Turkey-backed rebel fighters in Syria are gearing up for a major deployment into northeastern Syria,
with an eye on replacing the US ground troops in the area. Turkey is
planning to invade in the course of this replacement, and is
coordinating with te US and the pullout and deployment.
President Trump has said the withdrawal will be “slow,” and there has
been no public timetable on troop movements. The rebels in question,
however, are moving closer to the city of Manbij, which Turkey has
indicated will be the first target.
Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed the situation in comments to
reporters on Tuesday, saying that while the timeline of deployment may
be related to coordination with the US, Turkey remains “determined” to
expel the Kurds from Syria’s northeast.
Kurdish officials say that they are re-positioning their own forces in a
plan to defend the area from invading Turkish and allied forces. The
likelihood is that this will begin after the Manbij invasion, as few
Kurds were believed to have remained in that city.
The pull out seems to be only in the North but not the East (oil and cross border trade with Iraq) or the South aka Al Tanf (Baghdad-Damascus highway). I don’t think it is a pull out, Turkey gave them the bums rush. I am smelling bait and switch.
I am expecting there will be no Turkish invasion once the US leaves. Bait and switch indeed ! Just like when South Korea quietly refused to cooperate with US wargames, allowing the administration to say ” See ? We are for peace and cancelled the exercises !”
So US troops that were allied with the Kurds are going to be replaced with Turkish troops that consider the Kurds terrorists…sounds like a great plan!
Thank God Trump “defeated” ISIS and ended the occupation in Syria !!! Just in time for them to resurface in Afghanistan so his buddy Eric Prince can get a welfare check from the US tax payer.
He’s just scraping together enough troops to go at Iran since Bush and co. destroyed our military and we can no longer recruit anyone but the poorest of the poor.
Get ready for the big financial melt down that forces all your kids and grand kids into military service in order to have food and shelter though.
This is the model the US uses all over the world to make war so why not use it at home ?
Notice the effect on the stock market!! MAGA!!!!!
Trump is used to paying a penalty for early withdrawal. Just ask all of the women in his life.
Or his investors….
US has conducted 30 airstrikes in Syria since Trump’s pullout.
Pretty much says it all… Rick Roll’d again.
They did say the airstrikes would continue until the troops are gone. I’m sure they mean every last one of them. So the guy that’s left there burning his fellow soldiers excrement will be protected too.
Did you mean from their lives, as in divorce or such, or the other thing? 🙂
All of that.
Ler’s just focus on the immediate issues — Manbij and the Turkish border. Kurds were always a small minority in Manbij, Turkish border areas (with the exception of Afrin), the entire Euphrates valley, Deir Azzor, and the ENTIRE Iraqi border, except Kobane. There are more Kurds in Hassakah, but not majority. Syrian Army always kept a small detachment there — throughout the war. So, what do we think will happen? Turkey will use its sizeable Syrian and Turkmen units to OUST Kurd YPG military council, and all Kurd established institutions of occupation over Arabs. First, along its border/ Manbij, then Euphrates valley. If everything goes smoothly, Syria will move into Deir Azzor and if US will kindly stop shielding “ISIS” in the south, the rag tag militants would be gone in days.
But back to mire imminent — Turkey, if successful in removing YPG from border and Manbij, will send message to Kurds. Message is, stop supporting YPG, elect ofher party, snd no problems. No need for Turkey to ever get into Kurdish populated areas. None whatsoever, unless somebody encourages YPG to take the last stand, deliberatelly suck Turkey into fighting there. Even if YPG insists on such stupidity, Turkey can just go around them, move into Raqqa, down Euphrates valley. Then consolidate all the way up to Iraqi border, together with Iraqi forces clean up border, and secure it.
This will leave Deir Azzor and south — but keep in mind, there will be NO Kurds forces left there, as YPG cannot just remain there isolated from its Kobane homeland.
Somehow, I do NOT believe that US wants to make Turkey mad all iver again by shielding YPG under its skirts, the way rag tag ISIS POCKETS are. So, what might happen there? Either US turns over command to Arabs and their local government — or let Turkey do it. It will be mostly symbolic— as locals will want eventually to go under Damascus control. The whole story about Kurds fighting ISIS there was fake from the get go. What they fought was local militia trying to oust YPG, and US using airpower inflicting huge civilian casualties — hoping that scared population would not rebel again. It works in the short run — but it only results in anger and hatred of both Kurds and US.
So stupidly unnecessary for US reputation and goodwill in the area. A lots of damage control will be needed. It is certainly in Israel’s interest to rile up as much as possible American hatred of Arab world — after all, the message is, those headchopping primitives hate us and hate you. So, lets just continue with fighting, staying in their lands, until Americans will willingly do the job of destabilizing the entire wider Middle East as a means of “defence”. This state of affairs will allow Israel to expand, not only control Palestinians. The target is weak Lebanon — and had it not been for Shia militia, Lebanon would have been occupied. Small and divided into thirds — Sunni, Shia and Christians — it looked like an easy target. Not succeeding — the Arab spring protests in Damascus were an opportunity to attack Syria from inside, and weaken Lebanon in proces.
Now, with the entire region being supportive of US pullout — Israel cannot hope to divide and profit.
Its desparation is visible by endangering airports in the area, knowing full well that at present we are seing a fast pace of regional Arab high level delegations visiting. Iraqi president is due in Damascus. This is risky for Israel — as it seems to be begging for an US aircraft they are using in these stunts being shut down. Region has reached a rare consensus between Iran and Arab states, all seeing the withdrawal as a best chance for peace. Bahrain advocating Syrian takeover of its entire territory.
While neocons will push for delays and intrigues, that does NOT mean that US remaining in Syria is viable. It is not the matter of being determjned and having the will to win. Sometimes objectivelly It is not possible.
In other words, Trump isn’t ending the war in Syria, he’s simply outsourcing it. Should have known there was a catch.