Turkey launches airstrikes in Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters
And so it begins.
We have SoF troops there.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.
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