Turkey's Offensive In Syria: The US Falls Into A Trap Of Its Own Making

[Killuminati]

And?
Iraq, Serbia were smacked upside down. That’s the most important thing. Losing hardware means shit.
Russians lost 2 Mig fighter jets by failing to land on aircraft carrier. That’s laughable and pathetic. Losing in combat is normal. You lost a modern heli yesterday. I don’t make big deal about unlike some of your hysterical countrymen
US lost grip everywhere around the world? What world are living? Have you seen him in Davos? Every CEO of major firms was dying to kiss his ring. In Beijing they rolled a red carpet in front him. In Saudi Arabia he walked away with 300 billion dollar deal.
Trump problems are on domestic level. Foreign policy might have a correction-in some places aggressive in others soft. No changes in Syria. Deal with it. We are there for a long haul. And if your leadership wants to do something about then they either kiss the ring or try to invade manbij. So far only talk. And talk is CHEAP.
Because S400 can not be integrated with nato system. It’s a coding issue. If you do deploy S400 then you won’t get F35. You think you going to blackmail us with some untested russian toy? Shiiit.

Haha, look at his comparison.. Iraq and Serbia.. Do i have to count how many Apaches you guys lost against manpads?

Which country has the US been able to invade outside third world countries? It is true that our helicopter has been shot down but i am not the one who calls the Russian SAM systems rusted here. If everyone were lining up to lick his ring, why did the '' super powerful '' US only had a few pathetic lands that you can not even point out on the map, standing behind itself? The world no longer recognizes the US as the only superpower in the world. They fail in Iraq and Northern Syria. Their failing policy can also be seen in their collaboration with the YPG terrorists who wear shitsacks.

S-400 is not accepted by NATO but the S-300 system is? Has nothing to do with coding but purely because Turkey, thanks to the idiocy of the west, distances itself from NATO and co-operate with Russia. The S-400 can take the fiasco product F-35 out of the air easy. We have not set up a jetfighter program for nothing.

Yes, and you guys said that about Firat Shield Operation and Afrin Operation too. The one who talks here is only the US. Why does the US only talk about Iran and does it not dare to attack it directly? Knowing that all high tech stuff will be exposed?

Just make sure you guys get out of Manbij before you get a few rockets up in your asses.

 

[WarDaddy97]

Unfortunately clashes be

lol No worries, I don't think there will be any direct clashes between the U.S and Turkey. forget what a few fanboys here are claiming. Erdogan is not stupid, he is still a smart, pragmatic and shrewd leader.
Same with even a bigger power like Russia, there will be no real direct confrontation/war between Russia and the U.S. There might be some indirect clashes between each others proxies ad even at times some targeted attacks by one power on the other's proxy(which might result in the death of some embedded foreign power forces among them, like it happened with Russia by coalition forces recently). However that's as far as it will go. Both sides will not face each other. stakes are too high and it will only complicate things even further.

unfortunately clashes between sdf and Russians are inevitable.
1 they never play by the rules and honor commitment
2. Historically they give two shits about their servicemen. since they play silly game “hybrid warfare” and deploy drunks from Wagner and no one cares about them back in motherland
This is why coalition beat them senselessly even after getting news that Russian PMC were among the ranks. Usually they would do the right thing and cease hostility. This time they allowed them to pick up wounded and some dead.
I hope you are right though. Because our goal is containing Iran not bitch slapping Cossacks

Haha, look at his comparison.. Iraq and Serbia.. Do i have to count how many Apaches you guys lost against manpads?

Which country has the US been able to invade outside third world countries? It is true that our helicopter has been shot down but i am not the one who calls the Russian SAM systems rusted here. If everyone were lining up to lick his ring, why did the '' super powerful '' US only had a few pathetic lands that you can not even point out on the map, standing behind itself? The world no longer recognizes the US as the only superpower in the world. They fail in Iraq and Northern Syria. Their failing policy can also be seen in their collaboration with the YPG terrorists who wear shitsacks.

S-400 is not accepted by NATO but the S-300 system is? Has nothing to do with coding but purely because Turkey, thanks to the idiocy of the west, distances itself from NATO and co-operate with Russia. The S-400 can take the fiasco product F-35 out of the air easy. We have not set up a jetfighter program for nothing.

Yes, and you guys said that about Firat Shield Operation and Afrin Operation too. The one who talks here is only the US. Why does the US only talk about Iran and does it not dare to attack it directly? Knowing that all high tech stuff will be exposed?

Just make sure you guys get out of Manbij before you get a few rockets up in your asses.

You run around like a toddler talking about destroyed hardware. I, on the other hand, look at the results. When people talk about ES they don’t point out how many Leos you lost on sheikh Agil Hill and that took you 3 month to capture small town Al Bab population 25000 people. Same thing when it comes to Iraq. Who cares about apaches and manpads. F18 and soviet sams. We deployed 250000 troops and 70000 steamrolled thru 26 million Iraq in 3 weeks. That’s the RESULT. Grow up already.
When you write shit like this “

Just make sure you guys get out of Manbij before you get a few rockets up in your asses” do you understand how pathetic you sound? Open your eyes, soon it’s going to be a full month and you captured less than 10% of afrin cs. Forget manbij

I know, I'm talking about MAKING you care.

Meh.
Good commie is a dead commie.

 

[Killuminati]

You run around like a toddler talking about destroyed hardware. I, on the other hand, look at the results. When people talk about ES they don’t point out how many Leos you lost on sheikh Agil Hill and that took you 3 month to capture small town Al Bab population 25000 people. Same thing when it comes to Iraq. Who cares about apaches and manpads. F18 and soviet sams. We deployed 250000 troops and 70000 steamrolled thru 26 million Iraq in 3 weeks. That’s the RESULT. Grow up already.
When you write shit like this “

Firstly, do not compare my country with your filthy country. My country is doing everything to avoid civilian casualties. On the other hand, the US has 1.5 million civilian deaths on its name. Secondly, you talk proudly about a 3 week steamroll. Is your 3-week steamroll therefore turned into a mud bath that lasted 10 years? Result? Terrorists who have emerged as mushrooms and fking up the whole region? How long has the US done to take a small town like Fallujah? And that with all its bombardments and other high tech equipment. We are talking about 13500 troops against 3000 people fighting for their country. These 3000 people were only equipped with AK-47s and RPGs. Turkey has been fighting not only against PKK terrorists, but also against Americans. That is why you can not resist the defeat.

If you acknowledge that you guys are just dirty and do not care about humanity, then I will debate with you on another level.

 

[LegionnairE]

Meh.
Good commie is a dead commie.

Finally we agree on something.

 

[shah_123]

1 they never play by the rules and honor commitment
.

Americans should be the last one talking about rules and honor commitment.

 

[Killuminati]

US army doesnt has honor. The US army is the most stupid army on earth because they dont know what they fighting for. The whole middle-east policiy is nothing else but a preparation for a greater zion state Israel. Government sucking the c*** of zionists and yet these american soldiers are proudly the obey them..

 

[GlobalMillitary96]

US army doesnt has honor. The US army is the most stupid army on earth because they dont know what they fighting for. The whole middle-east policiy is nothing else but a preparation for a greater zion state Israel. Government sucking the c*** of zionists and yet these american soldiers are proudly the obey them..

Exactly.

The US has no reason to be in the middle east other than to help Israel expand it's borders. Their soldiers even sometimes question why the f*ck they're there.

Compare that to Turkey. Turkey has a military history that goes back thousands of years. Turks have had more empires than any other race. It's safe to say that most Turks would die for their country. You simply can't say the same about America. In fact most people in western countries have a distaste for their own military, lol. And I don't blame them because their ancestors were explorers and colonisers. Not warriors.

We owe our independence to men who literally fought and defeated imperialists; despite being at our weakest point back then. We defeated 7 armies in our war of independence. Yet some Americans genuinely think that they can take us on. They're living in some type of fantasy world.

Tanrı Türk'ü korusun ve yüceltsin, askerinin kılıcını keskin etsin, başını öne eğdirmesin. Varlığımız Türk varlığına armağan olsun

 

[LegionnairE]

 

[WarDaddy97]

Americans should be the last one talking about rules and honor commitment.

Did Americans crossed Euphrates and harassed regime forces? No!
Did Americans proceeded beyond manbij and prevented Turks? No!
Were there any Americans in afrin? Never
What us command declared when some Kurdish units moved to afrin? That they”ll lose our support.
Who deployed MP units to Afrin and Manbij towards the end of ES operation? Russians. As we all know they are Turkish de-escalation partners.
Who shutdown airspace over afrin recently? Russians!
Who attacked Turkish column in south Idlib /Aleppo recently? Pro Iranian militia. Your allies
Who criticized and asked Turks to stop operation? Rouhani, your ally
Who supplied Iranian made weapons to afrin? Your ally Iran
Who was running his mouth when Atak helicopter was hit? Some Shia shithead

I could go on and on. As far as us training sdf I will say it for 10th time. Your great leader refused to commit Turkish troops. We had no choice but use sdf.

Firstly, do not compare my country with your filthy country. My country is doing everything to avoid civilian casualties. On the other hand, the US has 1.5 million civilian deaths on its name. Secondly, you talk proudly about a 3 week steamroll. Is your 3-week steamroll therefore turned into a mud bath that lasted 10 years? Result? Terrorists who have emerged as mushrooms and fking up the whole region? How long has the US done to take a small town like Fallujah? And that with all its bombardments and other high tech equipment. We are talking about 13500 troops against 3000 people fighting for their country. These 3000 people were only equipped with AK-47s and RPGs. Turkey has been fighting not only against PKK terrorists, but also against Americans. That is why you can not resist the defeat.

If you acknowledge that you guys are just dirty and do not care about humanity, then I will debate with you on another level.

Blah blah blah. This sums up your mental weakness. Why don’t you join the military and deploy your bum to jinderes or rajo. You will be more useful there than posting some crazy weak nonsense on Pakistani forum lol

US army doesnt has honor. The US army is the most stupid army on earth because they dont know what they fighting for. The whole middle-east policiy is nothing else but a preparation for a greater zion state Israel. Government sucking the c*** of zionists and yet these american soldiers are proudly the obey them..

Meh.
US forces are so weak that they operate in your area of influence, captured 40% of Syria and training 30000 border guards. And you can’t do anything about it. Go capture some hills in afrin first then come to us. Until then buzz off

 

[KediKesenFare3]

 

[LegionnairE]

@WarDaddy97 Russians did what they're told and left Afrin and Manbij.
You'll learn to do the same.

This whole "we're here so ISIS doesn't come back" argument isn't convincing anybody.

I've seen poll results that indicate that some %91 of Turks are supporting this operation. Every day the US stands in the way of that you're feeding more anti-american hatred and pushing Turkey more towards Russia.

 

[Killuminati]

Wardaddy you are stupid and talk trash. Probably related to your 97 birth date

 

[xenon54 out]

Those memri tv memes are killing me.

 

[WarDaddy97]

@WarDaddy97 Russians did what they're told and left Afrin and Manbij.
You'll learn to do the same.

This whole "we're here so ISIS doesn't come back" argument isn't convincing anybody.

I've seen poll results that indicate that some %91 of Turks are supporting this operation. Every day the US stands in the way of that you're feeding more anti-american hatred and pushing Turkey more towards Russia.

Russians are still in afrin area by tel rifaat. That’s why you haven’t moved in that area which would be logical thing to do, don’t you think? . However that area is open and regime allows Kurds move freely from manbij to afrin.
And you not blaming Russians for that
You not blaming regime for that
You not blaming Iranians for that.

At least Americans said-you leave our side we done supporting you. And we will hold our end of the bargain.

Of course it’s not. That’s why we don’t conduct any operation in Hasaka province by Iraqi border. Isis are useful idiots we need a pretext and we got it. We are in Syria for a long haul.
Your polls are full of patriotism now. Let’s see how patriotic Turks going to be after losing 500 soldiers. 1000 soldiers. It’s always flag waving hoopla at the beginning. Been there done that.
Your opinion towards us in turkey meaningless. Talk is cheap, and I am sure if I visit bodrum last thing locals ask me is why we have 30000 Border guards in Syria.

 

[Solomon2]

From the speeches Erdogan is giving lately he always mentions that supporting YPG was Obama's doing and that Trump continues the same policy. From the sounds of it this mess seems to be Obama's doing and Trump doesn't have his own policy for Syria.

Turkey's Operation in Northern Syria
by Sirwan Kajjo
February 12, 2018 at 4:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11883/turkey-operation-syria

• The evolving U.S.-Kurdish partnership has alarmed Turkey. Ankara fears that establishing a Kurdish-led entity on its southern borders would empower its restive Kurdish population, particularly PKK fighters.
• Washington needs to ensure that its Kurdish partners on the ground are protected and not distracted from the main mission, which is defeating terror in Syria.
• Turkey's offensive against Syrian Kurds will serve only to aggravate the multi-layered conflict in Syria, making it even harder for international interlocutors to bring an end to the seven-year civil war and secure a much-needed political settlement for the country.

A Turkish assault against Kurdish forces in Syria, such as the ongoing one, was expected by everyone, including the U.S.

Now, three weeks into its controversial offensive against a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, Turkey's military is facing fierce resistance from the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in the city of Afrin.

Observing the daily operations since they began on January 20, it is noticeable that the Turkish military and its allied Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish air support, have made little progress in taking control of Kurdish-held territory -- the main objective behind Ankara's decision to launch the offensive in Syria.

So far, Turkey's advances have not gone beyond seizing a number of villages along its border with Syria, according to local sources.

Since mid-2012, the Afrin region in northwestern Syria has been controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). That occurred after the withdrawal of Syrian regime troops, which then began to focus on fighting rebel forces elsewhere in the country.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an insurgent group that has been fighting Turkish forces for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast. Both Turkey and the U.S. regard the PKK as a terrorist organization.

The U.S., however, makes a clear distinction between the YPG and PKK. Since late 2014, the U.S. has backed the YPG in its fight against the terror group ISIS. Despite Turkey's objections, U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish forces expanded over the years, and the YPG played a pivotal role in ousting ISIS from the Syrian city of Raqqa, previously ISIS's de facto capital.

U.S. officials have repeatedly described the YPG as the most effective fighting forcein the war on terror in Syria.

The evolving U.S.-Kurdish partnership has alarmed Turkey. Ankara fears that establishing a Kurdish-led entity on its southern borders would empower its restive Kurdish population, particularly PKK fighters. Hence, Turkey's offensive against Afrin was hurriedly -- and perhaps prematurely -- launched when Washington last month announced its plans to build a 30,000-strong border security force made up largely of YPG fighters.

The battle of Afrin will certainly not be easy for the Turkish army and its Syrian allies, and has already proven costly for the Turkish ground forces fighting in Syria. So far, more than 20 Turkish soldiers have been killed by Kurdish forces -- a relatively high figure for a Turkish military operation abroad. The YPG also downed a Turkish helicopter and destroyed several Turkish armored vehicles.

Syrian Kurdish fighters, benefiting from their advances on ISIS, have become battle-hardened in the past few years. Their fighting experience has allowed them to control more than a quarter of Syria's territory -- thereby making them the second-largest entity after the Syrian military in the war-torn country.

Unlike other Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria, Afrin lies in mountainous terrain. This, Kurdish leaders say, is an advantage for the local fighters, who are familiar with their region.

Anticipating a Turkish incursion, the YPG has been preparing for this battle for a long time; they have built hideouts and underground bases. On the eve of the attack, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to be confident that his military campaign in Afrin would be "swift." He was wrong.

There is also a lack of sympathy for the Turks among Afrin residents; they have been known to detest the Turkey military for its anti-Kurdish actions at home. So even if Turkey succeeded in dislodging the YPG from Afrin, it would be challenging for Ankara to "bring stability" to the region.

Turkey, when it launched Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016, made clear that its objective was to eliminate both ISIS and the YPG in areas west of the Euphrates River. That campaign, which lasted five months, achieved its objective by separating Afrin from the rest of Kurdish-held areas, thus preventing Syrian Kurds from controlling a contiguous entity along the border.

That measure, however, clearly was not enough for Ankara to make certain that Kurds would not have the ability to consolidate their military gains and push forward with their political project to govern northern Syria -- a plan that would involve, to varying degrees, backing from Russia and America.

Many consider Afrin to be in Russia's sphere of influence, whereas the other two Kurdish enclaves of Kobani and Jazira, east of the Euphrates, have effectively become American bases.

Turkey's fears of Kurdish gains in Syria, however, are unreasonable. Since the outbreak of Syria's bloody civil war in 2011, the Kurds have controlled much of the border on the Syrian side, and largely managed to keep the havoc from spilling over into Turkey. If anything, Syrian Kurds have done a favor to Turkey by protecting its border for a few years. A more constructive approach by Ankara should, therefore, be to work with the Kurds, rather than antagonize them.

Most important, the U.S. maintains a growing military presence in Kurdish-controlled Syria, which has been instrumental in the war on terror. Washington needs to ensure that its Kurdish partners on the ground are protected and not distracted from the main mission, which is defeating terror in Syria.

The bottom line is: Turkey's offensive against Syrian Kurds will serve only to aggravate the multi-layered conflict in Syria, making it even harder for international interlocutors to bring an end to the seven-year civil war and secure a much-needed political settlement for the country.

Pictured: Turkish soldiers run through drills at a military outpost on the Turkey/Syria border on March 2, 2017 in Kilis, Turkey. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)​

Sirwan Kajjo is a Syrian-Kurdish Washington-based journalist and author.​