced that it’s a bad deal!
Also Bianca, you seem to think that I’m against good relations between the US and Russia.
Now pay close attention to what I say for a change. I’m all for it of course, and always have been. I’m just convinced that Trump isn’t and never has been.
Now is that too complicated for you to understand?
Wow… it’s sounding like the US and Russia are more allies than the US and Turkey at this point.
Yes, one would take encouragement from that. But beware of it being false hope simply because Russia being a part of a peace in Syria is not in the interest of the US endgame for Syria. Or Iran of course.
It’s hard to imagine how Russia can ever be excluded from Syria’s future because Assad is always going to be more sympathetic to Russia over the US. As will future leaders of Syria be of the same persuasion obviously. But we also should know that Russia must be excluded in some way in order for the PNAC agenda to ever succeed completely.
The US has not changed it’s foreign policy on the ME. Even though we can already imagine how Raimondo is likely going to try to tell us that Trump’s agenda is such cooperation with Russia behind the scenes. So let’s see how he can spin that for us?