Daily Mail article Turkish tanks rolled into Syria for the first time this morning as Ankara launched an 'unprecedented' operation to free a town controlled by ISIS. Turkish fighter jets and special forces stormed across the border on a mission to drive the Islamists out of the border town of Jarablus, and were quickly followed by ground forces. The Turks attacked with coalition (US) air support. The invasion has been backed by the U.S., with Vice President Joe Biden voicing his support for the Turkish invasion as he visited Turkey today. Biden called on Syrian Kurdish forces to move back across the Euphrates River and leave towns they have freed from ISIS to the Turks. They 'must move back across the Euphrates River', Biden said. 'They cannot - will not - under any circumstance get American support if they do not keep that commitment'. This should serve as a stark warning to anyone who is tempted to side with the US. If you like America, we will bomb you into the stone age and make sure you're crushed by Islamist dictators.
You're a total nitwit. That makes perfect tactical sense, because it means that we have a totally new element of tanks and aircraft fighting worth tens of millions of dollars in the area and all that it's costing us are some words on a press release.
Of course, there was no US air support for the Turks, and the Daily Heil article does not claim that there was, so @gturner's editorialising is entirely bullshit. Obviously.
Tens of millions of dollars won't by an F-16. It might by a couple M-60's though, as Turkey spent $4 million a tank for Israel's upgrade package. The problem is that Turkey rolled into Syria with the expressed intent to also fight Kurds. Kurds have been the most effective force in the field fighting ISIS and other Islamic extremists. They're on our side. They are not on Erdogan's side. Indeed, the PKK is at war with Turkey in Turkey. The Kurds have been critical in keeping ISIS contained, and Biden just stabbed them in the back, giving Turkey the green light to take over Kurdish areas in Syria, severing their thin line of supply. And if it's okay for Turkey to do that, then surely it's okay if Turkey permanently occupies the northwest area of Syria where there are lots of ethnic Kurds, which Turkey has wanted to conquer for a long time.
Incorrect. There was extensive us air support for the Turks as most us aircraft was reassigned specifically to cover and support the Turks
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/08/24/turkish-tanks-roll-into-syria-with-us-air-support.html Before our Irish friend says anything more which is incorrect.
It is negative for the Kurds as they hold land on Syria's north coast and they want a solid corridor from Iraq to the Med without leaving Kurdih controlled land. Naturally, Turkey wants to prevent that so the Kurds remain dependent upon them and having everything flow through Turkey meaning they get both profit and a veto over said supplies. If the Kurds get a clear corridor they dwfacto have an independent country something the Turks want to prevent since some 40% of Turkish territory is actually majority Kurd.
Your military.com link had this: Turkish tanks and troops backed by U.S. air support flying out of Incirlik Air Base crossed into Syria on Wednesday with the intent of taking the border town of Jarablus -- partly to stop it from falling to U.S.-backed Kurdish militias. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the cross-border action, called Operation Euphrates Shield, was in response to recent terror attacks claimed by ISIS in Turkey but was also aimed at the Syrian Kurdish PYD, or Democratic Union Party. The military wing of the PYD is the YPG, or People's Protection Units, which has been the most effective U.S.-backed opposition force in northeastern Syria. The Kurds are really the only group who likes the US, so of course Biden had to give them a reason to hate and distrust us, as he sucks up to another Islamist dictator in a country that still won't admit that it committed genocide against the Armenians, and which is rapidly turning from a secular democracy to a totalitarian Islamic hell hole.
Damn you @Spaceturkey and your hate for Syria. Oh, and where do I get some tanks like those. I have a little problem with the HOA Gestapo at my grandmother's new condo and I thought it would be a fitting touch to come down Normandy ave in a group of tanks to destroy them all. You have to figure a few of them might still remember the war and get all shell shocked and run around with pots on their heads killing their neighbors.
She's the noob trying to change things, thus meaning she's the insurgent... I can't support her trying to reshape her commnity any more than I can support the folks who buy a house next to a bar that's had live music for 30 years.
You don't know my grandmother. It is her purpose to harass and annoy. Unless she makes the rule it is no good and war is a coming. I just want to see old shell shocked people running around in chaos. My father got onto his HOA board and those things are no joke. They will kill your ass like organised crime if you betray them. Down here they are all run by a guy who looks like the emperor from star wars so I am pretty sure there are some local Sith behind it. I parked my car on the wrong side of the street once and next thing I know old people were coming up to meet and right whining about it. I told one of them to fuck off and I almost had to go to a board trial where I think they would have cut my dick off game of thrones style. It a turned out ok because my dad is the only person young and stupid enough to take on responsibility of working their ballroom and stage video sound and lighting system. If they cut my dick off I will not help explain what all the mixing board buttons do.
My cousin can get you a running, driving T 34/85 tank, with functioning main gun (that's extra) for around 9 grand.
Yes. Arguably Clinton (the first), but definitely no later than Bush (the second), that pattern was firmly established.
The Kurds were doomed from the beginning. Fighting the dirty fight for others just to be betrayed again. Everybody has seen this coming.
Fox News Kurdish-led Syria forces face off with Turkish-backed rebels Backed by Turkish tanks and reports of airstrikes, Turkey-allied Syrian rebels clashed with Kurdish-led forces in northeastern Syria in a new escalation that further complicates the already protracted Syrian conflict. Turkey's military didn't specify what the airstrikes hit, saying only that "terror groups" were targeted south of the village of Jarablus, where the clashes later ensued. A Kurdish-affiliated group said their forces were the target and called the attack an "unprecedented and dangerous escalation." If confirmed, it would be the first Turkish airstrikes against Kurdish allied forces on Syrian soil. Much more at the link. It seems Erdogan is determined to crush the Kurds. It's not clear how much he really support ISIS, but he certainly supports other Sunni groups.
Both the US and Turkey want the Kurds to withdraw east of the Euphrates river. This is mostly due to Turkey wanting to prevent the Kurds controlling the entire Turkish-Syria borser and thus controlling everything whoch flows through it. Turkey also doesn't want the coastal Kurdish enclave to be linked up with the rest of Kurdistan as that would defacto make them independent and risk the 40% of Turkey which os Kurd majority wanting to join them. It is a pickle but I see why the Kurds are not backing down despite Turjey actually invading and the US making threats at Turkey's urging.
There's a good chance Turkey doesn't want the Kurds to control the Turkey/Syrian border because then the Turks couldn't keep allowing ISIS to travel freely, nor could they smuggle oil and such from ISIS in Syria. I don't think we're dealing with an honest player, yet Erdogan was Obama's closest ally during all the Iran negotiations so Obama probably believes whatever Erdogan says.
Nothing seems to. At any rate, whatever happens between the US and Turkey is bigger than Obama and Erdogan. Even if there were a mechanism for expelling Turkey from NATO and making them an enemy, I'm not at all sure it would be advisable to do so.
Or we could simply give the Kurds some nifty weapons instead of the junk AK-47's they've got and float the idea that in a war between Erdogan and the Kurds, the Kurds will win because the are beloved by non-Muslims everywhere - even thought they are Muslims, because they're non-crazy Muslims opposed by crazy ones. The West needs to drop the hammer, but we're saddled with Obama, Hillary, and Merkel.
