May 27, 2016

New Turkish-U.S. Quarrels About Syria

Some 300 U.S. special forces illegally invaded Syria to support the Syrian Kurds of the YPG organization. The Turks see the YPG as a sister organization to the Kurdish PKK guerrilla in Turkey which area designated terrorist organization while they are fighting for autonomy within Turkey. Only yesterday six Turkish security personal died during fights with the PKK. To Turks the YPG are terrorists.

Yesterday the U.S. special forces screwed up mightily by displaying the insignia of the "terrorists" while combating the Islamic State. Leading U.S. media though try to calm the situation down by misleading their readers.

To mollify Turkey over the cooperation with the YPG the U.S. attached some Syrian Arab mercenaries to the Kurdish units and designated the gang the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). A current operation, probably just a diversion, is to move these forces from the north-eastern Kurdish area of Kobani towards the Syrian capital of the Islamic State in Raqqa. The Kurds do not have any interest in taking Raqqa as they would be unable to hold it and the Arab attachment to them is way to small to give it a try. What the real target of this operation is, except the western public, is yet unknown.

The U.S. special forces leading the YPG were caught on camera yesterday. They were obviously in combat even though the official Pentagon position is that these are just advisors and trainers. They also screwed up the U.S. relations with Turkey.

Here from pictures taken by an AFP photographer.

One U.S. special force soldier wears a green badge with a red star on his upper arm. A soldier on the other picture has a yellow badge with the red star and the letters YPG. Both are long known YPG insignia. You can buy them as lapel pins from Alibaba.

But here is how the New York Times prefered to explain them:

Several of the American troops were seen wearing patches with the United States flag, while others also wore the patches of the Syrian Kurdish and Arab units, a common practice among commandos as a sign of solidarity and partnership, Colonel Warren said.

There were no patches of Arab units. There ain't any. These are purely long term YPG symbols.

The Turks are not amused that U.S. special forces work with groups designated by Turkey as terrorists:

“It is unacceptable that an ally country is using the YPG insignia. We reacted to it. It is impossible to accept it. This is a double standard and hypocrisy,” said [Foreign Minister] Çavuşoğlu on May 27.

He advised the U.S. troops to also wear Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra/al-Qaeda badges. (He could have truthfully added: "That is what Turkish special forces do.")

Another movement against Turkish plans is underway. In the north-west of Syria Turkish supported "rebels" are holding Azaz and several towns near the Turkish border against the Islamic State on the eastern side and Kurdish forces on the western and southern side. Last night the Islamic State took (map) several towns and villages from the "rebel" side in that enclave and might soon be able to eliminate all Turkish supported forces there. Turkey had big plans for the ragtag forces there including defeating the Islamic State and a renewed march towards Aleppo. Those illusions are now gone.

Expect some crazy but serious Turkish reaction in response to this double whammy. Turkish relations with the U.S. are likely to further deteriorate.

Some other recent developments:

The Kurds moving towards Raqqa are now said to have reoriented to move north towards the Turkish border. This is unconfirmed and I doubt its veracity.

"Moderate rebels" in Aleppo city have shelled government controlled areas throughout the last nights. Some reaction to this will be needed but the Russian imposed ceasefire seems to hold government forces and their allies back.

Hizbullah as retracted some forces from Syria because it expects a rather imminent Israeli attack on south Lebanon. I do not see any signs for such an attack but the replacement of the Israeli defense minister by the radical Lieberman does point to a more aggressive Israeli stand.

The current situation in Syria appears very unstable. The U.S. rejection of working with Russia against terrorists of al-Qaeda is endangering the current barely holding ceasefire. Everyone seems to wait for a big move by one of the other sides. Stay tuned for some explosive developments.

Posted by b on May 27, 2016 at 12:29 UTC | Permalink

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