Turkey: Preparations ‘complete’ for Syria military action
Al Jazeera confirms movement of Turkish forces and heavy weapons along the border with Syria.
October 8, 2019
Preparations for a major military operation in northeast Syria are complete, Turkey announced on Tuesday after the United States pulled back troops and cleared the way for a Turkish attack on Kurdish-led forces long allied to Washington.
But US President Donald Trump warned he would “obliterate” the NATO ally’s economy if it took action in Syria that he considered “off limits” following his decision on Sunday to pull 50 American special forces troops from the border region.
The US withdrawal will leave its Kurdish-led partner – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – vulnerable to military action by Turkey, which brands them “terrorists” because of their links to Kurdish fighters who have waged a decades-long resistance inside Turkey.
Turkey’s armed forces “will never tolerate the establishment of a terror corridor on our borders. All preparations for the operation have been completed”, the defence ministry said on Twitter early on Tuesday.
Read more at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/turkey-military-preparations-syria-incursion-complete-191008082547251.html
US Begins Pullout From Northeastern Syria Amid Turkish Offensive
Initial pullback is just out of ‘safe zone’ near border
Posted on gories
Announced earlier in the day to a lot of political controversy, the US has begun a military withdrawal from northeastern Syria. Turkey’s President Erdogan said troops started withdrawing immediately following his phone call with President Trump.
Though most of the complaints about this were couched toward the idea of the US leaving Syria, and President Trump certainly continued to give that impression, other officials reported that the pullback would be limited to “just dozens” of troops, and would just withdraw them from the “safe zone” that the US and Turkey initially declared, to an area further south.
Trump has downplayed the planned pullout, saying that the US has paid the Kurds “massive amounts of money,” and that “we can always go back and blast” if he wants to get back into the conflict.
Read more at https://news.antiwar.com/2019/10/07/us-begins-pullout-from-northeastern-syria-amid-turkish-offensive/
