| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Every man for himself in Syria?
Syria continues to be a Balkan-like powder keg.
The United States and Turkey are on a collision course in Raqqa, as Turkish officials warn that Washington’s reliance on Kurdish forces to liberate the Islamic State’s de facto capital would severely damage its relationship with Ankara.
The current U.S. plan to advance on Raqqa depends heavily on the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia that Washington has supported with airstrikes and provided with military equipment. But Turkish officials accuse the group of being just another name for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group listed as a terror organization by Washington and Ankara that has waged a decades-long guerrilla war against Turkey. They say that the PKK has used YPG-held territory in Syria — territory gained in part with the backing of the United States — to train their fighters and plan attacks against Turkey.
“If [the United States] insists on carrying on this operation with terror organizations, our relations will be harmed – that is clear,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a group of visiting journalists this month. “Because it will show that they value terror organizations more than us.”
Turkish officials repeatedly declined to specify the steps they could take if Washington maintains its alliance with the YPG. But if Ankara wanted to, it could throw a sizeable wrench in U.S. strategy in the region — for example, by cutting off access to airbases in southern Turkey, from which the United States launches airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, or by deepening its cooperation with Russia.
Let’s break it down…
The United States and Turkey are NATO allies.
Turkey is supporting rebels in Syria who the US believes are terrorists.
Turkey’s rebels are fighting Assad.
The US is supporting rebels that Turkey considers to be terrorists.
The United States’ rebels are allied with Assad.
The US opposes Assad.
Turkey’s rebels are preparing to attack the United States’ rebels.
Russia is allied with Assad but not with US rebels who are also aligned with Assad who it often bombs.
Russia also bombs the enemy of US rebels.
Turkey hates Russia even though Russia bombs Turkey’s enemies.
Everybody in Syria wants to take Raqqa from ISIS even if they have to kill each other to do it.
I hope that helps.
Source: http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=158056
