International Syria Discussions, v2: Turkey and Syria Trade Deadly Strikes, As Russia Watches Uneasily.

[Ophydian]

Anyone heard rumor that Turkey invaded Syria over Trumps letter because they thought it was insulting?

 

[Ophydian]

Russia, Syria, Iran, Turkey.

Is there anyone outside of Europe you fuckers do not want war with

Too bad you weren’t around during WW2. Their just cleansing all of the Jews, do you guys want war with all of Europe?

 

[Rholk]

Anyone heard rumor that Turkey invaded Syria over Trumps letter because they thought it was insulting?

That would be a stupid excuse more than anything, operations like this require quite a bit of preparations

 

[xcvbn]

...and then turn the plane around and drop a few JDAMs on our own airbase in defense of our official NATO ally against an attack from us.

Sounds like one for the history book!

Yeah, well, we had to bomb Syria because they used chemical weapons(allegedly).

Just so odd to not hold others to the same account. Makes you wonder why America is losing so much respect and credibility.

 

[faustian]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ge-emerges-children-chemical-burns-Syria.html

"'Dad stop the burning, I beg you': Horrifying footage reveals badly-burned Kurdish children in Syria amid claims Turkey is using banned weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus"


This is some fucked up shit

BREAKING: Fucked up shit happens in the Middle East. Full story at 11

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

BREAKING: Fucked up shit happens in the Middle East. Full story at 11

Yeah but the country doing fucked up shit is in possession of Nukes we gave them

 

[faustian]

Yeah but the country doing fucked up shit is in possession of Nukes we gave them

So then I guess it's a good thing that they're an ally

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

So then I guess it's a good thing that they're an ally

Your boy R Money is pretty worked up about it

 

[Ophydian]

That would be a stupid excuse more than anything, operations like this require quite a bit of preparations

Let me rephrase, the letter was the “line drawn” that Turkey crossed.

 

[Arkain2K]

Yeah, well, we had to bomb Syria because they used chemical weapons(allegedly).

Just so odd to not hold others to the same account. Makes you wonder why America is losing so much respect and credibility.

"Odd?" That so-called oddity on par for the course, and your conclusion from it is on par with those who were shocked to their bones to hear the news that America also "lost all credibility" as the Kurds were abandoned - for the 8th time.

Reality is, as long as Turkey remains a NATO member, no other country is going to bomb their country. Not the U.S, not Russia. We all know this, even though we wish it would be different and NATO had a mechanism to expel them.

We shall see if this UN investigation will amount to anything meaningful if the allegation turns out to be real:

UN investigates alleged use of white phosphorus in Syria
Kurdish Red Crescent says six people, some civilians, in hospital with mysterious burns

UN chemical weapons inspectors have announced they are gathering information following accusations that burning white phosphorus was used by Turkish forces against children in Syria earlier this week.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Friday morning that “it was aware of the situation and is collecting information with regard to possible use of chemical weapons”.

The Kurdish Red Crescent said in a statement that six patients, both civilian and military, were in hospital in Hasakah with burns from “unknown weapons” and it was working to evaluate what had been used.

It said it could not confirm the use of chemical weapons and was “working together with our international partners to investigate this subject”.

A British chemical weapons expert sent photographs from a former colleague of a child with a badly burned torso in a frontline hospital said he thought it was likely they showed chemical burns.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of the UK’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear regiment, said: “The most likely culprit is white phosphorus. It is a horrific weapon, and has been used repeatedly during the Syrian civil war; unfortunately its use has become increasingly normalised.”

White phosphorus is routinely held by militaries around the world and is used legally in combat as a smokescreen in daytime and as an incendiary to light up an area at night. But it is illegal to use it against civilians, because it causes serious and exceptionally painful burns on contact with skin.

Kurdish officials accused Turkey of using “unconventional weapons” in the conflict on Thursday – a few hours before the ceasefire was announced – and called international inspectors to examine the injured.

A member of the Rojava diplomacy office on Friday said it had documented a number of suspicious cases and restated calls for international organisations to investigate since it lacked capacity on its own.

Turkey said the accusations were false. Hulusi Akar, the defence minister, said: “It is a fact known by everyone that there are no chemical weapons in the inventory of the Turkish armed forces.”

The incident is alleged to have taken place in or around the border town of Ras al-Ayn but there are few confirmed details about what happened and whether civilians were deliberately targeted. White phosphorus is most commonly used to tip artillery shells, whose fire can often be inaccurate.

The OPCW said it had “not yet determined the credibility of these allegations” and that the chemical weapons inspectorate would continue to monitor the situation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...rkey-alleged-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-syria

 

[Arkain2K]

Make no mistake. The MIC does not want the Russians or Syrians or Iranians in control of this area.

They still have the pipe dream that regime change is possible

Well yeah, tens of thousands of new boots on the grounds is a very lucrative opportunity for business.

I hope Trump doesn't give into the hawks' pressure though, unless they can get the international community to finally step up and join the effort like the Kurds requested.

 

[Arkain2K]

Syrian forces enter key border town of Kobani
By ELENA BECATOROS and BASSEM MROUE | October 16, 2019

Syrian forces on Wednesday night rolled into the strategic border town of Kobani, blocking one path for the Turkish military to establish a “safe zone” free of Syrian Kurdish fighters along the frontier as part of its week-old offensive.

The seizure of Kobani by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad also pointed to a dramatic shift in northeastern Syria: The town was where the United States military and Kurdish fighters first united to defeat the Islamic State group four years ago and holds powerful symbolism for Syrian Kurds and their ambitions of self-rule.

The convoys of government forces drove into Kobani after dark, a resident said. The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, was one of the few remaining amid fears of a Turkish attack on the town. Syria’s state-run media confirmed its troops entered the town.

Syria’s presence in Kobani puts a firm limit on Turkish ambitions in its offensive. The town lies between a Turkish-controlled enclave farther west and smaller areas to the east that Turkey seized in the past week.

Turkey had talked of creating a 30-kilometer (19-mile) deep “safe zone,” driving out Kurdish fighters from the border region. Turkish forces had shelled Kobani in recent days as part of the offensive but had not advanced ground troops on it.

The battle for Kobani turned the once-nondescript town into a centerpiece of the international campaign against IS, with TV cameras flocking to the Turkish side of the border to track the plumes of smoke rising from explosions in the besieged town. Then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declared it would be “morally very difficult” not to help Kobani.

The IS extremists were finally driven out in early 2015 in their first major defeat, and an alliance was cemented that would eventually bring down the group’s “caliphate” in Syria.

Now the Kurdish authority agreed to allow Damascus to deploy its military in the town and other parts of northeast Syria to protect them from Turkey’s offensive launched after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back American troops working with the Kurds.

On Wednesday, the U.S-led coalition said it had vacated a cement factory south of Kobani, which had served as a coordination center with the Kurdish-led forces. Coalition spokesman Col. Myles Caggins said that after troops left the base, two U.S. fighter jets launched pre-planned airstrikes to destroy ammunition that was left behind.

The coalition also said its forces had left Raqqa, the former capital of the Islamic State that was liberated in 2017, and Tabqa, a town to the west.

“Coalition forces continue a deliberate withdrawal from northeast Syria,” Caggins tweeted.

After being effectively abandoned by the U.S., the Kurds’ turn to the Syrian government for protection has allowed Damascus’ ally, Russia, to step in as the biggest power player.

Moscow further asserted that role Wednesday, offering to mediate a resolution to the conflict, one day before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was to begin a mission to press Turkey for a cease-fire.

In an address to his ruling party legislators, Erdogan said Turkey would not be coerced into halting its offensive or accepting offers for mediation with the Kurdish fighters, which Turkey considers to be terrorists.

“Our proposal is for the terrorists to lay down their arms, leave their equipment, destroy the traps they have created, and leave the safe zone we designated, as of tonight,” Erdogan said. “If this is done, our Operation Peace Spring will end by itself.”

In a speech to Parliament, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey won’t be affected by “sanctions and threats.” He also said Turkey would “give the appropriate answer to these sanctions.”

Turkish forces and Kurdish fighters also battled over the border town of Ras al-Ayn. Turkey said it had captured the town days ago, but its hold appeared uncertain.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Moscow is committed to mediating between Syria and Turkey.

Russia already has announced it had deployed troops outside the flashpoint town of Manbij to keep apart the Syrian military and Turkish-led forces. Syrian forces took control of Manbij as U.S. troops completed their pullout from the town Tuesday.

Lavrov also said Moscow will also continue to encourage Syria’s Kurds and government to seek rapprochement following the U.S. withdrawal. The Kurds are hoping to reach a deal with Damascus that preserves at least some degree of the autonomy they seized for themselves during the civil war.

Lavrov also blamed the U.S. and the West for undermining the Syrian state, saying this pushed “the Kurds toward separatism and confrontation with Arab tribes.”

In another sign of Moscow’s rising profile, France suggested it will also work more closely with Russia in Syria.

French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said told French TV channel BFM that France is now looking to Russia, given their “common interests” in defeating the Islamic State group in Syria.

A U.N. Security Council meeting concluded with no call for Turkey to end its military offensive against the Kurds. Instead, the diplomats issued a brief statement expressing concern about the dispersal of “terrorists” from the region and the humanitarian impact.

https://www.apnews.com/1f69e48442a3452d85914d0db917632a

 

[Saku'sEar]

Fucking turks.

 

[original doom]

Fucking turks.

fuck fhe kurds.

 

[Saku'sEar]

fuck fhe kurds.

Well they can all fuck themselfs...

But never had trouble with kurds here and lots with smelly hairy turks.

So yeah, fuck turks.

 

[Arkain2K]

SYRIA TELLS RUSSIA IT WILL FORCE BOTH TURKEY AND U.S. MILITARY OUT 'BY ALL MEANS'
By Tom O'Connor On 10/18/19​

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has informed a visiting Russian delegation that his country was prepared to force out any uninvited guests, especially the armed forces of Turkey and the United States, which themselves recently fell on opposing ends of an eight-year civil war.

Assad met Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin and other visiting officials from Moscow to discuss "the situation in Syria, especially the Jazeera region"—referring to the country's northeast, across the Euphrates river—"and the Turkish aggression against it," according to the Syrian leader's office.

Last week, Turkey mobilized Syrian rebels to storm the region and defeat Kurdish forces that participated in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) but were viewed as terrorists by Ankara.

"The current and future stage must be focused on stopping the aggression, and the withdrawal of all Turkish, American and other illegal forces from all Syrian territories, considering them occupation forces according to international law and conventions," Assad said. "The Syrian people have the right to resist them by all means available."

Both Turkey and the U.S., along with some of its other regional allies, lent support to the 2011 rebel and jihadi uprising against Assad, who received backing from Russia, Iran and allied militias. As the opposition grew increasingly Islamist and ISIS militants spread across the country, the U.S. later realigned itself with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a force consisting largely of the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish separatist group that Turkey links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Rival campaigns led by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian military largely defeated ISIS. Turkey, meanwhile, launched two major incursions into northern Syria, targeting Pentagon-backed YPG forces using formerly CIA-backed rebels that lost ground elsewhere to the pro-government campaign.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had long threatened a larger operation intended to secure the entirety of the border with Syria and came up with the idea of a roughly 20-mile "safe zone" to expel the YPG and resettle scores of mainly Sunni Muslim Arab refugees that fled the war. President Donald Trump had signaled a desire to withdraw from Syria, but his administration also sought to defuse Turkish-Kurdish tensions by establishing a U.S. military presence at the border.

Erdogan grew impatient as safe zone talks failed and, following a call with his U.S. counterpart, the Turkish leader began the operation as Trump announced a withdrawal of troops embedded alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces across northern and eastern Syria. Left without an ally, the majority-Kurdish group sided with the Syrian government.

Assad and the PKK have a complicated history, and this has played out in the shifting relations between Damascus and the YPG throughout the war in Syria. Both factions have a common enemy in ISIS, other Islamist insurgents and Turkey, but the central government does not recognize Kurdish aspirations for self-rule and has long emphasized the country's Arab character.

With the U.S. withdrawal, however, Syrian soldiers and allied Russian forces have assumed a number of their positions. As this united front clashed with the Ankara-backed opposition, Moscow warned it would "not allow" direct confrontation between the Syrian and Turkish armies, even as Assad's officials vowed to protect the country's territorial integrity.

During Friday's meeting with Assad, the Syrian leader's office said that the Russian delegation expressed its "rejection of any step or action that violates Syria's sovereignty and further complicates the situation and affects efforts to end the war, which depends first and foremost on the elimination of the remaining terrorist outposts, and the restoration of control over all Syrian territory, especially all of the border regions."

https://www.newsweek.com/syria-russia-force-turkey-us-out-1466330?amp=1

 

[flashNsmash]

We need to bomb Turkey if they're using chemical weapons

they aren't 'chemical weapons' per se, just a little on the cruel side.

 

[SBJJ]

Too bad you weren’t around during WW2. Their just cleansing all of the Jews, do you guys want war with all of Europe?

Over half a million dead in Syria alone because of our actions Bud.

Just add it to the millions already.

And here you are lecturing about extermination

 

[Ophydian]

Over half a million dead in Syria alone because of our actions Bud.

Just add it to the millions already.

And here you are lecturing about extermination

I like how you excuse the actions of Assad or Iran and Russia. Why do you hate America? Why do you hate Freedom?

 

[Ophydian]

they aren't 'chemical weapons' per se, just a little on the cruel side.

White phosphorus is beyond crude if we are talking civilian targets.