Monday, 7 October 2019

War in the Middle East: Uncle Sam Abandons its Allies, Again [UPDATED]



Reportedly: "International coalition forces have begun withdrawing from their positions in the border areas with Turkey in Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, in conjunction with Turkish preparations to occupy areas controlled by the SDF in northern and northeastern Syria". In Syria today, US forces are abandoning their SDF allies in the face of an impending Turkish invasion...
How the US 'honor' their obligations
 to their allies , 7th October 2019

Meanwhile Michael Weiss notes the possible consequences ('Trump Just Opened the Way for Turkey to Invade Syria — and ISIS to Make a Big Comeback' Daily Beast 7th Oct 2019). "ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi exploited the Kurdish issue before and will exploit it again now that all-out war between Turkey and Syria’s Kurds is a foregone conclusion".
Turkey is about to invade the part of Syria the U.S. invaded to defeat the so-called Islamic State. Except Turkey is invading it to defeat the Kurdish proxy force the U.S. relied on to defeat ISIS, because Turkey considers that proxy a terrorist group. And U.S. President Donald J. Trump, apparently, is fine with that. This according to a White House announcement released late Sunday evening that reads as if it were written by someone who wants absolutely nothing to do with a part of a world as fucked up as the Middle East and doesn’t care if the whole place burns to the ground. The move came after Trump, in yet another decisive phone call that probably will be locked away, spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump’s decision was to have the United States accede to a NATO ally’s invasion of a de facto U.S. protectorate—an invasion which has been long in the making and is expressly designed to gobble up a crucial U.S. ally. This sounds crazy and it is. [...] What is happening now derives from the inherent contradictions built right into America’s war on terror that are coming to the fore and threatening to precipitate the very thing that the fight against ISIS was meant to reduce.

UPDATE Two Days Later
'BBC Turkey launches offensive in northern Syria with air strikes' 9th October 2019
Turkish warplanes have bombed parts of north-eastern Syria at the start of an offensive which could lead to conflict with Kurdish-led allies of the US. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was to create a "safe zone" cleared of Kurdish militias which will also house Syrian refugees. The strikes caused civilian casualties, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. Turkish ground forces have also been massing on the border. The offensive was launched just days after President Donald Trump controversially withdrew US troops from northern Syria, a decision announced after a phone call with Mr Erdogan that sparked widespread criticism at home and abroad.
More civilian blood on America's hands. Stop this now.


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