Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday that the Turkish military would invade and “besiege” the heart of Afrin city Syria “in the coming days,” threatening to turn “Operation Olive Branch” into a devastating urban conflict.
The government of dictator Bashar al-Assad confirmed on Monday that it would send Syrian military troops into Afrin to fight against the Turkish military, which invaded the northern province last month.
Members of Iraq’s Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF/PMU) confirmed on Monday that Islamic State terrorists killed “at least 27” of their fighters and kidnapped about two dozen more near Kirkuk, a city the PMF invaded and conquered late last year.
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.
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.
The U.S. State Department dismissed increasingly aggressive rhetoric from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan directed at America as something Washington is “used to,” following a threat from Erdogan that U.S. forces would soon experience the “Ottoman slap.”
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.
Saturday morning’s violent clashes along the Israeli-Syria border between Israel on the one hand and Iran and Syrian regime forces on the other occurred against the backdrop of multiplying acts of war and violence between a seemingly endless roster of combatants.
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.”
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.
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.
President Donald Trump emphasized the importance of eradicating the Islamic State from the face of the earth during his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, taking credit for the group losing nearly 100 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria.
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.
A spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), an U.S.-allied militia currently under attack by the Turkish military, claimed on Friday that the group’s fighters had successfully thwarted all attacks against them in “Operation Olive Branch.”
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.”
Turkey’s military General Staff claimed on Tuesday that its “Operation Olive Branch,” an invasion of Afrin in northern Syria, killed “at least 260” Kurdish and Islamic State terrorists. The United States and its Syrian Kurdish allies have both denied there being a significant ISIS presence in that area.
Turkish media have confirmed that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Paris on Tuesday as U.S. envoys arrive in Ankara to discuss the “struggle against terrorism,” a salient topic as Turkey continues its military invasion of Syrian Kurdish territories on its border.
An official with Iraq’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) told reporters this week that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga may deploy to Syria to fight the Turkish military if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists on “Operation Olive Branch,” the Turkish name for that nation’s invasion of Syria.
Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli affirmed that the Turkish military would cross into Syrian territory and attack U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in that country on Friday, a move that may trigger direct clashes between Turkey and the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported on Thursday that Syrian Kurdish fighters and Turkish soldiers traded “harassment” and “artillery fire” on the border of the two countries, a sign that the two sides may resort to openly attacking each other as tensions soar in the region.
The Iran-backed, mostly Shiite militias he legalized last year revoked their electoral support for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Wednesday, two days after officially endorsing him.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is seeking aid from the Vatican and, reportedly, the normalization of ties to Iran three months after President Donald Trump announced Washington would not “take sides” between its longtime allies, the Kurds, and the Iran-backed regime in Baghdad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced a bid for re-election on Sunday with the support of anti-American, Iran-backed Shiite militias that have turned their guns on the pro-U.S. Iraqi Kurds following the demise of the Islamic State in Mosul.
Contents: Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq; Iraq’s Baghdad government splits over role of Iran-backed Shia militias
The head of Iran’s Navy, Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, promised in his first speech since his appointment to “fly the Iranian flag in the Gulf of Mexico,” encouraging Navy officers to consider an Iranian presence in the Atlantic Ocean a pivotal goal and soon-to-be routine occurrence.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday that the United States does not deem it “necessary” to appoint a new envoy to help resolve tensions between Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Factions of the Iran-backed, largely Shiite militia coalition known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) began fighting each other on Tuesday in Iraqi territory they wrested out of the hands of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), according to a Kurdish news outlet.
The Kurdish outlet Rudaw reported on Tuesday that Baghdad had prevented Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) hospitals from replenishing their medical supplies, endangering the lives of many patients in the region and the security of the many displaced by war who have flocked to Erbil for sanctuary.
TEL AVIV – Iraq’s parliament voted unanimously to criminalize displaying the Israeli flag in public, likely in response to September’s Kurdish independence referendum for which Israel expressed open support.
The U.S. State Department reiterated that it supports “more voices, not fewer” in international media in response to a string of legal actions against journalists and a particularly gruesome murder in Iraq, where Baghdad appears to be attempting to shut down all Kurdish voices.
Kurds protested in front of the White House on Monday to call on the U.S. to protect people in Kurdistan Iraq from Shi’ite militia attacks
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has once again demanded that the Kurdish armed forces, the Peshmerga, allow him to take over as their commander-in-chief or significantly diminish in size, apparently taking advantage of Kurdish President Masoud Barzani’s announcement that he would step down from his role on November 1.
A Christian NGO has urged the international community to protect minority populations as Iranian-backed Shia militias and Iraqi army continues to persecute Christians in Peshmerga-controlled areas.
TEL AVIV – Iraqi Kurdistan’s warnings that it could face another genocide at the hands of the growing alliance between Iraq and Iranian forces in the region if the West continues to ignore its predicament are legitimate, an expert on Islamic terror said on Wednesday.
TEL AVIV – In its ongoing attempt to drive the U.S. and Iraq apart, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iraq’s U.S.-backed prime minister on Thursday that America was not to be trusted and he should not depend on it when fighting the Islamic State, Reuters reported quoting Iran’s state TV.
Reports on Friday morning indicated that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga had reached a ceasefire agreement with the Iraqi military, which began an invasion into Kurdish territory following September’s independence referendum in Kurdistan.
The government of Iraq has rejected an offer from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “freeze” the results of Septembers referendum, in which over 90 percent of KRG residents said they would support secession from Iraq.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), a minority party in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, has warned that continued attacks by the Iraqi military and Iran-backed Shiite militias could result in another “genocide” campaign against the ethnic group.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq announced on Wednesday that it would be open to “freezing” the results of the September referendum asking Kurds whether they would support the creation of a sovereign KRG state.
