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The joint US-Turkey ground patrols for a “safe zone” in Northeastern Syria began on September 8th. The first patrol began and concluded on the day.
Anadolu Agency said that six Turkish-flagged armoured vehicles joined the US military convoy from Akcakale district of southeast Sanliurfa province in Turkey. Two helicopters flew over the ground units, and the Turkish Defense Ministry said that UAVs were also used.
On August 7th, US and Turkish military officials agreed to establish a “safe zone” in the area. A joint operations center was also agreed. A six-member U.S. team arrived in Turkey’s southeast on Aug. 12 in preparations for the center.
Reportedly, agreements were also established to deal with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey deems a terrorist organization. The US is allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose core is the YPG and the PKK.
On September 6th, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar confirmed that the patrol would take place.
“We plan to start the joint ground patrols on Sept. 8,” Akar said. “There is a general agreement on which we expect the activities to be carried out at a certain sequence and pace.”
On September 8th, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that if the “safe zone” isn’t established by the end of September 2019, then Turkey would “have no choice” but to set out on a mission to establish it on its own.
“If de facto formation of a safe zone east of the Euphrates River with Turkish soldiers is not initiated by the end of September, Turkey has no choice but to set out on its own,” Erdogan said.
He further accused the US of trying to negotiate with Turkey and the SDF (YPG/PKK) “terrorists” on equal ground.
“It seems Turkey’s ally is after a safe zone in N.Syria not for Turkey but for the terrorist group. We reject such an approach,” he added.
Erdogan noted that it is “insufficient” to form a safe zone in N.Syria with “3-5 helicopter flights, 5-10 vehicle patrols and a few hundred soldiers in area.”
He further stressed that Turkey needs to effectively secure the entire region of the safe zone in N.Syria to settle 1 million people there.
“We want to create an area cleared of Daesh along with PKK and its extensions PYD-YPG-SDG, only in this way we can ensure that our Syrian brothers and sisters living in our country, in Europe or elsewhere can return to their homes and live in peace and security.”
Erdogan said he would pay a visit to the U.S. after Sept. 22, and he would attend the UN General Assembly meeting and “most probably” would separately meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and discuss “face-to-face” the steps to be taken in the east of the Euphrates River.
“Because what they do doesn’t match what they say, so we need to solve it,” Erdogan said.
Just days earlier, on September 5th, Erdogan threatened to “open the flood gates” and allow refugees into the Western countries if the “safe zone” wasn’t established.
“We will be forced to open the gates. We cannot be forced to handle the burden alone,” Erdogan said, reiterating Turkey’s annoyance that past proposals for the creation of the safe zone — envisioned as a place where refugees could be re-settled — has been ignored by Western nations. We did not receive the support needed from the world and especially from the European Union, concerning the burden-sharing,” he said.
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Following the successful completion of the first patrol, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced that everything was going according to plan.
“Land and air joint patrols will continue in the coming days in order to supervise the activities for the establishment of the safe zone with care and precision, to observe the practices in the field and to proceed in accordance with the schedule,” the ministry said in a written statement.
Prior to the first patrol, US and Turkish top army officials discussed the “safe zone.”
Gen. Yasar Guler explained to U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford the views and expectations of Turkey about the region, adding that the formation of the safe zone should be done “within the framework of the principles set in the calendar”, the Defense Ministry said in a written statement.
On the side of the SDF, Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the executive committee of the group said that there was hope for dialogue with Turkey, which doesn’t’ specifically appear like that.
“We seek to find a way to dialogue, and starting to implement this plan expresses our readiness and seriousness,” Ahmed said in an interview.
“We want to tell the world and the coalition that we are ready to take serious steps to get to dialogue,” she added.
She said that more US troops would be needed to establish the “safe zone,” even though the US announced that they would be withdrawing from Syria in December 2018 and have partially done so.
“In the coming days, and because of the needs of the formation and implementation of the security mechanism, they may need more forces. It is not yet clear what the U.S. administration would decide,” she said.
The deal envisions an area five to 14 kilometers deep with no YPG presence, as well as removal of heavy weapons from a 20-kilometer-deep zone, Ahmed said. Turkey wants a deeper zone. The length of the zone has not yet been agreed on, but will likely stretch hundreds of kilometers.
The analysis below was released in September 2018:
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The included map seems to indicate a safe zone much deeper then 5 to 14 kns. Afaik SDF has only agreed to 5 kms.
Also unmentioned us that local MC took part in the patrol.
to all Zionist Putin cock suckers idiots
BREAKING NEWS
SAA is retreating from ALL AREAS CAPTURED IN N.H including khan sheikhun and morek etc…..
under pressure from Putin who has made deal with Turkey….
you YOU YOU YOU YOU stupid idiots……you Folks are the exact reason why them satanic jews are sooo strong and rule the world……because it is sooooooooooooooooo easy to TRICK you…..
idiotic Putin Zionist pig cock suckers…..
for you again and again..
all Nations RECOGNIZING the illegal satanic Entity named Israel are under command for the AGENDA.A one world Government with Jerusalem as its capital under satanic jewish Leadership.Those nations include Russia,usa,china,eu,uk etc…
Russia/USA 2 sides of the same coin u morons
There is no good USA or bad USA or good Russia or bad Russia or good uk or bad uk
just the AGENDA of the satanic jews that they all MUST follow……
ps. and i bet there still will be some MORONS trying to defend Putin and his Actions…and will still defend the latest…the total retreat of SAA from North hama including fro khan sheikhun and morek under the deal between Turkey and Putin , while Turkey invades the next part of syria under the deal with the USA..
WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!!
Good morning poor nation living in a rich country, may your billionaires keep puppet Putin forever til nothing remains in that country.
here official from almasda News SAA
Breaking News
Breaking: Syrian Army reportedly withdraws from northern Hama
Home Syria Breaking: Syrian Army reportedly withdraws from northern Hama
Syria
Breaking: Syrian Army reportedly withdraws from northern Hama
The Syrian Armed Forces have allegedly retreated troops from areas captured recently in northern Hama countryside.
According to opposition source, Syrian Army ground forces are to withdraw from Morek and Khan Shaykhoun in northern Hama after recapturing the two militant strongholds last month.
The same sources also added that this withdrawal comes as per an agreement between Russia and Turkey whereby the two militaries will take over the area.
AMN hasn’t yet been able to verify these reports.
Earlier, the Turkish authorities called on the Russian Armed Forces to force the Syrian Army to withdraw from the territories they captured in August.
do not lie!
Turkey wants Syrian Army to withdraw from Khan Sheikhoun and several areas
Ironic, that an illegal invading army is requesting that the legitimate Syrian government withdraw its forces from its own territory. Next Israel will be requesting that Syrian forces withdrew from Damascus.
Russia legalized them. In Syria the syrian government is the most unimportant thing. :(
This is clearly a Yinon plan partition attempt using refugees as pawns. The next step will be a partition referendum to try to legitimize the land theft using forced population relocation of deliberately displaced people.
The Syrian government has legitimate grounds for war crimes prosecution if this goes forward. It’s a blatant violation of the Geneva Convention and ICC statute.
So Erdogan’s not happy with the safe zone arrangement with the US and is still threatening to take matters into his own hands, won’t he get a shock if he tries, because nearly 600 trucks filled with weapons and equipment have been delivered to the SDF over the last 3 or 4 months, and Erdogan’s continuing threats are the only reason they’ve received them.
And now a unidentified source from the opposition claims due to Erdogan’s demands and Putin’s capitulation, the SAA will be forced to withdraw from all the territory they recaptured in Northern Hama and relinquish it to the Russians and Turks.
Well the SAA has already pulled back from the areas around Murak where the SAA surrounded the Turkish OB post, so the stories half right at least, but as to pulling out of the towns they’ve already recaptured and then allowing the Turks back in, LOL, over the SAA’s dead bodies they will.
Erdogan is the master of spin, when he first announced the US/Turkish safe zone he boasted the US had been forced to comply to his demands, but since the time frame the US are agreeing to is years away, not weeks as Erdogan wants and needs, he’s now changed tack and is again threatening to go ahead and do it himself.
This story about an SAA withdrawal is most likely the same sort of BS fantasy Erdogan always puts out for the media, making claims that are totally unrealistic and unworkable but also cleverly suit his current political agenda, he doesn’t mind lying to the Turkish voters if he thinks it will help his cause.
And even if Putin has agreed to help Erdogan it doesn’t necessarily mean the SAA will comply to Putin’s demands to pull out, they didn’t comply to the last ceasefire or many of the others before it, so they don’t always do what Putin wants them to.
Putin’s offering to co produce the new SU-57 fighters jets with Turkey, offering to put the first Turkish astronaut into space, and also promising to further increase trade between the 2 countries, so Putin’s definitely trying to grease up Erdogan for something, is he about to cave in to Erdogan’s demands and give him what he wants, or are his offerings actually an alternative gift to Erdogan so that he doesn’t pursue his demands concerning Idlib, I’m not sure but there’s been some worrying signs.
Putin must also be starting to worry about his own political future, his political party is now losing popularity faster than it ever has before, and many members of his government are deserting the party and either joining other similar political groups or becoming independent [not joining opposition parties which in itself is very telling] so it’s looking like Putin’s political career isn’t going to be quite as long lived as most of us thought it would be.
At the moment all Putin’s government and military seem to be towing the same line Putin is, but it hasn’t been that way for 4 or 5 months now, many members of Putin’s government and military have been making contradictory statements concerning Syria, and for all intense purposes, seem to have had a completely different agenda to the one Putin’s been pushing. And because of that I’ve been saying I think there’s been a mini rebellion in Putin’s government and military, I suspect most of them aren’t happy with Putin’s geo political maneuverings at all, and now that we have more and more members of his party deserting it in unsustainable numbers, my suspicions of a political coup [not military LOL] are growing.
So far no high ranking military commanders have resigned, but if and when some of them do, I think it will mean the end of Putin, the Generals will resign saying they have no faith in Putin’s military leadership, and the politicians will tear him to pieces and reinstated the Generals straight afterwards, and Putin’s brilliant legacy will be tarnished forever.
I wonder if the man’s gone insane, up until he got involved in Syria Putin didn’t seem to put a foot wrong, everything he touched seemed to turn to gold, and everything the western powers threw at him he dodged easily, and even sometimes picked up and threw back, and I was starting to think he was some sort of as genius, or maybe even a saviour of sorts [I still kiss his feet for his anti LGBTQI stance], but since he got involved in the Syrian war he hasn’t done one thing right in my eyes, not one thing, only patched up bad mistakes he originally made with bad decisions.
In all my memory of the Syrian war Putin’s never once taken his military commanders advice, not even once, from the very beginning when it was only an uprising not a civil war, his generals told him to put boots on the ground and Putin refused to, and now for the last 5 months the rest of his government have been saying they don’t want to reconcile with the terrorists in Syria, they just want to eliminate them, but Putin was either saying the exact opposite or for the last few months remained silent, but he’s not anymore, so perhaps he’s pulled his government and military into line for the time being, but that’s going to get harder and harder for him as he loses more and more of his party members.
Iran Turkey and Russia still want resolution 2254 and a new Syrian constitution implemented, but Assad is screaming no way, am I the only one who knows what that really means, Assad’s being left to fend for himself, the Iranians and Putin are both capitulating to Erdogan’s demands.
Well, it is time for the SAA and its allies to turn the Americunt lardass cowards and Turkeys “safe zone” into an unsafe zone.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/787ca9a5a71af41c9c658b3873869d77015f9a2a7f25a9194ada9838b18f4720.jpg
It is high time these thin skinned Turkish Kirpi (crappy) MRAP met some kornets.