Lockheed Martin F-16B of the Turkish Air Force during Exercise Anatolian Eagle, Konya Air Base, Turkey. (Giovanni Colla/Stocktrek Images/Giovanni Colla/Stocktrek Images)
On February 8, the Turkish Air Force (TAF) resumed its operations against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the Afrin area in northern Syria. The Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported that TAF warplanes had bombed several areas inside the city of Afrin and in the district of Sheikh al-Hadid west of it.
An itibariyle Afrin..
TSK ait savaş uçaklarımız Afrin’deki pkk/ypg hedeflerini vuruyor..
Ses’tende anlaşılacağı gibi etkili vuruyor.. pic.twitter.com/xG036XUKzL— Son Kale Türkiye (@SonKaleTurkiye2) February 8, 2018
The TAF halted its bombing campaign against the YPG on February 5 for unknown reasons. Several Syrian pro-government sources reported back then that Russia and the Damascus government took the decision to close the Syrian aerospace in northern Syria for humanitarian and political reasons.
Later on February 5, Reuters reported quoting own source that Syrian military had deployed new air defense systems and anti-aircraft missiles to cover frontlines in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.
Russia and the Damascus government may have reopened the Syrian aerospace for the TAF in response to the US-led coalition strikes on the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in Deir Ezzor province on February 7. The YPG is the main component of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The Turkish Army and its proxies from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) will likely take advantage of the TAF air cover and expand their ground operations inside Afrin in the upcoming days.
Good move,the americunt zionist thieves wiil regret attacking the SAA illegally ,by preventing them from liberating their land and destroying terrorists that the zionists support.There seems to be a realisation that the real enemy is the zionists and that Turkey,Syria,Russia,Iran,Hezbollah and others, although they have differences ,have a common enemy right on their door steps,and now is the time to stop this neocon madness once and for all.
There was a good reason that TAF halted the attacks as the Russians told them to , Turkey talks tuff but are wimps in reality.
Just 2 Weeks ago and you already calculated how all this end for Turkey? Srsly? Seems to that YPG works well on low iq´s atleast they learned it from ISIS.
Well this was foretold over a year ago what would happen it’s just easy to determine their course of action in advance if you know the game plan no biggie there anyways. Strategies rely on predictability and ones used today are extremely predictable , there are always underlying factors which bring about the failure which most don’t see or pay attention to. Kurds and Turks are of the same predictable nature, USUK NATO they are all predictably led by weak governments today and easily pulled along like lost puppies.
So in reality things seem to fall into place without much forethought, as is the case we see today, no one pays attention to consequences of actions. This is just today’s society of Post Modern philosophy live for today and not tomorrow.
Turks are very good in blustering. They are a very weak country though, geopolitically speaking. They need support from either Russia or the US for real actions. As they know US is opposed to them attacking Afrin, they had to wait for Russian approval to restart areal operations.
But Dutch, they have a Country, do you lot ?
We do. But in practice our politicians are American lackeys who say yes to and support everything America does. And our token army exists only to provide a token military presence to American operations, so the Yanks can claim they have an ‘international coalition backing them’.
Every Dutch soldier who fought, died, or got wounded in our recent wars did so so our government could score brownie points with Washington. That’s what they sacrificed for, brownie points and international top positions with NATO and the UN for Dutch politicians. If I had a kid who’d wanted to join the army I’d do everything in my power to talk him out of it.
PS I live in The Netherlands and I totally agree with and it exactly how I feel about my lad.
Dear dutch villager. Turkey is independent country unlike yours. Can your puppet country do any action against Russia or Usa? Can you survive there without any support. Its not easy to fight against superpowers. Turkey is not superpower but they are trying best with balancing policy. You puppets cant understand it. Slaves of Usa. Be happy Us soldiers in Nato bases are f**king your girls at nights. Have fun.
Like Aunty says “break the deal , spin the wheel”, “Who runs Barter Town, The Russians run Barter Town”!
I am not so sure that US opposed Turkey to attack Afrin. This looks more as a deal and agreement with USA.
Yet again I disagree (sorry) as I think – no – I hope that Turkey will be seen as one of the liberators of Syria (a minor one). I can no longer see this as a double cross, as I don’t see a way out for them, whether it be diplomatically or via casualties if they do.
If you look at this map – https://southfront.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/09feb_Afrin_area_Syria_War_Map.jpg?x76537
For me, there is some serious communication going on here between both sides, Turkey and Syria have blocked the vermin in around Afrin, Turkey coming from the East and maybe South, whilst the SAA are on hold, awaiting the clear up of HAMA and then reinforcements. For me, I don’t think this is a coincidence and YES, of course their are skirmishes, however the Turks have been extremely quiet about their HTS vermin being eliminated.
…. and so on and so on
My view only.
Turkey gains are insignificant for the length of time and amount of firepower available. They are always ambitious as they are the ones sponsoring the looting and HTS and TFSA groups aiding and abetting. They have been attempting to annex parts thru terror and establishing Turkish businesses after confiscating properties and businesses from the locals.
Why your support for these activities is beyond belief, Turks are not there for a short time but a long time. The need to curb these activities before they explode is a necessity and why current talks are being held to curb their ambitions by both sides. You can’t rely on the old adage my enemy is my enemies enemy , it doesn’t work with Turks or Kurds as both are more treacherous than snakes as they lay down with both sides.
Now I have warned about many of the Proxies being former members of ISIS which is another tool. They managed to break free via loyalists within the FSA/TFSA/HTS factions as they planned a coordinated attack costing a couple hundred lives, that was expected and acceptable losses.
ISIS employed these age old breakout tactics as they are hard to defend against as history of war has always shown this is an impossibility to defend against. Like in the pocket their numbers doubled but total numbers are around 1000-3000 currently joining. So everyone is too busy being cut throat and here we see the rise of ISIS as these snakes shed their skins. Now you are starting to see a pattern developing here the area of Afrin is being prepped for ISIS as is the eastern region under the SDF as the ISIS/DMC are attacking there in that region as the strikes were prelude to an invasion from the US/ISIS forces.
My view differs as I do not believe that Turkey are there for the long-time.
Wow war is a cynical game!