Even
with their hands full confronting, containing and neutralizing the ISIS terror
group, the countries of Turkey and Syria somehow managed to find time to
further escalate the tensions between them, common enemy aside. Even worse, now
their little tiffs are beginning to endanger the lives of deployed forces from
their mutual ally the United States.
Fox News reports that at least 70
persons in Syria have been killed by combat operations from Turkey over the
weekend, most of them civilians according to Syrian agencies monitoring the
conflict. Of course, the Turkish military has their own spin on the events:
that at least 25 of the reported Syrian dead were terrorists without a single
mention of civilian fatalities, and that their forces were constantly sparing
no effort to keep non-combatants out of their line of fire. Complicating
matters is the fog of war preventing the verification of casualty figures in
Syria, nor their identities.
These
escalated attacks from Turkey were sparked by the dead of a soldier and
wounding of three others in a Turkish tank crew during a border clash with the
Kurdish rebel group YPG this Saturday August 27.
Literally
caught in the middle of this shootout are American forces who are leading the
coalition charge to eliminate the presence of ISIS in the region. Both Turkey
and Syria are US allies, but due to complicated factions within Syria, American
soldiers attached to these forces tend to find themselves at odds with conflicting
alliances. For example, US Special Forces are working together with the YPG,
comprised of Kurds in Syria who are rivals to both Syrian and Turkish Arabs,
which also have close contact with other US military units.
But
this debacle now threatens to expose to hostile forces the Turkish Incirlik Air
Base, which is also home to a US Air Force complement with nuclear weapons that
can be deployed against ISIS as an absolute last option. Incirlik is not far
away from the Turkey-Syria border, and if Turkish and Syrian Arab forces are
too busy fighting it out with the Kurdish YPG, in the worst-case scenario a
determined ISIS strike could enable them to seize the nuclear arsenal in
Incirlik.
Not
helping at all is a Sunday August 28 speech by Turkish president
RecepTayyipErdogan, wherein he stressed that his country shall have the same
level of determination in combatting both ISIS and the anti-ISIS Kurdish rebel
YPG, which is considered just another terror group by Turkey. As he spoke,
Turkish warplanes continued hammering away at Kurdish forces close to a town
they have just liberated from ISIS control with the help of US covert
operators.
US
officials have on Monday August 29 released a statement calling the
Turkey-Kurdish Syrian clashes “unacceptable”, and have thus made efforts to
relocate Kurdish forces with US assets east of the Euphrates River.
Photo Credit to www.ibtimes.co.uk
adidas yeezy boost
ReplyDeletechrome hearts online
lacoste outlet
ultra boost
ralph lauren online
coach outlet online
discount sunglasses
adidas nmd
michael kors handbags
air jordan shoes
gucci outlet online
ReplyDeletemichael kors outlet store
canada goose
pandora bracelet
true religion outlet store
louboutin shoes
toms outlet
polo ralph lauren
louis vuitton outlet online
puma outlet
zhi20161201
coach outlet
ReplyDeleteabercrombie kids
ugg boots
mont blanc
ralph lauren polo shirts
michael kors
christian louboutin pas cher
cheap ray bans
broncos jerseys
ugg boots
2017.1.7xukaimin
oakley sunglasses
ReplyDeletefitflops outlet
golden state warriors jerseys
louis vuitton handbags
ray ban sunglasses
christian louboutin uk
nike soccer shoes
gucci outlet
asics shoes
hermes belt
20175.13chenjinyan
20170517 leilei3915
ReplyDeletepolo outlet
ralph lauren shirts
fred perry polo shirts
polo ralph lauren outlet online
christian louboutin uk
michael kors outlet
adidas outlet online
air jordan shoes
mlb jerseys wholesale
michael kors outlet online