Turkish Peace Operations in Syria (Operation Olive Branch) Updates & Discussions

[Hamzza]

Well we did a good job letting them regroup by not doing shit for the past few days now they’re all prepared again for hs

 

[Nefer]

Im now thinking that turks just dont want afrin at all......the slow advance of their army is frustatingly laughable.....

Ps :Im hardcore anti pkk/ypg/sdf or whatever names they put on it....but wtf turkey what took you so long?? If you continue to advance slowly like this the pkk kurds are gonna handover efrin to assad. In the end of the day kurds be like .....we defeat the turks biji biji biji.....arent you concerned about this??

I think this is repeated quite alot, but its because of the terrain.

I combined the maps from this http://en-gb.topographic-map.com/places/Afrin-2050866/
and https://sinirotesihaber.com/harita

Maybe this will give some insight

 

[MMM-E]

300 Turkish Commandos departure to Afrin from Turkey's 3rd Commando Brigade 06 .02 . 2018

 

[KediKesenFare3]

According to rumours Russia has closed the airspace over Afrin after the downing of the Russian jet by rebels. Other sources are speculating that the recently deployed air defence system by the Assad government in North Syria could be the reason behind Russia's decision. Moscow is afraid that pro Iranian elements could down a Turkish jet.

However, both stories could be fake. No confirmation so far.

 

[blackeyes90]

According to rumours Russia has closed the airspace over Afrin after the downing of the Russian jet by rebels. Other sources are speculating that the recently deployed air defence system by the Assad government in North Syria could be the reason behind Russia's decision. Moscow is afraid that pro Iranian elements could down a Turkish jet.

However, both stories could be fake. No confirmation so far.

Also Russians are setting up a observation ppost in adduhur airbase in idlip countryside. Maybe it has something to do with them ?

 

[Elvin]

Can someone explain to me what are commando units? are they infantry, airborne, etc.?

 

[blackeyes90]

Can someone explain to me what are commando units? are they infantry, airborne, etc.?

Turkish Komandos are elite and most professional force in Turkish Army (except Turkish Special Forces of course) They specialyez in urban combat, fight against terorism, Mountain Warfare, and paratrooping etc. They train their cadets for 6 months and then deploy to their original stations. For more info you must google it. But i tell you this much Bolu komando brigade has 2 medal of honor on his banner. 1 for Paratrooping in Cyprus at the first wawe and capture the intended parts of island ( Like my uncle he is a Ghazi ) the other is for their distingueshed service in the internal teror operations in 2015.
They are the greatest Turkish komando brigade.

 

[what]

Im now thinking that turks just dont want afrin at all......the slow advance of their army is frustatingly laughable.....

Ps :Im hardcore anti pkk/ypg/sdf or whatever names they put on it....but wtf turkey what took you so long?? If you continue to advance slowly like this the pkk kurds are gonna handover efrin to assad. In the end of the day kurds be like .....we defeat the turks biji biji biji.....arent you concerned about this??

Afrin ending up in the hands of Syria is a win-win situation for Turkey too. The rebels wont be happy about it.

 

[blackeyes90]

Afrin ending up in the hands of Syria is a win-win situation for Turkey too. The rebels wont be happy about it.

its acceptable but we have to clear it from PKK. You know as well as I know if Assad take Afrin he will try to win PKK and use them against us. So if we want to destroy PKK we must , must capture Afrin.There is no other way.

 

[what]

its acceptable but we have to clear it from PKK. You know as well as I know if Assad take Afrin he will try to win PKK and use them against us. So if we want to destroy PKK we must , must capture Afrin.There is no other way.

You cannot capture an area that is basically completley pro KCK/PKK. Think of it as the Americans in Afghanistan or Iraq, there will be no lasting peace.

However if you put a Million Syrian Arab refugees there, things might change.

But I have my doubts about our proxies in this fight, they are Islamists and not very good fighters either it seems.

 

[Hexciter]

https://twitter.com/x/status/960957620382240768

 

[Bismarck]

You cannot capture an area that is basically completley pro KCK/PKK. Think of it as the Americans in Afghanistan or Iraq, there will be no lasting peace.

However if you put a Million Syrian Arab refugees there, things might change.

But I have my doubts about our proxies in this fight, they are Islamists and not very good fighters either it seems.

IS are also islamists, and they do a quite formidable job. If it is allowed to say. Remember, in a very short time with restrict weapons, they conquer half Syria and Iraq.

 

[Jackal131]

Can someone explain to me what are commando units? are they infantry, airborne, etc.?

Actually what Blackeyes stated was on the right track but a little off.

Although it does depend on the unit, essentially the most often deployed commandos are professional formations within our military that avoid use of conscripts.

Their training level with regards to military skills is almost equal to regular US Army training - However some units which consists of solely professional companies are trained to come close to the standard of US Marines, US Airborne, and US Rangers. However they are not as well trained or capable as British Royal Marines or Paras who train twice as long as their US counterparts and are far more militarily knowledgeable.

So realistically, the commando units you are seeing deployed in Syria are not Commandos as professional NATO militaries would see them. From the NATO perspective they are just regular professional units consisting of COs and NCOs aswell as contracted soldiers(professional privates/ corporals and specialist sgts).

The use of conscripts is avoided as much as possible as realistically speaking Turkish conscripts are even less combat effective than the FSA. They receive little over a months training which generally consists of learning to make a bed and marching, and shooting a handfull of rounds on one or two occasions. They receive zero training that is combat applicable unless they are being deployed and even then the quality is laughable, not even the most basic necessities such as distancing, formations, and contact drills are learned.

So when you hear Turkey is deploying Commandos, they are really just deploying their professional formations that are actually combat capable like a regular US Army unit (trained to professional standard). Do not expect them to be a magical fighting force that steamrolls their way through a region. There are specialist units within these formations that have a different level of training but again that is also normal in any professional NATO military.

We do have more specialized units around the region that are working through the special forces command who are from a NATO perspective highly trained and top of the line special forces units but they are not everywhere or many in number, usually operating in small fireteams away from the main force. You see them every now and then and can be identified by their use of HK416 rifles and some Gucci kit.

 

[blackeyes90]

Actually what Blackeyes stated was on the right track but a little off.

Although it does depend on the unit, essentially the most often deployed commandos are professional formations within our military that avoid use of conscripts.

Their training level with regards to military skills is almost equal to regular US Army training - However some units which consists of solely professional companies are trained to come close to the standard of US Marines, US Airborne, and US Rangers. However they are not as well trained or capable as British Royal Marines or Paras who train twice as long as their US counterparts and are far more militarily knowledgeable.

So realistically, the commando units you are seeing deployed in Syria are not Commandos as professional NATO militaries would see them. From the NATO perspective they are just regular professional units consisting of COs and NCOs aswell as contracted soldiers(professional privates/ corporals and specialist sgts).

The use of conscripts is avoided as much as possible as realistically speaking Turkish conscripts are even less combat effective than the FSA. They receive little over a months training which generally consists of learning to make a bed and marching, and shooting a handfull of rounds on one or two occasions. They receive zero training that is combat applicable unless they are being deployed and even then the quality is laughable, not even the most basic necessities such as distancing, formations, and contact drills are learned.

So when you hear Turkey is deploying Commandos, they are really just deploying their professional formations that are actually combat capable like a regular US Army unit (trained to professional standard). Do not expect them to be a magical fighting force that steamrolls their way through a region. There are specialist units within these formations that have a different level of training but again that is also normal in any professional NATO military.

We do have more specialized units around the region that are working through the special forces command who are from a NATO perspective highly trained and top of the line special forces units but they are not everywhere or many in number, usually operating in small fireteams away from the main force. You see them every now and then and can be identified by their use of HK416 rifles and some Gucci kit.

Jackal you are being too modest about our troops. Perhaps our komando units are bit less trained from their counterparts in NATO but you have to add the fact that our boys go out to fight terorist every single month. Where NATO troops just go to exersice and fire paper targets. That war experience itself is more than enough reason to think that they are on par with US Rangers. By the way our Naval Komando is one of the best in the region. SAT and SAS are proved themselves in Kardak crisis. Lets not forget that too. Besides US and Iraq which army has that kind of battle experience and knowledge about modern warfare as Turkish Army?

 

[Seyfullah]

https://twitter.com/x/status/960798254471503872