Turkish Invasion of Northern Syria

[mystery-ak]

Audrey Conklin
Reporter
October 17, 2019 10:24 AM ET

Two U.S. jet fighters bombed an American military base in Syria Wednesday to keep Turkey from taking control of the facility, the U.S. military said.

The decision to conduct a pre-planned airstrike on the base formerly used to train U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters — LaFarge Cement Factory — came after Turkish fighters began to move in on the facility, according to Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State.

The airstrikes were meant to “reduce the facility’s military usefulness” for Turkey, a NATO ally, after President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of roughly 1,000 U.S. soldiers from the region on Oct. 6, Caggins wrote in a Wednesday tweet, The Wall Street Journal reported.

more
https://dailycaller.com/2019/10/17/us-bombs-military-base-turkey/

[Sanguine]

 

[aligncare]

Rush covering details now. It’s satisfying analysis ...and it tastes good, too! 

[XenaLee]

Awwwwww..... crap.

I guess Nancy and Chucky (and the other knee-jerkers) will just have to come up with some other asinine issue to bash Trump over now. 

Que tragique.   

[txradioguy]

Why are we involved in this alleged "peace" plan if as people repeatedly point out here "this is a 400 year old war between Turkey and the Kurds" and "it's none of our business"?

 

[TomSea]

I'd watch closely, this conceivably could be good for Jihad which at least,  some Turk allies are.

OTOH, there is no solution here.

Perhaps refugees, 3.6 m in Turkey can be resettled in this area.

The biggest problem here is Assad but SDF already signed on with the government and the Kurds would be able to keep their territory in that deal.

See the problem arising?

It might be the same land.

[Sanguine]

Rep. Chip Roy
@RepChipRoy
·
34m
Regarding @realDonaldTrump
's ceasefire agreement:

I am optimistic at the announcement that there is an agreement that establishes a short-term cease-fire and paves the way for a permanent cease-fire in Northern Syria.
Show this thread
Rep. Chip Roy
@RepChipRoy
·
34m
Replying to
@RepChipRoy
Congress never formally voted to send forces to Syria. If we think forces should still be in Syria for the interest of the United States and our key allies – which may well be the case to support Israel, to protect against ISIS resurgence, and to prevent Russia, Iran, or other...
Rep. Chip Roy
@RepChipRoy
·
34m
malign influence in the region – then the administration should brief Congress, we should deliberate, and we should take specific action. For the sake of the men and women in uniform of the United States, we should do so decisively and with a clear, definable, achievable mission.

[Sanguine]

Red Viper 2.0 2020
@redwins3_first
·
12h
The Democrats were always preaching bring our #HerosHome, now that @POTUS
 is doing so their hate for him is more important than our service members lives. They would rather their return be in caskets......
@SpeakerPelosi
 I'm ashamed to call you & your party my fellow American's.
0:13
https://twitter.com/i/status/1184727084012310530

[Right_in_Virginia]

"It will be a pause in military operation for 120 hours, while the United States facilitates the withdrawal of YPG (the People's Protection Units) from the affected areas in the safe zone. And once that is completed, Turkey has agreed to a permanent ceasefire and the United States of America will work with Turkey -- will work with nations around the world -- to make sure peace and stability are the order of the day in this safe zone," Pence said at a news conference.

"Our team is already working with YPG personnel in the safe zone for an orderly withdrawal outside the 20-mile mark and we're going to go forward together to bring peace and security to this region, I'm very confident of that," Pence added.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vice-president-mike-pence-seeks-syria-ceasefire-turkey/story?id=66345538

[Jazzhead]

Why are we involved in this alleged "peace" plan if as people repeatedly point out here "this is a 400 year old war between Turkey and the Kurds" and "it's none of our business"?

Because we are trying to extricate ourselves from the mess. 

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'd watch closely, this conceivably could be good for Jihad which at least,  some Turk allies are.

OTOH, there is no solution here.

Perhaps refugees, 3.6 m in Turkey can be resettled in this area.

The biggest problem here is Assad but SDF already signed on with the government and the Kurds would be able to keep their territory in that deal.

See the problem arising?

It might be the same land. 

 

[txradioguy]

Because we are trying to extricate ourselves from the mess.

Trump already did that.  Then he trashed the Kurds on the way out.  Said it's none of our business.

I guess it isn't right up to the point it is.  He's trying to have it both ways.

[txradioguy]

Congress never formally voted to send forces to Syria.

I guess Congressman Roy wasn't there when this happened:

In 2014 the Obama Administration went a step further, taking the position that the 2001 AUMF also served as legal authorization for military operations against ISIS as the successor to Al Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), which had been an “associated force” of Al Qa’ida and had carried out substantial military activities against U.S. personnel in Iraq. Although ISIS severed its ties with Al Qa’ida, the Obama Administration took the position that the 2001 AUMF continued to authorize military activities against ISIS as the successor to AQI, because ISIS continued to operate in Iraq, including attacking U.S. personnel there. While U.S. operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria have been broadly supported by Congress, reliance on the 2001 AUMF as a domestic legal justification was seen as a stretch by Senator Murphy and a number of his colleagues, but Congress and the Obama Administration were unable to come to agreement on an alternative AUMF that would replace the 2001 AUMF.

https://www.justsecurity.org/62511/wolf-sheeps-clothing-mcconnell-amendment-provide-president-rationale-military-operations-iran/


I don't recall any resistance from Chip Roy when Obama did this.

[txradioguy]

Everyone might want to slow down that victory lap:

Axios
✔
@axios
Replying to @axios
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu: "This is not a ceasefire. We will pause the operation for 120 hours in order for the terrorists to leave. We will only stop the operation if our conditions are met."

And by “terrorists” he’s not talking about ISIS.

"Pause in Turkey's operation in Syria is not a cease-fire, cease-fire can only happen between two legitimate sides" - Turkey's Cavusoglu

[berdie]

I'd watch closely, this conceivably could be good for Jihad which at least,  some Turk allies are.

OTOH, there is no solution here.

Perhaps refugees, 3.6 m in Turkey can be resettled in this area.

The biggest problem here is Assad but SDF already signed on with the government and the Kurds would be able to keep their territory in that deal.

See the problem arising?

It might be the same land.

This is moving so fast I can't fully study the history and keep up with new developments.

I just read that the Kurds have not signed onto this deal...and won't. Of course tomorrow is another day.

But where would they go if they did?

[txradioguy]

And it looks like the SDF are saying pump the brakes too:

BREAKING: SDF spokesman rejects terms of cease fire agreed between Turkey & US https://t.co/RImqoIybUv

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) October 17, 2019



NORTH PRESS AGENCY
@NPA_SY
#Breaking

N/E Syria Official Aldar Khalil:
We've previously stated that the proposal of Turkey's entering a depth of 30 km inside Syrian territories, is rejected.

402
12:28 PM - Oct 17, 2019

[Cyber Liberty]

The US and Turkey can agree all they like and it won't make a damned bit of difference.  The Kurds, Syrians and Russia get a vote.

In the meantime, we are all free to question and condemn any and all politicians involved.  IOW, business as usual.  Let all the previous hatreds and preconceived notions flow through us.

Trump's fault.  Obastard's fault.  Bush's Fault (both), Reagan's fault, Carter's fault, Netanyahu's fault, Merkel's fault, Boris Johnspn's fault, Queen Maxima's fault.  Mandela's fault.  Al Sharpton's fault.  Lydon LaRouche's fault.  George McGovern's fault.  Everett Dirkson's fault.

Just pick somebody and blame the shit out of them.

They're all wrong.  It's MY fault.  Send me a bill.

[aligncare]

@Cyber Liberty —May be time for a break, huh?

I understand your frustration. For me it’s a matter of having confidence in my initial assessment of Trump and in my decision to support him. It wasn’t hard to come to that decision. Profiles of his life and career have been in the news 35+ years. A couple days googling and you get the sense of the man and his political philosophy. I decided he could make a good president.

That, together with who his enemies are (the people I detest: corrupt journalists and politicians, condescending entertainers, cultural nazis, globalists—you know the players—it’s not hard for me to ignore them as liars.

I distrust partisan news reports until confirmed and I trust that Trump has America’s interests at heart. I suffer no angst about that.

[Smokin Joe]

Scorched Earth.

[TomSea]

Turkey violates agreement: attacks in Serêkaniyê, wall removed, enter mercenaries east the city
The Turkish occupation violates the cease-fire agreement, where its mercenaries launch attacks on SDF positions in the city of Serêkaniyê, while the Turkish occupation army removed the walls on the border and entered the mercenaries to the east of the city.

Despite the announcement of the ceasefire, the Turkish occupation state, which wants to exterminate the peoples of the region does not stop its attempts to occupy the region, and in this context, ANHA correspondents from the city of Serêkaniyê said that the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation army are still attacking the SDF points in al-Shohada roundabout where the city hospital is densely crowded with wounded civilians.

Read more at: https://hawarnews.com/en/haber/turkey-violates-agreement-attacks-in-serkaniy-wall-removed-enter-mercenaries-east-the-city-h12243.html

[TomSea]

If I've criticized Bush and Obama both for what they've done, then, it's only fair to also criticize Trump, after all, as numerous people have said, this is much like what Obama did.

It's only fair.  To do differently is being hypocritical.  Remind me that Trump has never criticized Bush.


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I think this sums it up very well, he'll take some flak to it.

We don't need an echo chamber like some other websites.

You know, this looks like no warning was given to the Kurds, just yanking ourselves out and leaving them hanging. See, this is the problem, it could have been done better if it is done at all.

Now, I hear, there's going to be some sort of Vets demonstration in support of Trump.

[txradioguy]

Scorched Earth.

It's also the result of a hastily ordered not well thought out order to retreat.

They certainly didn't destroy everything...there will be things found that will be useful to the Russians and the Iranians.

[TomSea]

Syria: Damning evidence of war crimes and other violations by Turkish forces and their allies
18 October 2019, 00:01 UTC

Turkish military forces and a coalition of Turkey-backed Syrian armed groups have displayed a shameful disregard for civilian life, carrying out serious violations and war crimes, including summary killings and unlawful attacks that have killed and injured civilians, during the offensive into northeast Syria, said Amnesty International today.

The organization gathered witness testimony between 12 and 16 October from 17 people including medical and rescue workers, displaced civilians, journalists, local and international humanitarian workers, as well as analyzing and verifying video footage and reviewing medical reports and other documentation.

The information gathered provides damning evidence of indiscriminate attacks in residential areas, including attacks on a home, a bakery and a school, carried out by Turkey and allied Syrian armed groups. It also reveals gruesome details of a summary killing in cold blood of a prominent Syrian-Kurdish female politician, Hevrin Khalaf, by members of Ahrar Al-Sharqiya, part of the Syrian National Army, a coalition of Syrian armed groups equipped and supported by Turkey.

Read more at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/syria-damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-and-other-violations-by-turkish-forces-and-their-allies/

Commentary: A Chicago doctor’s view: How Trump’s betrayal of U.S. ideals magnifies suffering in Syria
Zaher Sahloul

Every time we think the humanitarian situation in Syria has bottomed out, it gets even worse.

More than 160,000 Syrians have been displaced so far in the new chapter of this crisis, and many more are expected to suffer. President Donald Trump’s abrupt and capricious decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria is not the first betrayal of Syrians by our policymakers. Nor is it the first strategic blunder.

As a physician and humanitarian who has spent nine years providing health care in Syria and other disaster zones, I witnessed firsthand the impact of our policies, or lack of them, on the ground. My organization, MedGlobal, partners with local organizations in disaster zones, treating refugees and victims of war.

Read more at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-syria-betrayal-doctor-20191016-20191015-tzvs7v342zdbfmulo4tijxy5am-story.html

[Right_in_Virginia]

If I've criticized Bush and Obama both for what they've done, then, it's only fair to also criticize Trump, after all, as numerous people have said, this is much like what Obama did.

Oh, FFS   ---- no it is not like what Obama did.    

Obama started a war; President Trump is working to end one.

[XenaLee]

If I've criticized Bush and Obama both for what they've done, then, it's only fair to also criticize Trump, after all, as numerous people have said, this is much like what Obama did.

It's only fair.  To do differently is being hypocritical.  Remind me that Trump has never criticized Bush.


Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

I think this sums it up very well, he'll take some flak to it.

We don't need an echo chamber like some other websites.

You know, this looks like no warning was given to the Kurds, just yanking ourselves out and leaving them hanging. See, this is the problem, it could have been done better if it is done at all.

Now, I hear, there's going to be some sort of Vets demonstration in support of Trump.

Criticizing Trump when he does or says something that warrants criticism is one thing....everyone's allowed to do that if it is valid criticism....

but to even remotely compare Trump to Obama in ANY way is, quite frankly, absurd and wrong-headed in my humble opinion.  I see no similarity whatsoever.  Obama = pro-Muslim/Trump = pro-Jew.   It just doesn't follow.   Obama = anti-US military/Trump = pro-US military.   And that's just two things off the top of my head sans java.

Just my two cents.