By Marko Marjanović | Anti-Empire | February 29, 2020
In the aftermath of the (probably Russian) strike that killed 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria late (10pm) Thursday Israel sent its condolences for the Turkish “martyrs”, ie using Islamic terminology:
Israel sends its condolences to Turkey over the killing of Turkish soldiers in Idlib.
“We are deeply saddened by the martyring of Turkish soldiers”
Interesting that they used “martyr” in Turkish https://t.co/X8SCOo3nWO
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) February 28, 2020
In fact, earlier that same day as Turkey was hitting the Syrian army heavily around Saraqib Israel snuck in two attacks on the other country:
Israeli helicopters struck Syrian military positions in the Quneitra province in the Syrian Golan Heights and wounded three Syrian soldiers, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported overnight Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, Syrian state TV reported that an Israeli drone fired a missile at a car in southern Syria, killing one person whom it named as a “civilian.” Several other media outlets aligned with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime said that the man was a local policeman.
Soon after Turkey expanded its Syria strikes to Hezbollah:
Turkish strikes using drones and smart missiles late on Friday that hit Hezbollah headquarters near Saraqeb killed nine of its members and wounded 30 in one of the bloodiest attacks on the Iran-backed group in Syria ever according to a commander in the regional alliance backing Damascus.
Sure the Shia Lebanese Hezbollah is fighting on the other side in Syria so hitting them would have some tactical value (at a great cost in other ways), but even at the time I wondered if that wasn’t really more a dog whistle to Tel-Aviv and the Israel supporters in DC and the US at large.
Apart from State Department apparatchiks and their hack boss Pompeo, Turkey had found itself very lonely in its new Syria adventure. The asked-for US-manned Patriot missiles to somehow wrestle the control of Idlib skies from Russia aren’t materializing.
But start hitting Hezbollah and suddenly you’ve got the attention of the powerful pro-Israel currents in the US, as well as of Israel itself.
My suspicion was confirmed Saturday when it became clear the Turks had hit Iranians as well:
Statement by Iran’s “advisory mission in Syria”: Turkish army is still shooting at our positions and bases. We call on Turkey to show rational behavior. The Turkish nation’s children are within range of our military forces.
(First statement by Iranian command in Syria, I guess)
— Reza Khaasteh (@Khaaasteh) February 29, 2020
The use of the word “children” above is a misleading translation, the Iranian communique spoke about “sons”, which naturally refers to Turkish troops.
Iranian embassy in Syria: “The Iranian government informed Erdogan that it would respond with full force to the Turkish points if it continued to bomb our forces and the Syrian army.”
— Rojava Network (@RojavaNetwork) February 29, 2020
Iran issued a warning to Erdogan to knock it off or his troops will face the consequences but you get the feeling that may be exactly what Erdogan is trying to provoke. Get the pathologically anti-Iranian Trump administration to see Turkey’s ‘safe-zone-for-bin-Ladenites’ Idlib invasion as an anti-Iranian enterprise and the prospects of American backing look quite a bit brighter.
#Turkey was informed in details of the position of Hezbollah and the Iranian brigades along with the Syrian army but decided to ignore the information and continued bombing these positions over and over again.
It is now clear that Turkey is in the battle with his army to stay.
— Elijah J. Magnier (@ejmalrai) February 29, 2020
Keep in mind that neither #Iran nor #Hezbollah ever attacked the Turkish army until this hour. It is #Turkey that took the initiative to bomb the Iranian-led forces and Hezbollah HQ and military hospital.
— Elijah J. Magnier (@ejmalrai) February 29, 2020