Earlier today a jihadi rebel group in southern Syria accused the Damascus government of a chemical weapons attack.



A Syrian rebel group accused the Syrian army of using chlorine gas against its fighters on Saturday in battles east of Damascus - an accusation the military swiftly denied as a fabrication.

The Failaq al-Rahman group said more than 30 people suffered suffocation as a result of the attack in Ain Tarma in the Eastern Ghouta region, which government forces have been battling to take back from insurgents.

Did it actually happen? Who knows for sure.

The report is only a few hours old, so I haven't seen a response from the White House yet.

Recall what Trump said just last week.



"As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price."

Washington has been pushing for war with Damascus for months.

Just yesterday, the Pentagon came to an agreement with the Syrian Kurds to use the Tabqa Airbase. Why is that symbolically important? Because it's only a few miles away from where we shot down a Syrian jet two weeks ago.

Depending on the White House response (if any) to the alleged chemical attack, this is not the most alarming development in Syria this week.

For that you have to go further north, near the border of Turkey.



Turkish and Kurdish forces appear headed towards large scale conflict in the Kurdish canton of Afrin in northwest Syria as both sides step up rhetoric amid increased Turkish military movement in the area.

If Turkey attacks Afrin, “Turkey will be plunged into a swamp, politically and militarily – there will be an historical resistance against Turkish occupation in Afrin and Shahba regions,” Mehmud Berxwedan, commander of Kurdish YPG forces in Afrin, told Voice of America’s Kurdish radio service on Friday.



This warning and the sporadic fighting is nothing new, although the large-scale build-up of Turkish forces along the border is new.

What is very unusual is the bold Kurdish response.



While most of the focus on the risk of a war breaking out between the Turkish military and the Kurdish YPG in northern Syria has been on the possibility of Turkey invading the Afrin District, At least one top YPG commander is looking to get the fighting started himself by invading Turkish-held areas along the border.

Commander Sipan Hemo of the YPG insisted it is his intention to “liberate” the entire border area from Jarabulus to Azaz, a region that spans much of the Aleppo Province, and would effectively give the YPG military control over the bulk of the Syrian side of the Turkey border.

Doing this would immediately start a massive land war between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds.

This would put the U.S. in a very delicate situation. Our support of the Syrian Kurds has angered Turkey for years. OTOH, the Kurds have to be fully aware that there are limits to American support.

Nevertheless, a clash between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds seems inevitable, and that puts our troops in harm's way.