RIYADH: The United States welcomes a Saudi offer to deploy special forces to support a coalition ground operation against the Daesh group inside Syria, the kingdom’s foreign minister said.Speaking after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said any operation would be US-led but that Saudi Arabia would play a leading role.
The US will lead any ground operation inside Syria
“The United States government was very supportive and very positive about the kingdom’s readiness to provide special forces to the operation in Syria, should the international coalition make a decision to do so,” he told reporters.“So the kingdom will be part of it,” he said. “That support came from the White House, it came from the State Department, it was natural for Secretary Kerry to support such a decision.”Jubeir said the idea for a possible ground operation had come from Washington, and that members of the 65-strong coalition against the Daesh would expect the United States to lead it.
If the idea for a ground operation came from Washington, there would have been NO offer from Saudi Arabia, unless there had been a prior request from Washington.
State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the United States welcomed the Saudi offer, and that discussions were ongoing, but would not comment on the nature or timing of any operation.“We are talking about a ground element,” he said. “We have discussed the potential value of a special operations capability inside that element, which would be valuable.”The United States has publicly confirmed that it has sent a small number of special operations forces to eastern Syria to help local militias fight the Daesh group.But debate continues in Washington about the advisability and final size of a possible larger ground operation against the hardline group.
Reiteration: * The US will lead any ground operation inside Syria. * The idea for a ground operation came from the US, not Saudi Arabia * Saudi Arabia will FOLLOW, but, will not lead this ground operation. * A small, no mention of numbers, special op force has already been sent into eastern Syria- alongside local militias- that would be Kurdish militias fighting under the PKK umbrella.Those are the main facts to be taken away from the above article.Turkey summoned US Ambassador
Turkey summoned the U.S. ambassador to express its displeasure on Tuesday (February 9/2016) after a State Department spokesman said Washington did not regard Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organisation, a Turkish foreign ministry official said.
Obviously Washington can not acknowledge the same product, a NATO backed terror group, labelled & promoted under another brand name to obfuscate the fact, the reality, the truth that PYD/YPG = PKK. Since the PKK is an acknowledged terror group obfuscating or hiding the connections between the PKK and the PYD/YPG by using another brand name is the best way to fool the gullible and over complicate the truth.
Tensions between the two NATO allies have flared over the PYD,YPG which Washington supports in its struggle against Islamic State militants in Syria. Ankara sees it as a sister of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), with which it has been embroiled in fierce fighting in southeast Turkey since their decades-old conflict reignited last July. The PKK is classed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Asked about the difference in opinion with Turkey on Monday, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said: "This is not a new concern, as I said, that the Turks have proffered. And we don’t, as you know, recognise the PYD as a terrorist organization."
The non recognition of PYD/YPG as terrorist affiliates to the PKK suits the US remake the ME agenda just fine. Don't be fooled by the word magic employed by the psycho war makers.
On Tuesday, Kirby confirmed that U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass met senior Turkish officials on Tuesday, although he declined to describe what they discussed. The spokesman also said the United States has not changed its views on the PYD.
Turkey fears advances by Kurdish YPG militia, backed by the PYD, on the Syrian side of the two countries' 900-km (560-mile) border will fuel separatist ambitions among its own Kurds.
Turkey fears the advances will fuel the ambitions of 'their own kurds' Utter nonsenseTurkey KNOWS the YPG and the PKK are coordinating their efforts presently and have been for some time now on both sides of the Syrian/Turkish borderAnd finally! The one quote that summarizes everything I have written about for almost 18 months now...US Fails to Grasp the Gravity of Turkey's Warnings on PKK linked PYD/YPG
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli commented on Washington's statement on the PYD and YPG, saying that the U.S. is side by side with the terrorists. Speaking at his party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara yesterday, he said:
"The target is Turkey after Syria. Sur and Cizre are the places that separation is tested with the guidance of external power groups."
Exactly! Exactly as I've stated. Turkey is the target. Separation or balkanization is being undertaken with the guidance of external powers. This is the first time I've read a public acknowledgement of this fact, by anyone in authority in Turkey. Which tells me that non NATO occupied Turkey is aware of the NATO betrayal of Turkey
Ankara's concerns over Washington's close relations with the Syrian PKK affiliate PYD's YPG militia have shifted to a level of questioning the alliance between the two countries after a U.S. State Department spokesman said the U.S. will continue to support the PYD and YPG.
As has been written here for so long now- the US is tossing Turkey into a high temp oven and watching it burn!!
Turkish-U.S. relations have gone south following a statement from U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby that the U.S. does not consider the Syrian PKK affiliate Democratic Union Party's (PYD) armed People's Protection Units (YPG) to be a terrorist organization.
Even though Ankara repeatedly warned the U.S. and Europe that there cannot be any good or bad terrorists, pointing to the YPG, the U.S. disregarded Erdoğan's last call and designated the YPG as its "partner." "Syrian Kurds are our partners against DAESH," Kirby said, stoking the flames of a rift between Ankara and Washington. Erdoğan's ultimatum to Washington came days after U.S. President Barack Obama's special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter DAESH, Brett McGurk, paid a visit to PYD-controlled Kobani and held talks. Photos of McGurk's visit to Kobani surfaced on social media. He was seen meeting with former PKK fighters in Syria over the weekend. Polat Can, known as the spokesman and one of the founders of the YPG, shared a photo on his Twitter account showing him presenting a plaque to McGurk.
I mentioned the visit by McGurk in this February 1st post which included the quoted statement below
US Envoy/NATO visit to Annexed Syria- Turkey under fire- PKK warns Barzani....
" I would say that visit is intended to send a message to Turkey’s leadership"
Indeed, Turkey got the message. I would say they got the message loud and clear.Hot oven. High temps. Fire. Death. Destruction. Mayhem.
While the U.S., considered a significant ally to Turkey, refers to the YPG as "a strong partner," the PKK-affiliated (YPG) group released a video in late January in which Westerners were called on to join the group and attack Turkey. The footage shows a man with his face covered by a scarf and rifle on his leg, making a statement to a group gathered around him, urging Kurds and Westerners to take up arms against the Turkish state."Attack the institutions of the Turkish state all over the world. Come to Kurdistan and join the forces of the YPJ [Women's Protection Units], YPS (Civil Defense Units in Turkey) and the guerrillas," the man says in the video.
Some reports say the YPG has committed human rights violations in places where the group has established cantons. A U.N. report presented by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2015 said: "Following the YPG's retaking of the previously ISIS [DAESH]- controlled areas of Tal Abyad in early July and villages in the Tel Tamer region of al-Hasakah, YPG fighters reportedly looted houses belonging to Arab villagers."Amnesty International also accused the PYD of violating human rights. According to an Amnesty International report, the PYD autonomous administration in northern Syria is applying pressure by unlawfully detaining and unfairly trying peaceful critics and civilians on the pretext of fighting DAESH. The PYD administration reportedly detained civilians for periods of up to a year without charge or trial and denied basic rights, including the right to defend themselves, see evidence used against them or access a lawyer.
Just a bit more!
Speaking to Daily Sabah on the issue, Yaşar Hacısalihoğlu, Yeni Yüzyıl University's vice dean and academic in the Department of International Relations, criticized the Obama administration's "inconsistent and incompetent" policies in the region and said: "Nobody backs Obama's policy in the Middle East and considers it a total failure."
I actually believe Obama's policy is very successful.
Saying that the U.S. collaborates with such organizations as a result of its blurry policy in the region, Hacısalihoğlu labeled the U.S.'s foreign policy as contradictory and ambiguous. "The president's [Erdoğan] attitude is obvious and appropriate. Such behavior [of the U.S.] toward a NATO ally and significant partner that deteriorates relations is not sustainable," he added. He also asserted that the U.S.'s inconsistent policy is likely to continue until a new president is elected later this year.