Turkish military forces are scrambling into the Kilis Province on Thursday, one day after President Erdogan announced his intention to launch a major invasion of northeastern Syria, with an intention of ousting the Kurdish YPG from the area.
The invasion was announced despite Pentagon warnings that it was “unacceptable.” In addition to Turkey’s military, Turkey-aligned rebels are said to be preparing to join the invasion, with as many as 15,000 expected.
Kurdish officials say that they intend to fight any Turkish invasion of their territory. That’s probably not surprising, as Erdogan has indicated he’s going to expel them from lands east of the Euphrates, and Turkey already expelled them from everything west of the Euphrates, so they don’t have anyplace else to flee.
At the same time, there are reports that the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and the US are pushing last minute diplomacy to try to prevent the invasion. Turkey had indicated that the invasion would begin in the next few days, so there seems to be little time to head off this fight.
Unless Turkey, the Kurds, our government, the government of Syria, the Russians, and other NATO countries regain their sanity there will be nasty conflicts in N.E. Syria. Our government must immediately stop violating Syria’s recognized borders by trying to peel off a Kurdish mini state which in the long run can only be preserved by the US threat of using nuclear weaponry on Turkey and Syria because once we get out that mini state is cooked. Insane.