For all intents and purposes the fight between the US and Turkey is on. To my mind the on the ground fighting between US & Turkey began around Manbij some time ago. Specifically at al Bab- flashbackThe struggle between Turkey and the US goes back to the Reyhanli bombing and of course the US instigated coup. If you hadn't accepted that US and Turkey "alliance" had become antagonistic then, may as well accept it now. US Proxies SDF/ISIS aka YPG/PKK have been moving fighters from Manbij to Afrin. The US surely okayed and made advance preparations for the departure of their proxies. Including arming and assisting with transport.Turkey has asked that the US stop their proxies from heading to Afrin.As US backed proxies enter Afrin they are heading for direct conflict with Turkish military forces and their allies. Hence, Turkey and the US are definitely confronting one another in Syria.Saved this yesterday:
"Kurdish-allied (to the US) Syrian Arab militias are redeploying 1,700 fighters from fronts against Islamic State to the Afrin region to help fend off a Turkish offensive, they said on Tuesday. After announcing the redeployment, he told Reuters in Raqqa that 700 of the fighters had already gone to Afrin in northwest Syria. They were moving from frontlines further east"
These initial 700 fighters who had already moved towards Afrin were, in my opinion, those alleged Syrian allied militias that were supposed to join YPG/PKK in Afrin- Never came across anything convincing regarding that Kurd instigated rumour- still haven't. Though I did entertain multiple possible scenarios regarding that claimed move.
Most recently: Syrian government makes Ghouta gains; Turkey steps up Afrin attack
Or Chaos continued, Syria
Reuters: “They were moving from frontlines further east.....”“We are (originally) from Aleppo and Idlib...,” he said. “We had to because our families were homeless and displaced to Afrin more than three years ago... We had to (redeploy fighters) unfortunately and we informed our leadership that we must pull our forces.”
The SDF alliance, with the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia at its forefront, has not disclosed any numbers of fighters moving to Afrin in recent weeks. YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud said there were around 10,000 fighters in the Afrin region long before the Turkish operation started.
Recall me stating there was PKK/YPG in Afrin well before Turkey moved in?And they were being aided by the US? Verified! Turkey expects their alleged NATO ally, the US, to stop the SDF/ISIS/YPG/PKK march westward. That’s not been the case thus far. The US has intentionally threatened Turkey’s border security for years now- The US will not stop their allies from fighting Turkey’s military & it's associates.AA
"Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin says it is Turkey's 'natural right' to ask US to halt any such moves Turkey expects the U.S. to stop "shifting" YPG/PKK terrorists from Manbij to Afrin in Syria, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Wednesday.Speaking to reporters at the presidential complex in capital Ankara, Kalin said: "With this regard, we [Turkey] took the necessary steps via official channels, and we will continue to take [such steps]. "It is particularly expected [by Turkey] that the U.S. must certainly step in and halt the shifting of YPG/PYD forces, which move under its control, in Manbij to Afrin. This is our natural right."The U.S. and PYD/YPG/PKK forces, who have been receiving American weapons and support, are stationed in Manbij; the U.S. forces there have resisted Turkey's calls for them to leave"
US Will Spend 500 Million Dollars on “Syrian Kurds” this year??
"The SDF, however, has enemies beyond ISIS that include Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies, as well as the Syrian government and its Iranian allies. In an interview with CNN on that same day, Lieutenant General Paul Funk, the commander of U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq, promised that Americans in the town of Manbij, which the Kurdish-led SDF captured in August 2016, would “defend themselves.” Both he and Jarrard were aiming their messages not at ISIS—which has been absent from Manbij for months—but at Turkey.How such pledges square with the notion that the U.S. mission in Syria is limited to defeating ISIS is unclear. Defending the SDF from its enemies exceeds the parameters of an anti-ISIS campaign, not to mention the 2001 congressional authorization for use of military force against al-Qaeda. Yet the Trump administration’s proposed defense budget for 2019 aims to transform the SDF into a 35,000-man local security force, at a cost of another $300 million in 2019; this would come on top of the $393 million it plans to spend on ammunition and weapons for the group this fiscal year; the total amount set to be spent on the SDF this year is $500 million.
The general tone of the Defense One article borders on absurd! Really!
“The Trump administration is deepening its partnership with the SDF seemingly with little consideration for the full political or human consequences of such a choice. “
The Trump administration has fully considered the political and human consequences of arming the kurdish militias to the teeth and building them a nation- It was always their plan!
“All of this raises the key question: What does the United States hope to achieve in Syria by investing so heavily in the SDF?”
Hello!! Balkanization? Kurdistan aka Israel 2.0? Remaking the entire region?I know my readers are not fools- Apparently Defense One hopes their readers are fools?Because their taking them for fools writing such gibberish!
“Washington’s decision to anoint the SDF as its chief vehicle for achieving its broader aims is a perilous one”
Washington knows this!
“The Trump administration wants to believe the SDF is relatively democratic, when, instead, its behavior often alienates important local communities”
The Trump administration doesn’t want to believe that. They want the mind controlled masses to believe that the SDF is relative democratic!As stated the tone that runs through the Defense One article is absurd. It relies on you believing the US hasn't a clue what their up to- And is pre selling an almost certain incompetence/handwringing narrative that will be rolled out in the future.Half a million Captagon Pills found at Syrian border-Large Cache of "bravery drugs" found in captured YPG post The "chemical courage" of ISIS and Kurds alike. Suicide bombers bravery inducing drug. Wonder who is manufacturing this mass quantity of drugs?
"Captagon is a psychostimulant which is made of a combination of amphetamine and theophylline in order to bolster physical strength. In the 1950s, when it was created, it was used for treating depression, attention deficit disorder, and narcolepsy. It was banned in Western countries in the 1980s when scientist found out that it was highly addictive"