Syria Says Turkish-led Forces Attacked Its Troops as Turks Claim Five Wounded in Kurdish Strike
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency says Turkish troops and its allied fighters attacked Syrian army positions outside the town of Tal Tamr, claiming several ‘martyrs’ without elaborating
Turkish forces and their allies attacked Syrian government troops in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing some of them, and they also clashed with Kurdish-led fighters, the state news agency in Damascus and a war monitoring group said.
The Turkish defense ministry said that five Turkish military personnel were wounded around the Syrian border town of Ras al Ain in an attack carried out by the Kurdish YPG militia Thursday, after the militia accused Ankara of attacking the area.
Read more at https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/turkey/turkey-syria-war-killed-attack-1.8024075?utm_source=Push_Notification&utm_medium=web_push&utm_campaign=General
Hours After Russia Deal, Turkey Halts Syria Incursion
Russian DM spoke with Kurdish SDF leader after deal announced
osted on egories
While President Trump was very determined to insist that anything good happening in Syria was “created by us, the United States, and nobody else,” the evidence is pointing to substantial improvements in the regional situation coming more or less directly out of the new Russia-Turkey ceasefire deal.
In the hours after the Russia deal was signed, Turkey announced that they will push no further into Syrian territory. There would indeed be no need to, since Russia and Syria are going to expel Kurdish SDF forces from the area for them.
Read more at https://news.antiwar.com/2019/10/23/hours-after-russia-deal-turkey-halts-syria-incursion/
Donald Trump vows to get out of ‘blood-stained’ Middle East
In a special address from the White House, president says it is not the job of the US military to ‘police the world’.
October 24, 2019
The United States will leave the “blood-stained sand” of the Middle East, President Donald Trump said, adding the US no longer needs to be the world’s policeman.
Trump spoke on Wednesday in a special address from the White House and declared a change of course in US relations with the Middle East, where he said too many American service members had died.
“We’re getting out. Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand. The job of our military is not to police the world,” the US president said.
Read more at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/donald-trump-vows-blood-stained-middle-east-191024074507902.html
Nine head-scratching moments from Trump’s Syria remarks at the White House
October 23, 2019
It’s been just over two weeks since President Trump said he would withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, paving the way for a Turkish offensive that ignited a dramatic shift in the region’s distribution of power.
Since then, U.S. influence in the Middle East has drastically waned and, in the mayhem, Russia has emerged as one of the foremost winners, welcoming with open arms its new role as a key power broker between Syria and Turkey.
Trump discussed recent developments in Syria from the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room on Wednesday, announcing he would lift U.S. sanctions on Turkey after Turkish officials declared what he described as a “permanent” cease-fire.
Read more at https://outline.com/u8GChF
Trump’s Syria Envoy Says ISIS Fighters Still Missing, Sees Evidence of Turkish War Crimes
Trump thanked Turkish President Erdogan hours after James Jeffrey said U.S. forces had seen evidence of war crimes by Turkish forces in Syria
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Syria said on Wednesday that U.S. forces had seen evidence of war crimes by Turkish forces in Syria, during their recent offensive against Kurds.
“We haven’t seen widespread evidence of ethnic cleansing” by Turkey, but there had been reports of “several incidents of what we consider war crimes,” said James Jeffrey, special representative for Syria, at a House of Representatives hearing.
He said U.S. officials were looking into those reports and had demanded an explanation from Turkey’s government. He also said U.S. officials were investigating a report that Turkey had used restricted burning white phosphorus during its offensive.
Read more at https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-s-syria-envoy-isis-fighters-still-missing-sees-evidence-of-turkish-warcrimes
THE ANGRY ARAB: Trump & the Turkish Invasion of Northern Syria
As`ad AbuKhalil dissects the false U.S. show of humanitarian concern for people in Syria — Arab or Kurdish.
By As`ad AbuKhalil
The reaction was unanimous: the so-called idealist diplomats under former President Barack Obama and the neoconservatives under former President George W. Bush all reacted with great alarm to the news that President Donald Trump was withdrawing U.S. troops from northern Syria and that he had given the green light to Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan to launch his military operation against the Kurds.
The think tank and media establishment in D.C. finds fault with Trump, no matter what he does. The only exception was when Trump bombed Syria. Then the media and think tanks praised him for being presidential and for sending a message to enemies of the U.S. (Why do U.S. messages always have to be violent?) When Trump acts tough in foreign policy, he is praised. But he is often criticized for not being tough enough. If he shows softness in foreign policy, he is fiercely criticized for harming U.S. national security interests.
Read more at https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/23/the-angry-arab-trump-the-turkish-invasion-of-northern-syria/
