Syrian War Report – Dec. 18, 2018: US ‘Local Partners’ Are About To Be Sold To Turkey

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Turkey is ramping up its military preparations and propaganda campaign ahead of a possible attack on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northeastern Syria.

On December 17, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) can start an “operation any moment now in Syrian territory at any place, especially along the 500-kilometer border, without harming U.S. soldiers”.

He recalled his demands that Kurdish armed groups must least the border region, first of all the area of Manbij. “If they don’t go, we will send them,” Erdogan said adding that US President Trump has gave a positive response to the expected TAF operation.

During a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey said that “any offensive into northeast Syria by anyone is a bad idea”. However, at the same time, he described the US relations with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which mostly consist of YPG members, as “tactical” and “transactional”.

The TAF has also increased their strikes on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara sees as a parent organization of the YPG, in northern Iraq. Over the past few days, Turkish warplanes eliminated about a dozen of PKK positions in the region.

On December 18, Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stressed that the TAF will not allow the Sinjar region to be turned into a stronghold of the PKK and called on the Iraqi government to assist in this.

Baghdad has repeatedly criticized Turkey for its cross-border operations in the region, but it does have no resources to force Ankara to stop its activity now.

In eastern Syria, the SDF captured the town of Hajin from ISIS, according to pro-Kurdish sources. The same sources claim that over 200 ISIS members were killed during the past few days there.

Despite this, ISIS is still in control of a number of positions near Hajin. Clashes are being reported in the area.

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Rodney Loder

Well done lads keep up the good fight, Brother Erdogan is no threat to Syrian or Iraqi Sovereignty, come the great day when jewish thugs are no longer present in Kurdish forces Turkey will hand back all Territories and increase the flow of the mighty rivers to the fraternal Nation States of the Levant.

gustavo

You dream. Turkey is a Syria enemy and invader of Syria land. Turkey is a USA allied and member of NATO which shot down a Russia plane and has been smuggling oil and industrial parts from Syria. In addition, Turkey is a genocide country (Armenia).

Rodney Loder

That was before the failed Gulenist coup July 2016 when the US was the unilateral superpower giving orders which everyone obayed, even Muammar Gaddafi, but that wasnt even good enough.

All that has change Russia and China are willing to confront the US who haven’t even developed controlled Hypersonic Glide vehicles and that is only the beginning of their inferior military status at the moment.

This moment won’t pass without the US being put to the test Xi and Putin aren’t stupid Trump is.

Turkey has to back the winner, US will lose Erdogan knows that.

Gregory Casey

You may live in hope but the Turks have made clear that their Operation to clear Kurds from NE Syria has the blessings of FUKUS Coalition : NATO blood is thicker than water although, of course, Turkey & Sultan Erdogan will appear to do something constructive from time to time simply to ensure they don’t piss off Moscow & Tehran too much while reverting to their NATO position whenever push comes to shove. The advantage of Turkish & FUKUS perfidy is that Kurds may finally have a little light go off inside their heads and realize they are, once again being sold down the Euphrates by NATO and so ………. time for Kurds to make peace with Damascus and enter a formal alliance with Syrian Arab Army and Syrian State to clear Eastern Syria of the ISIS Pestilence and turn their attention to clearing Syria’s northern Borders of the 21st Century Ottoman Empire Builders who continue thieving Syrian Oil with the assistance of FUKUS even as I write.

Rodney Loder

FUKUS was a shot in the dark to test the temperature of the Western Public, that was first quarter of this year, they bombed several civilian targets of the SAA not hitting any as a supposed response to a Chemical Attack.

There is no value in proclaiming Assad to be strong enough to use chemical attack unless you get a green light of public support to go in boots and all otherwise it’s like a failed coup a disaster militarily, because it goes over the heads of the Western Public who like me think that is irrelevant in war, and settles in the soldiers on the ground the Chemical Attack is portrayed as a great victory because the opposition can’t respond, it’s seen as weakness.

A failed false flag is a propaganda victory, the greatest strategy in war is the compulsion to kill, I have much more in common with Kurds than most people as a Stalinist, Kurds are being hoodwinked exactly the same as the Jews were by slimey creepy Christians.

Many of the YPG Kurds are not Syrian they are leading Syrian Kurds to be slaughtered, Trump will now go to his base for protection or go to jail, the Kurds are without a barrier Erdogan will look like the strong man for the reasons you specified.

That’s why I say long live the New Sultan. I suppose the New World Order could follow Trump as a great cause that the Western Public embrace, but China and Russia will shoot the crap out of US obsolete military apparatus, the USD won’t survive you know the biggest dumper of US Treasuries is Japan, it can be a controlled US French British descent or a crash, Germany will opt for the former.

FlorianGeyer

It seems that the Kurds are about to see the underbelly of an American Bus, just like the many useful idiots the US has used to fight wars in the past :)

BMWA1

Or to be more accurate, they are about to be thrown to the Gay Wolves.

Feudalism Victory

Its a rough old world. Still a pity but it cant be helped.

Zaphod Braden

Just ask the Indians ………………………..

Thunder

these kurds remind me allot of my people and our hundred yr plight we too r homeless on our own lands we too were forced out of our lands by gun point and cruelty i feel for the kurds for they remind me allot of my own people and our collective plight those of us homeless on our own lands so as such i stand with this tribe threw thick and thin i shall put them under my wing as i have my entire peoples on turtle island and the royhinga who i watch over to this day even the gazans who i watch over and fight for to this day think stratigically turkey on this one..trust me

elsmith2005

disqus_0mvSaVfkat already

Lupus

The Kurds will be betrayed once again. They gambled on the wrong horse called backstab Uncle Sam. The Ottoman fascist jihad fuckers will use their proxy puppets to invade more Syrian territory, slaughter and rape. Turks are as bad as ISIS or even worse.

Xoli

SDF=ISIS =FSA terrorist are not goig to be airlift or move with fancy green buses.This time Syrian partioning puppet member Erdogan is going to airlift SDF with missiles.

Tommy Jensen

Erdogan is about to make the same mistake as Saddam did. Asking US for permission to attack one of US friends and receive a positive answer……………………..LOL.
Iran is way more intelligent and smarter than Turkish donkeys……………………….LOL.

Willing Conscience (The Truths

You said in a few simple words what I usually take pages to say, excellent post, you’re a genius mate, and also right on the money too. I wish I could give you 2 likes because your post is so brilliant.

Willing Conscience (The Truths

Get ready to see the Turkmen forces in the SDF make themselves useful, If Erdogan allows the US to use any ethnic group at all as Syrian/Turkish border police it will be this group. But every other group in northern Syria will be left very unhappy if this happens, especially the Kurds.
If the SDF Turkmen do end up guarding the border, and all the other non Kurdish SDF are still fighting at Hajiin, that leaves the Kurdish SDF vulnerable, they’ll be in positions not far from the Turkish border and easily accessible to the Turk proxies, especially if the Turkmen SDF turn a blind eye or even worse, help the Turks cross the border and attack them. Erdogan will be able to say he’s not attacking the SDF at all, just the YPG elements of the SDF, that the Turks have had designated as terrorists for years.
I said a couple of days ago that Erdogan would be unhappy if the Syrian Turkmen joined the US SDF forces, but upon thinking about it I’ve changed my mind slightly, I now think he probably wouldn’t mind some of then joining, like exactly the same number of soldiers it would take to man all the Syrian/Turkish border checkpoints and OB posts, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t mind this many Turkmen in the SDF.

“During a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey said that “any offensive into northeast Syria by anyone is a bad idea”. However, at the same time, he described the US relations with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which mostly consist of YPG members, as “tactical” and “transactional”.

More reassuring words for the totally unassured Kurds, as I keep saying, it’s actually Trump scaring the hell out of the Kurds now, not Erdogan. They’ve always known Erdogan was out to get them, nothing new to them there, but what they haven’t known until recently is this, Trump doesn’t have their backs anymore, he hasn’t said anything to reassure them recently, nothing at all, just the opposite. Some people point to all the shiny new weapons, vehicles and equipment the US just gave the Kurds and point to that as something that should be reassuring them, but then I look at the Kurds and see they’re still not reassured at all, and they’re actually still pleading with the UN, Assad, Russia or anyone else that will listen to save them from Erdogan, they wouldn’t be doing that if they thought they could rely on Trump.

StevenRobert

This is all the payoff Turkey has received about the Khashoggi business, murder or assassination, in the Saudi embassy. The media howled for Trumps scalp on this and said that Saudi Arabia needs to be punished. This is in response.

Trump would rather stay on the good side of the Saudi’s in the war in Yemen, and also not alienate the Turkish regime, so this is about all he can do.

The media are just looking for issues to attack Trump about.

Possibly the Saudi’s will stick with the US as an arms supplier, however China would probably have fewer strings attached, so we can expect Saudi to be talking to the Chinese, since it fits perfectly into the Chinese necklace and belt plan.

Turkey is already buying arms from Russia, I think buying the S400 air defense system, that doesn’t fit into the NATO force structure, so Turkey teetering on the edge of a power shift to Russia, and with Russian troops helping Turkey out in Syria, probably will push them over the edge, since it doesn’t appear Turkey has anything to fear from Russia.

Parisa Zoorgoo

they got their arse handed them! thank you assad putin rohani for saving syria ! when are the people going to wake up and slaughter the elite back home ! if only we could get a few ziochitts to the guillotine, a nuke on tel aviv wiuld make for a better world…… if we all pull as a team!