Turkey launches airstrikes in Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters

[Peter1469]

Turkey launches airstrikes in Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters

And so it begins.

With airstrikes and artillery fire, Turkey on Saturday defied U.S. appeals and opened a long-anticipated offensive on Afrin, an enclave in Syria for Kurdish militias backed by the United States.

Turkish officials have framed the offensive as part of a wider battle against Kurdish separatists, known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, in Turkey’s southwest. Turkey also fears any gains in strength by the Syrian Kurds, whose territory runs along some of Turkey’s southern border.


But the United States has opted to back the Syrian Kurds as proxy fighters against the Islamic State and as a buffer to keep the militants from trying to reclaim territory.


The military action immediately raised concerns that it could spark conflicts among the assortment of foreign military powers present, in proximity, across northern Syria. They include Turkey, Russia and the United States. All have the Islamic State as a common foe, but, individually, they back different factions among the various armed groups in Syria.

We have SoF troops there.

Read the rest at the link.

[Trish]

Turkey launches airstrikes in Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters

And so it begins.



We have SoF troops there.

Read the rest at the link.

This is something we should be keeping our eye on. I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not. This is going to raise further tension between Russia and the US.

[Peter1469]

This is something we should be keeping our eye on. I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not. This is going to raise further tension between Russia and the US.

Yes it will.

I wonder how NATO will react.

[Trish]

Yes it will.

I wonder how NATO will react.

Do you think Russia had anything to do with Turkey's decision?

[Peter1469]

Do you think Russia had anything to do with Turkey's decision?

No.

Turkey has had Kurd issues for a long time. The last thing that they want is a Kurdish state on their border.

[donttread]

Turkey launches airstrikes in Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters

And so it begins.



We have SoF troops there.

Read the rest at the link.

Another chance to get our long nose cut off . A whole country incapable of learning from it's mistakes.. Assuming that they are mistakes instead of exactly the outcomes the bought and paid for government wants that is . But it's not what the people want and we must eventually hold them responsible at the voting booth. Some of us don't want war,, others accept war , few want war but want us to be effective at it. Nobody wants this mess.. Destabilization was the only potential outcome in Syria one we went after Assad

[Peter1469]

This is about the Kurds, not Assad.

[Ethereal]

This is about the Kurds, not Assad.

The US government is merely using the Kurds as a way of maintaining a presence in Syria, the ultimate goal of which is to overthrow the secular nationalists represented by Assad.

[Ransom]

Amazing how our Constituencies who always scorn US intervention are all about stepping in and helping the Kurds.

[donttread]

This is about the Kurds, not Assad.

The point is we are making it about us by backing yet another faction in yet another hell hole after years of failure doing the same damn thing. And if we are backing a faction in a country it is automatically partly about their leader. It sure as hell would be if another country did that here, right?