State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Thursday that “sanctions are always on the table” regarding bilateral tensions, answering a question about whether Washington would ever sanction Turkey for its invasion of Syria.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson engaged in a “productive, open conversation” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday night, State Department officials said, engaging for more than three hours on growing disagreements over Erdogan’s decision to invade Syria.
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis was optimistic on Thursday about finding “common ground” with Turkey in Syria, where Turkish troops and their local allies may be positioning for a strike against territory occupied by American troops.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson begins a pivotal visit to Turkey on Thursday evening intended to mend fences of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s repeated threats to attack U.S. soldiers in Syria.
An official within the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) this week that the militia would welcome the presence of Syrian government soldiers in Afrin if they fought against the ongoing Turkish invasion of that region.
The Turkish government continued its crackdown on criticism of “Operation Olive Branch,” Turkey’s invasion of Syria to attack Kurdish positions, by arresting 474 people for “promoting” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party of Turkey (PKK) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of Syria.
Contents: Israel’s F-16 warplane shot down in aftermath of downing Iranian drone; Turkish helicopter shot down in Afrin, days after Russian warplane downed in Idlib; With defeat of ISIS, war escalates, and Syria becomes more fragmented and chaotic
U.S. Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk assured reporters on a visit to Manbij, Syria, that American forces would not leave the northern city even if Turkish forces attack it. Asked about concerns that Turkey would come into direct conflict with U.S. troops, Funk said, “it’s not in my job description to worry, my job is to fight.”
Syrian Kurds have demanded the Turkish government be held responsible for a video surfacing showing Turkish-allied Free Syrian Army (FSA) combatants mutilating the body of a female Kurdish anti-jihadist fighter, stepping on her breasts, and taking selfies with her.
WASHINGTON, DC — Russia urged Syrian Kurds to “hand over” the Afrin region to Moscow-backed dictator Bashar al-Assad “one day” before the ongoing Turkish assault on the territory, confirmed an official of the self-declared autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Syria.
The Middle Eastern outlet Kurdistan 24 interviewed Kurdish civilians in Afrin, northern Syria, who had taken to hiding in local caves from what the outlet called “heavy bombardment” of civilian areas by the Turkish military.
Syrian and Kurdish authorities have reportedly blamed Turkey’s Afrin offensive for blowing to bits 3,000-year-old lion sculptures that were part of the temple of Ain Dara in northern Syria.
Resistance at the hands of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has allegedly prevented Turkish troops from advancing into northern Syria’s Afrin region, reports Kurdistan 24.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs revealed on Tuesday that an estimated 15,000 civilians have fled Afrin, northern Syria, after the Turkish government launched an invasion of that city against the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces there.
Turkey has attempted to secretly communicate with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to retrieve hundreds of killed Turkish soldiers as clashes between the Turks and Kurds continue in northern Syria’s Afrin region, reports the Kurdish outlet Bas News.
Contents: Russia’s Syria peace talks in Sochi dissolve into farce as Lavrov gets heckled; Russia sidelines the failed United Nations Syria peace process; War continues in full force, with Syria and Turkey killing ‘terrorists’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authoritarian crackdown on dissent from his war in Syria continued on Tuesday with the arrest of eleven members of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), who dared to issue a public denunciation of the ironically-named “Operation Olive Branch.”
Ismail Kahraman, Speaker for Turkey’s National Assembly, described his country’s military incursion against the Syrian Kurds as a “jihad” over the weekend. Meanwhile, the Turkish government’s crackdown on criticism of the operation continued with over 300 new arrests.
U.S. Central Command chief General Joseph Votel confirmed on Sunday that America has no intention of withdrawing from Manbij, northern Syria, despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowing an invasion of the city following an attack on Afrin, to Manbij’s west.
BEIRUT — Syria’s antiquities department and a war monitor on Sunday said a 3,000-year-old temple has been damaged in Turkish air strikes on a Kurdish militia in the country’s north.
A Pentagon spokesperson deemed “Operation Olive Branch,” Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria to combat the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militia there, a “distraction” but ultimately “not a crisis” between the two NATO member countries in comments Thursday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his forces are prepared to push all the way across Syria to the Iraqi border in their campaign against Syrian Kurdish forces, fueling fears that Turkey’s incursion will trigger a new refugee wave, and could end in a confrontation with the U.S. military.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in no mood to hear criticism of his military incursion against Syrian Kurds in the Afrin region from the public, media, or opposition lawmakers. Kurdistan24 notes that he promised to “pulverize” dissidents, and his government is doing exactly that with a wave of investigations and arrests.
The reality that the United States has so far “abandoned” the Kurds in Iraq and Syria now that their help is no longer vital to toppling the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has reportedly scarcely caught the minority group by surprise due to its historic relationship with abandonment, Kurdish community representatives say.
Turkish government sources told the newspaper Hurriyet on Thursday that the White House readout of a call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan “does not accurately reflect” the conversation and that its contents were “not true.”
President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Wednesday afternoon in which he urged caution for Turkey’s military incursion into Syria and called for Turkey to “avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces.” However, Trump appears to have stopped well short of demanding Erdogan halt the operation against Syrian Kurds.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday afternoon the beginning of a major military offensive, bizarrely dubbed “Operation Olive Branch,” against America’s battlefield allies in Syria, the Kurdish YPG militia.
Christians and Yazidis in the Syrian city of Afrin are asking for international assistance as Turkish warplanes and artillery hammer Kurdish positions around the city and Turkish ground forces roll across the border.
Contents: Turkey begins its air and ground invasion of Syria’s Afrin; China lies about ‘indisputable sovereignty’ in new confrontation in South China Sea; Summary of major Generational Dynamics predictions
Contents: Turkey’s troops mass on border, preparing to invade northern Syria; Collapse of the Russian ‘peace process’; The growing conflagration in northwest Syria
WASHINGTON, DC — The Free Syrian Army (FSA), a group opposed to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, is not participating in an imminent Turkey-backed offensive against U.S.-allied Kurds in northern Syria’s Afrin region, a representative from the rebel organization told Breitbart News.
Contents: US in Syria announces a Border Security Force to prevent repeat of Iraq withdrawal blunder; Turkey, Russia and Syria infuriated by the Border Security Force announcement
Contents: Turkey announces major military operation in Syria’s Idlib province; Turkey’s success in Idlib is far from certain
Contents: Turkey reshuffles top military leaders in preparation for action in Syria; Turkey announces plans for military action against Kurds in northern Syria
Contents: Turkey threatens the Kurds in Afrin, Syria, with Operation Euphrates Sword; Turkey’s assault on Afrin may jeopardize the battle in Raqqa
