Contents: In dramatic development, US warplanes smash fortified wall in Raqqa, Syria; Turkey fears double-cross from US on arms for Syrian Kurds; Concerns grow about Syrian conflict after defeat of ISIS
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Russia defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, to Istanbul Sunday to discuss preparations for Syrian civil war “peace talks” also involving Iran and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The Kurdish news outlet Rudaw and Turkish network Haberturk are reporting that members of the Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) and the Turkish military have exchanged fire in northwest Syria.
The UK-based NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this week that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab coalition, has taken back a quarter of the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State.
Turkey’s defense minister, Fikri Işık, said in an interview Friday that his government is seeking to play a role in retrieving weapons that the United States has provided Syrian Kurdish militias for use in the liberation of Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State “caliphate.”
Turkey’s National Defense Ministry claims that Secretary of Defense James Mattis has promised Ankara that American officials are only lending, not giving, weapons to Syrian Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State and plan to retrieve those weapons following the liberation of Raqqa.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet is reporting that supporters of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are organizing a political party to challenge the pro-Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), whose leadership is largely in prison.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the upcoming referendum on Kurdish independence on Iraq “wrong” and “a threat to the territorial integrity of Iraq,” despite his country’s friendly ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic coalition of militias in the country, have reportedly made gains on either side of the city of Raqqa, slowly surrounding an estimated 4,000 jihadists preparing to fight for their “capital.”
A statement released by the Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah warns the United States to cease striking forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad when they violate deconfliction zones, warning their “self-restraint” will not last if America “crosses the red lines.”
The Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a coalition of anti-Islamic State militias largely comprised of Kurdish fighters, has confirmed that the battle to liberate Raqqa, the capital of the ISIS “caliphate,” has begun.
Following Turkish media reports last week, the U.S. military has confirmed that it has begun shipping weapons to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) to prepare for the battle to liberate Raqqa, Syria from the Islamic State.
Contents: Turkey builds a northern Syria ‘National Army’ from Free Syrian Army militias; US begins arming YPG Kurds in northern Syria on eve of battle of Raqqa
The head of Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, says the United States has denied him a visa to enter the country for the first time during President Trump’s era, despite the Trump administration’s decision to provide the PYD’s armed forces with weapons to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).
Multiple Turkish media outlets are reporting that the United States deployed a new convoy of about 100 trucks to Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State in Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan, this week.
Turkey is doubling down on its animosity toward the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, promising it is ready to conduct military operations against the YPG if provoked and demanding the removal of a U.S. envoy for supporting the Kurds.
Facebook’s CEO boasts about his commitment to free speech. But the company regularly caves in to the demands of authoritarian regimes.
Contents: Washington shocked as Turkey’s security forces attack peaceful protesters; Turkey’s Erdogan leaves empty-handed from meeting with Trump
Guards accompanying Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan violently attacked protesters in Washington, D.C. Tuesday who had congregated outside the Turkish ambassador to America’s residence, most Armenians and Kurds protesting Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian bent under Erdogan.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım warned that his government would attack U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria if Ankara deemed it necessary, shortly before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his American counterpart Donald Trump in Washington.
Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad accused of burning thousands of political opponents in crematorium; Final push to expel ISIS from Raqqa, Syria, to begin in June
In remarks Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted that he would personally demand President Donald Trump rescind his support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as Turkey’s “patience has ended” with the anti-Islamic State collaboration between the two.
On Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton told SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam that he would “absolutely” have fired FBI Director James Comey if the decision was his to make.
Contents: US will ‘quickly’ arm Kurdish militias in Syria, despite Turkey’s opposition; Turkish officials furious at plans to arm the Kurds
The government of Turkey has responded with ire to the news that the Trump administration would supply heavy arms to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), calling the move “unacceptable” and demanding the White House “put a stop to this wrong.”
A Westerner fighting against the Islamic State in Syria has accused Facebook of repeatedly censoring her posts and those of Kurdish fighters.
In a decision bound to infuriate Turkey, a senior Trump administration official said that heavier weapons would be approved for Syrian Kurdish forces as they close in on the Islamic State capital of Raqqa.
In the latest incendiary comments from the Turkish government, a senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Wednesday of the possibility of future Turkish attacks on American forces operating in the region.
Contents: Kurdish forces in Syria take Tabqa city en route to Raqqa; US military moves to protect Syrian Kurds from Turkey’s military
According to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, the United States may “press the Raqqa” button after President Donald Trump’s May 16 meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Multiple reports have suggested an elevated American presence on the Syrian-Turkish border where clashes between the Turkish military and the Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) have escalated in the past week.
Turkey has expressed its condolences to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after airstrikes led to the deaths of several Peshmerga soldiers but vowed to continue operations in the region following attacks on Syrian Kurdish and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in both countries this week.
This story originally appeared at the Clarion Project: By Ryan Mauro The Syriac Military Council, a Christian militia in Syria opposed to the Assad regime, condemned Turkey for bombing its U.S.-backed Kurdish allies who are fighting ISIS. The Christians accused
Contents: Turkey’s warplanes strike Kurdish militias fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq; PKK conducts new terror attack in southeastern Turkey; US State Dept. says that it’s ‘deeply concerned’ about the Turkish airstrikes
Early Tuesday morning, a wave of Turkish airstrikes reportedly struck a headquarters building used by the Kurdish YPG militia in northeastern Syria. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 18 YPG fighters and media officials were killed in the attack.
On Thursday, following the publication of gruesome images of the victims of an apparent chemical attack on civilians, reports surfaced that President Donald Trump ordered a missile attack on a base in Syria. The reports follows a week in which President
WASHINGTON – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told Breitbart News that, while his country does not have “any problems with the Kurds,” they are not amenable to an independent, Kurdish state at the moment.
Russia’s state-run Sputnik News ran a story on Monday that quoted Turkish “observers” warning President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will be forced to choose between Assad and the Kurds when the war against the Islamic State in Syria concludes.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that it had officially summoned the chargé d’affaires at the Russian embassy to protest an attack that left one Turkish soldier dead, killed by fighters allied to the Syrian People’s Democratic Union (PYD), which is allied with Russia.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group, led by the Kurdish YPG but boasting a variety of Arab and Christian militias, is signaling that it can capture the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State with support from the United States and pointedly without help from Turkey.
