ISIS update 2/20/2016..Russia Demands End To Turkey’s Efforts To Undermine Syrian Sovereignty
Russia Demands End To Turkey’s Efforts To Undermine Syrian Sovereignty | Zero Hedge
Over the past several days, Turkey has been busy putting the world on the course to World War III.
The YPG – which Ankara identifies with the “terrorist” PKK- has contributed to the Russian and Iranian effort to cut off the Azaz corridor, the last remaining supply line to the rebels fighting to oust Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The Kurdish effort to unite territory the group holds east of the Euphrates with cities it hold west of the river in Syria has infuriated Ankara, which views the YPG advance as a kind of precursor to Kurdish independence in Turkey.
The solution, Turkey says, is a 10 km incursion into Syria, an effort which will establish a “safe zone” for those fleeing the violence that plagues the country’s besieged urban centers. That , of course, is merely an excuse for Ankara to send ground troops into the country, where the Sunni-sponsored effort to overthrow Assad is on its last legs.
The deadly bombing in Ankara that claimed the lives of several dozen people on Thursday is predictably being trotted out as an excuse to put Turkish boots on the ground in Syria. “Months ago in my meeting with him I told him the U.S. was supplying weapons. Three plane loads arrived, half of them ended up in the hands of Daesh (Islamic State), and half of them in the hands of the PYD,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. “Against whom were these weapons used? They were used against civilians there and caused their deaths,” he added.
Obviously, that’s completely absurd. Turkey has been funneling guns and money to the Syrian opposition for years. For Ankara to accuse anyone of “supplying weapons” to the Sunni insurgents who are endangering civilians is the epitome of hypocrisy. Turkey is only angry at the US and Russia in this case because Washington and Moscow both support Kurdish elements that Ankara views as threatening to AKP and to Turkey’s territorial integrity.
At this juncture, the only way to preserve the rebellion and protect the anti-Assad cause is to insert ground troops, a move that both Ankara and Riyadh are seriously considering. The presence of Turkish and/or Saudi boots would mark a meaningful escalation and would put Sunni forces directly into battle against Iran’s powerful Shiite proxy armies, setting the stage for a disastrous sectarian battle that would forever alter the Mid-East balance of power.
On Friday, in an effort to avert an all-out global conflict, Moscow called for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss Turkey’s plans to send troops into Syria. “Turkey’s announced plans to put boots on the ground in northern Syria undercut efforts to launch a political settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic,” Maria Zakharova said, earlier today.
The announced intentions of Ankara (as well as Riyadh and Doha) are not consistent with the will of Damascus, which has only invited Russia and Iran to the fight against “the terrorists.” Everyone else – including the US, Britain, and France – are effectively trespassing.
In May of 2014, Russia and China blocked a Security Council resolution to refer the Syria conflict to the Hague. Now, we’ll get to see whether the West will protect its allies in Ankara and Riyadh, or whether someone in the international community will finally step up and say “enough is enough” when it comes to fomenting discord in Syria.
Russia questions Turkey’s intentions in Syria
Imminent Turkish Invasion of Syria?
by Stephen Lendman
Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu threaten to invade Syria. Thousands of Turkish forces are mobilized along border areas.
So far talk is just bluster. For how long remains to be seen. Everything depends on what Washington intends. Escalated war is more likely than backing off.
On Thursday, the Kurdish Hawar news agency ANHA reported dozens of Turkish military vehicles advancing about 200 meters into Aleppo province.
A trench between the towns of Sorka and Meydan Ekbis is being dug. Concrete wall construction continues. The area is mainly Kurdish.
Turkish forces continue heavy cross-border shelling, the international community doing nothing to stop it. Meaningless rhetoric substitutes for action – Erdogan permitted to attack Syrian territory, a flagrant international law breach.
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported hundreds of terrorists entering Syrian territory late Wednesday through the Bab al-Salam border crossing – “under the Turkish authorities’ supervision, heading towards Azaz city.”
Erdogan is taking full advantage of Wednesday’s Ankara blast, a likely state-sponsored false flag, conveniently timed, wrongfully blamed on Kurdish freedom fighters – accused before the smoke cleared.
Evidence takes time to collect and evaluate. Kurds and an alleged Syrian refugee were blamed within hours of the incident, a clear indication of pre-planned finger-pointing – Turkish officials also outrageously claiming Syrian and Russian involvement.
Erdogan won’t invade Syria unilaterally, or together with Saudi forces, without US permission.
Syrian army spokesman Talal Salu said invading foreign troops “would become targets for the Russian air force and (government artillery) should they enter Syrian territory.”
Retaliation would likely follow anything greater than provocative border area intrusions. Whether full-scale invasion is planned remains to be seen.
On Friday, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is committed to “preserving the territorial and political integrity of all countries in the region, including Syria.”
He stressed Putin’s commitment to “defeat terrorists in order to resolve the crisis.”
RT International interviewed Assad’s political advisor Bouthaina Shaaban. She minced no words, saying:
“Anyone who carries arms against civilians, against government, against institutions is a terrorist.”
“Political opposition should be dealing with politics, should be in opposition against the government but by political means, without using arms, without killing people, without beheading people.”
“Can terrorism be moderate?” The only way to stop slaughter and destruction is by “put(ting) an end to terrorism,” including ending foreign support.
As long as it continues, endless war will rage.
US forbids Turkey to invade Syria
Turkey rejected a ground operation in Syria, according to the Permanent Representative of Turkey in the United Nations Halit Çevik. According to him, ”Turkey will not be going into Syria with the boots on the ground if it is not a collective action, either by the Security Council resolution or by the international coalition”. Why did Turks change their mind?
Sergey Babkin, leading research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
”It can be explained quite easily, taking into account that the Kurds, which are fighting currently in the north of Syria against the Islamic State as well as other groups, are supported by both Russia and the US. Turkey has no reasons to oppose the Americans, especially since Washington has already demanded Ankara to stop artillery shelling of the Kurdish positions that they carry out from the territory of Turkey.”
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US, France, UK reject Russia’s UNSC draft resolution on Syria
France rejects Russia’s UNSC draft resolution on Syria
Moscow must stop supporting Syrian President Assad: Hollande
French President François Hollande says Moscow must stop supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the West rejects a Russian-drafted UN resolution aimed at halting Turkey’s military actions in northern Syria.
“Russia will not succeed by unilaterally backing Bashar al-Assad. It’s not possible, we all see it. Because there will be no results on the ground, there won’t be negotiations and there will always be war,” Hollande told France Inter radio on Friday.
He added that “there must be pressure on Moscow” so that it helps to resume Syria peace talks.
The latest round of talks between the Syrian government and the Saudi-backed opposition — known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) — which was being held in the Swiss city of Geneva, was suspended on February 3 after the opposition refused to attend the sessions. The next round was slated for February 25; however, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Friday that the resumption of the talks on the planned date is not realistic.
On February 12, the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed in the German city of Munich to seek a nationwide ceasefire in Syria beginning in a week’s time. It also decided to accelerate and expand humanitarian aid deliveries to the country. According to the ISSG statement, the truce in Syria does not include areas held by groups designated as terrorist organizations by the UN Security Council, including Daesh and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.
Russia began its air campaign in Syria on September 30, 2015 at the request of the Damascus government. The air raids have expedited the advances of Syrian forces against foreign-backed militants operating in the country.
‘Risk of Turkey-Russia war’
Regarding Ankara’s escalating involvement in the Syrian crisis, the French president said it was creating a risk of war between Turkey and Russia.
Ankara has been targeting the positions of fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its umbrella group Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria for nearly a week in an attempt to stop Kurdish forces from reaching the Syrian border with Turkey, while Syrian forces have been making steady gains.
Turkey is also among the few countries insisting that the only way to stop the war in Syria is to deploy ground forces in the Arab country’s northern regions.
“Turkey is involved in Syria… There, there is a risk of war,” Hollande told France Inter radio. “That is why the Security Council is meeting,” Hollande noted.
Soldiers carry ammunition as Turkish artillery fire from the border city of Kilis toward northern Syria, February 15, 2016. (AP)
Russia-drafted resolution
The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon at Moscow’s request to discuss Syrian-related developments, including the Russian-drafted resolution calling on the council to express “its grave alarm at the reports of military buildup and preparatory activities aimed at launching foreign ground intervention into the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
It also called on countries to “refrain from provocative rhetoric and inflammatory statements inciting further violence and interference into internal affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
The draft was, however, rejected by the representatives of France, the US and Britain at the meeting.
“Russia must understand that its unconditional support to Bashar al-Assad is a dead end, and a dead end that could be extremely dangerous,” French Ambassador to the UN François Delattre said ahead of the meeting.
“We are facing a dangerous military escalation that could easily get out of control and lead us to uncharted territory,” he added.
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said Russia is “trying to distract the world” with the draft resolution, calling on Moscow to focus on implementing a UN resolution agreed by the 15-member council in December last year that endorsed an international road map for a Syria peace process.
The resolution, adopted on December 18, called for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and the formation of a “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” government within six months and UN-supervised “free and fair elections” within 18 months.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a new report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
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Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2016/02/isis-update-2202016russia-demands-end.html
