Pressing the US to abandon its support for the Kurdish YPG, the Turkish government has thrown considerable effort behind a group of rebel factions in the northern Aleppo Province to launch an offensive against ISIS, seeing that as a way to convince the US that non-Kurdish rebels can be successful too.
It didn’t take long for it to become a disaster. The rebels captured the town of al-Rai, and saw it as a major gain. Four days later, they lost the town back outright, and the ISIS counteroffensive pushed back even further, hitting the territory of the Turkmen-dominated rebels.
Not only did they not keep al-Rai, but the fighting has displaced some 30,000 civilians, who are all flocking to the Turkish border, and are by and large being prevented from crossing by Turkish forces, who don’t want any more refugees.
The initial hope was that al-Rai would get overwhelmed by the rebels, and they’d push on all the way to Jarabulus, ousting ISIS from the Aleppo border region. The city of Jarabulus, along the Euphrates, has also been targeted by the Kurds, and Turkey has threatened war if the Kurds capture it. If the rebels had taken it from ISIS it’d solve that problem, but instead the offensive seems to have just added to the refugee problem, and once again underscored how little a lot of the Western-backed rebels can accomplish.
You make it sound as though Turkey, and ISIS are different things.
ISIS is, de facto, a NATO force – supplied and manned by/through Turkey, which is a NATO member.
Why continue the lie that these are separate entities? That they are on opposite sides? There is precious little truth about ISIS/DAESH – who they really are, who controls them, who funds them, who arms them.
Journalists should dig deeper.
Russia accuses Turkey of “smuggling” oil from the Islamic State.
This accusation was from aerial footage of trucks along the Turkish border.
However, according to the truck drivers in this video, many of them are
transporting food or other goods to supply some of the millions of
Syrian refugees in Turkey, and they constantly get bombed by the Russian air force:
https://www.facebook.com/solidaysyria/videos/994351503941585/
While it may be difficult to determine if it’s true, but oil trucks are cylindrical and they must have many wheels to support the oil. Those trucks rectangular trucks without enough wheels to carry much oil, but they still are getting bombed:
Many conspiracy theorists use Russia’s bombing of the supposed “oil” trucks as “proof” that Turkey is collaborating with the U.S. Even Justin Raimondo
in one of his previous articles cheered Russia for this. But in reality
you have no idea what you are bombing. As I mentioned, there’s no
verification, but people still take Russia at face value and assume that
those trucks are smuggling oil, all based on low-resolution aerial
footage taken tens of thousands of feet above. The U.S. also does this,
no wonder 90% of the casualties are civilians. Israel does this too with
U.S. supplied drones, no wonder why Israel bombs children. People who
are against U.S. air strikes should be outraged by all air strikes,
including Russian air strikes, especially when they see the aerial
footage of Russians striking trucks, but they do not. Instead they cheer
and praise Russia without questioning.
Highly doubtful war-torn Syria is supplying flour and other necessities for refuges in Turkey. Get real.
They brought the flour and other supplies from Damascus, according to the video.
I doubt Russia would bomb them if the were trucks from Damascus, they know who they’re trying to help and trying to hinder.
How would Russia know that these trucks were from Damascus? They are probably Syrian/Turkish drivers.
They’d follow their path with satellite tracking.
How do you know that the Russians actually track them?
See this video footage:
https://www.rt.com/news/327063-russian-intelligence
The airstrikes seem to be carried out in only one location at the alleged border crossing.
Bombing an oil truck has a napalm-like effect that effectively kills all people within a large radius. In September 2009, some Afghani locals stole a German fuel truck and the Germans called in an airstrike and the Americans blew up the A hundred or so who were lined up to get some fuel and burned them to death.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/court-says-germany-not-responsible-for-damages-in-afghanistan-attack-a-938490.html
Why would Russia bomb those trucks in a crowded area if they know that the oil will spill causing a napalm-like effect to nearby vehicles? Wouldn’t they bomb them earlier (in uncrowded locations) if they tracked them all along?
Also it would be very expensive to track all of these trucks.
Damascus is in Syria.
They brought the flour and other supplies from Damascus, according to the video. Even if the stuff was brought from Damascus, it doesn’t mean that the flour was MADE in Syria. Damascus is a major transportation port/hub in which different road networks meet. The flour could have been originally made from Saudi Arabia, then transported to Damascus by truck drivers, and then to Turkey by a different group of truck drivers.
Fact: Nations traded foods/supplies before the war. They won’t stop trading when a war starts.
Do you really believe that ISIS convoys of trucks were carrying humanitarian aid – to their enemies?
And why did the trucks go up in flames and black oily smoke?
How do you “know” they were all ISIS trucks. Did you watch the video on Facebook from the truck drivers?
Read my other comments. They were transporting goods from Damascus.
It doesn’t matter who owned the trucks – what was in them is what matters.
Some may have been mistakes, but most had oil – unless the evil Russians had a vendetta against Syrian merchants.
Why use a map in the article if the locations referenced in the article aren’t on the map??
To give you something to bellyache about, maybe?
You’re the bellyacher, dunce.
Any reason why the cities in the article aren’t on the map, dufus?
You know something you probably got a fat ass to match your mouth.
For you to be a moderator is pathetic with that kind of a comment.
Don’t hold back, tell me how you really feel.
I believe a sham moderator like you just might be a large reason why the fund drives have taken longer recently. I called you out for an inappropriate response to a commenter a couple of months ago too. You probably made a list for future reference like the Hilda-beast is reported to have done while the despised First Lady.
Strange that you agreed with me at the time I called you out, You used the same type of ridiculous comment that you did to me on a valid point.
My original post was a valid question for any sane moderator, who by the way, wasn’t even the author of the article, so you had no input into the article or the map.
Actually, you have no idea on earth whether or not I had any input into the article or the map.
You didn’t “call me out.” You griped. There’s a difference.
I’m done supporting you with donations, jerk.