The post Syria’s interim president signs deal with Kurdish-led SDF to merge forces first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Around 10,000 Daesh detainees and their families in nearby camps in northeastern Syria present a big security risk, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday, even though the US-allied Syrian Kurdish militia was fully capable of keeping them secure, reports Reuters.

“It’s not a particularly secure situation,” the official told reporters in a conference call. “It’s a ticking time bomb to simply have the better part of 10,000 detainees, many of them foreign fighters,” he said and repeated Washington’s stance that they should be repatriated to their countries.

Daesh leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi killed himself during a US military operation in Syria – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Daesh has lost almost all of its territory in Iraq and Syria. Its former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US raid last month. World leaders welcomed his death, but they and security experts warned that the group, which carried out atrocities against religious minorities and horrified most Muslims, remained a security threat in Syria and beyond.

OPINION: Baghdadi is dead, but what about Daesh?

Allies have been worried that Daesh militants could escape as a result of Turkey’s assault against Syrian Kurdish militia who have been holding thousands of the group’s fighters and tens of thousands of their family members.

“We are very confident about the ability of SDF to secure all of the detention facilities that they are holding people in and to manage al-Hol camp, but again, we don’t want to put any of this under any risk for any kind of humanitarian, counter-terrorism and other reasons,” the official said.

READ: Turkey starts repatriation of foreign Daesh fighters in Syria

Source: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191113-thousands-of-daesh-detainees-in-syria-a-ticking-time-bomb/

The post Thousands of Daesh (ISIS) detainees in Syria a ‘ticking time-bomb’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

US President Donald Trump warned Turkey Monday (6 October) against going too far in Syria, one day after giving Ankara a green light to invade its southern neighbor, sparking panic among Washington’s Kurdish allies.

The Pentagon pulled back only about two dozen of its forces from Syria’s northern frontier, where they serve as a buffer between the Turkish military and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, after Trump’s surprise announcement late Sunday that US forces “will no longer be in the immediate area.”

At the news of US withdrawal, on Saturday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a military incursion of Turkish troops into northeastern Syria was imminent.

But amid an outcry from the region and strong opposition at home from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, the US leader appeared to reverse himself, though without drawing any specific red lines that might protect Kurdish allies.

“If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off-limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” Trump tweeted.

Other US officials, apparently surprised by Trump’s Sunday announcement, stressed that Washington will not actively support the long-threatened Turkish action, warning of destabilizing blowback to the region.

“The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey — as did the president — that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria,” said Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman.

A senior State Department official said the United States would not “act militarily” to stop the Turks.

However, the official added, “We think this operation is a very bad idea. We do not think this operation will provide more security.”

Invasion could ‘come any night’

The region has been on edge for weeks over expected Turkish military operations across the border, which Erdoğan warned Monday could “come any night without warning.”

It would threaten the Kurds who dominate the SDF militia, a crucial partner in the US-led coalition that defeated the Islamic State and currently controls much of northeastern Syria.

Turkey regards the SDF as a terror threat because it maintains ties to Kurdish militants inside Turkey, and it has vowed to crush them.

Ankara says it wants to establish a “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border where it could send back some of the 3.6 million refugees from the eight-year civil war.

Kurds argue that Ankara’s goal is to dilute its dominance in the region with an influx of mostly Sunni Arab refugees.

IS fighters could be freed

Trump said via Twitter Monday that he wanted to extricate the United States from “endless and ridiculous wars.”

But a Turkish attack could force the SDF to free some 10,000 Islamic State fighters captured in battle over the past two years, potentially allowing them to reconstitute the violent jihadist group.

Trump declared that it would be the responsibility of Turkey and other countries to deal with the ISIS prisoners.

“Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia, and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out, and what they want to do with the captured ISIS fighters in their ‘neighborhood.’”

Fearing yet another chapter of bloodshed and mass displacement, the United Nations said it was “preparing for the worst”.

EU position

The European Union warned that civilians would once again bear the brunt of a military assault.

“We call on Turkey to avoid any initiative that would run counter to the interests of the global coalition” fighting IS in Syria, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

Commission spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said that while recognizing Turkey’s legitimate security concerns, the EU has from the very beginning said that any sustainable solution to the Syria conflict will not be reached through military means, but requires a genuine political transition, in line with UN Security Council resolution 2254 and the 2012 Geneva communiqué negotiated by the Syrian parties within the UN-led Geneva process.

Renewed armed hostilities in the north-east will not only exacerbate civilian suffering and lead to massive displacement, but risk severely undermining current political efforts, she said.

“We continue to urge the Astana guarantors, which include Turkey, to ensure a cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians and unhindered safe and sustainable humanitarian access through all of Syria”, she said.

The so-called Astana process, parallel to the UN-led Geneva process, is led by three “guarantor” countries, Turkey, Russia, and Iran.

Minimal US pullback

Washington officials minimized the pullback of troops that Trump had announced late Sunday.

The State Department official indicated that the number pulled back – out of as many as a thousand estimated in place along the border — was “two very small detachments” numbering about 25 people, who would move only a “very short distance.”

“We don’t want those troops to be there and thus send a signal that they are supporting the operation,” the officials said.

“Beyond that, there’s no change to our military posture in the northeast.”

Trenches and tunnels

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor confirmed Monday that US forces had departed key positions in Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, where Kurdish forces have dug trenches and tunnels to defend against attack.

A US base in Ras al-Ain was empty of personnel on Monday, said an AFP photographer, who had seen troops there the night before.

SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Washington’s decision “is about to ruin the trust and cooperation between the SDF and US.”

The group noted it had already lost some 11,000 fighters in the fight against Islamic State.

“As the Syrian Democratic Forces, we are determined to defend our land at all costs,” the group said.

‘Prepare for war’

In Ras al-Ain on Sunday, local armed forces allied with the Kurdish administration stood behind dirt berms, monitoring the frontier.

They had covered streets in the town with large metal canopies to block the view of Turkish drones, sources there told AFP.

“The prudent should prepare for war,” said Mustefa Bozan, a 79-year-old shopkeeper.

“The fate of the region will be the same as that of Afrin,” 38-year-old Issam Daoud said, referring to a former Kurdish enclave captured by Turkish troops and Syrian rebels last year.

Source: https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/trump-reconsiders-syria-withdrawal-strongly-warns-turkey-against-military-adventures/

The post Trump reconsiders Syria withdrawal, strongly warns Turkey against military adventures first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan24) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, and during the hearing, the subcommittee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R, South Carolina), grilled him on the Trump administration’s foreign policy objectives.

High among Graham’s priorities was the future of northeastern Syria, where the US has some 2,000 Special Forces deployed alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), America’s main ally in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.

Graham repeatedly asked Pompeo about a “stabilizing force” that would remain in Syria, east of the Euphrates River, after the bulk of US forces are withdrawn.

US officials have grappled with the problem of how to deal with that area ever since President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement in December that US troops would leave following the military defeat of the Islamic State.

Eastern Syria is strategic territory, and various parties, some hostile to the US, would step into the vacuum if US forces left abruptly. Moreover, senior US officials—including Trump himself—have repeatedly said they will ensure the protection of America’s Kurdish allies there.

The latest approach to that problem appears to be the creation of a “stabilizing force” in the territory now under the control of the SDF and coalition troops. Graham’s questions focused on understanding the nature of that force.

“The stabilizing force” in Syria will have “more Europeans and our numbers” will decrease. “Is that correct?,” Graham asked Pompeo.

“That’s the discussion that’s underway,” the Secretary replied.

Graham, who also serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has long been prominently concerned about the fate of the Kurds, both in Syria and in Iraq. Among other things, Graham played a key role in getting Trump to modify his original decision to withdraw all US forces from Syria.

“Do you agree,” Graham continued, as he addressed Pompeo at Tuesday’s hearing, that “a stabilizing force in northeastern Syria” will prevent Iran from “taking over the oil” there?

“It is an important part of our overall Middle East strategy,” Pompeo replied, “including our counter-Iran strategy.”

Stressing that point, Graham continued, “So containing Iran would include having a policy in Syria that would keep them from benefitting from our withdrawal?”

“That’s right,” Pompeo said, as he also affirmed that the US would maintain a contingent of troops at al-Tanf, further south on Syria’s border with Iraq, which sits astride the main highway from Baghdad to Damascus and Beirut.

By remaining in al-Tanf, the US will continue to block a route that would otherwise become a key part of the “land-bridge” to the Mediterranean that Tehran seeks.

The exchange between Graham and Pompeo over the “stabilization force” marked the first clarification of the future US posture in eastern Syria since late March, when US officials ceased to speak about a “safe zone,” but did not explain what else they had in mind.

Graham also raised the issue of US relations with Turkey, which have become particularly troubled over Ankara’s repeatedly stated intent to purchase the S-400, Russia’s most advanced air defense system.

Graham asked, “Have you told Turkey, that if they deploy the S-400, they can’t be part of the F-35 program,” America’s latest, most sophisticated jet-fighter?

“Yes,” was Pompeo’s terse, one-word reply.

Editing by Nadia Riva

Source:  http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/0fbdd37c-74a7-4ae5-96ad-615879d296b6

The post US plans ‘stabilizing force’ for Syria first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Vehicles belonging to the US-backed coalition drive down a road in Syria’s northern Deir Ez-Zor province, February 21. (AFP)

Written ByMajed Kayali

Majed Kayali is a Palestinian writer.

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Source: https://thearabweekly.com/syrian-conflict-brink-turning-point

[Disclaimer]

The post The Syrian conflict at the brink of a turning point first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Turkey’s president has strongly rejected US calls for his country to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said such statements made by US National Security Adviser John Bolton at the weekend were “unacceptable”.

Mr Bolton was in Ankara to seek guarantees that a Kurdish militia battling the Islamic State group would be safe after US troops pulled out.

Turkey regards the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a terrorist group.

Mr Erdogan told MPs from his governing Justice and Development Party on Tuesday that he could not “accept and swallow” Mr Bolton’s message.

The Americans did not know who the various Kurdish groups were, he said, adding: “If the US evaluates them as ‘Kurdish brothers’ then they are in a serious delusion.”

He considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades. The YPG denies any direct organisational links to the PKK.

• War-weary Syrians in Manbij wait to learn fate
• Trump rewrites US-Syria policy
• After the caliphate: Has IS been defeated?

US officials were informed that Mr Erdogan was unable to meet Mr Bolton because of a local election campaign and a speech to parliament.

A senior US official said that Mr Bolton had subsequently complained to an aide of Mr Erdogan that the Turkish president’s recent opinion piece in the New York Times was “wrong and offensive”.

In the piece, Mr Erdogan wrote that US-backed forces had “relied heavily on air strikes that were carried out with little or no regard for civilian casualties” and that Turkey was “the only country with the power and commitment” to stabilize Syria.

Why is the US withdrawing from Syria?

In 2014, militants overran 100,000 sq km (39,000 sq miles) of Syria and neighboring Iraq, and imposed their brutal rule on almost 8 million people. Now, they control only 1% of the territory they once had.

However, the defeat of IS is far from final. A US defense department report estimated in August that there might be as many as 14,000 jihadists left in Syria and 17,000 in Iraq.

President Donald Trump consequently shocked allies and faced strong criticism at home last month when he ordered US forces to immediately begin withdrawing from the approximately 30% of Syria controlled by the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.

Over the weekend, Mr Bolton laid out several conditions for the withdrawal, which suggested that the four-month schedule agreed by Mr Trump could slip.

He told reporters in Israel that it would be done in a way that guaranteed IS “is defeated and is not able to revive itself”, and that the US would “take care of those who have fought with us against [IS] and other terrorist groups”.

Erdogan’s blunt message

Analysis by Selin Girit, BBC News, Istanbul

US-Turkish talks in Ankara over the withdrawal of US troops from Syria were expected to be tense after Mr Bolton’s comments about the YPG. But no-one really contemplated that President Erdogan would speak in such blunt terms.

Mr Erdogan said it was impossible to swallow Mr Bolton’s comments suggesting that Turkey should agree to protect YPG forces as a pre-condition to the withdrawal.

He said Turkey would do whatever it takes to kill terrorists, adding that an operation in the Kurdish-controlled area in northern Syria would take place soon.

Ankara sees the YPG as a national security threat. But Washington wants to reassure the Kurds over the Turkish threat, so they don’t feel obliged to cosy up to Russia.

How did Mr Bolton’s talks in Ankara go?

He met Mr Erdogan’s aide, Ibrahim Kalin, to discuss how the US withdrawal could take place.

Later, Mr Kalin told a news conference that he had asked Mr Bolton about the heavy weapons and facilities that the US had handed over to the YPG.

“We should not allow the withdrawal process to open new opportunity fields for terror organisations,” he said.

Mr Kalin also said that Turkey would not seek permission from anyone to carry out military operations in Syria, amid reports that it is preparing to attack the SDF-controlled town of Manbij.

What is the US presence in Syria?

Some 2,000 US military personnel are reported to be deployed in Syria.

Ground troops first arrived in autumn 2015 when then-President Barack Obama sent in a small number of special forces to train and advise YPG fighters.

The US did this after several attempts at training and arming Syrian Arab rebel groups to battle IS militants descended into chaos.

Over the intervening years the number of US troops in Syria has increased, and a network of bases and airfields has been established in an arc across the north-eastern part of the country.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46792329

The post Syria conflict: Turkey says US plea on Kurds ‘unacceptable’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Source: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/190874-181213-us-warns-turkey-any-unilateral-military-action-in-syria-worrying-and-unacceptable

The post US warns Turkey any unilateral military action in Syria ‘worrying and unacceptable’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed threats to target Kurdish fighters Monday as he sent more troops to the border with Syria ahead of an imminent US withdrawal.

Turkey was in Syria “to return the freedom of our Arab brothers and sisters, to return the freedom of our Kurdish brothers and sisters”, he said during a speech in Ankara.

“Just as we did not leave our Syrian Arabs to Daesh (IS), we will not leave Syrian Kurds to the cruelty of the PKK,” he said during a speech in Ankara.

A Turkish military convoy arrived overnight on Monday at the border with Syria, with local media reporting that some vehicles had entered Syria.

In a telephone conversation Sunday between Trump and Erdogan, which both sides described as “productive”, they agreed to avoid a power vacuum in Syria after the US withdrawal.

The US leader tweeted that Erdogan had told him Ankara would “eradicate” the last IS elements.

Turkey has said any offensive targeting the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia and the Islamic State (IS) group will be launched in the coming months.

Ankara views the YPG as a “terrorist offshoot” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

Unlike several other allies of the United States, Turkey has praised US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw 2,000 his ground forces from Syria.

Trump stunned the US political establishment and allies last week with his decision, days after Erdogan had warned that Ankara would soon launch an offensive in northern Syria.

Critics of Trump’s decision fear that thousands of Islamic State (IS) group extremist members are still thought to be in Syria, despite Trump’s claim of having defeated IS.

– Convoy enters Syria –

A Turkish military convoy with howitzers, artillery batteries and several units of the armed forces, was deployed to the border district of Elbeyli in Kilis province, state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday.

Parts of the convoy had entered Syria, the private IHA news agency reported, which said the reinforcements would take place “gradually”.

The deployment began over the weekend with around 100 vehicles, Hurriyet daily said, and crossed into the Al-Bab region, headed towards Jarabulus and YPG-held Manbij.

Jarabulus and Al-Bab were areas captured from IS during Ankara’s first military operation in August 2016 which lasted until March 2017.

Military reinforcements had also been sent to the Akcakale border town and Ceylanpinar district, both in the southeastern Sanliurfa province.

Turkey conducted a second offensive with Syrian rebels against the YPG in its northwestern enclave of Afrin in January this year.

Turkish officials have previously said Ankara has no territorial ambitions in Syria.

– Warming Turkey-US relations –

In a tweet on Sunday, Trump said he discussed a “slow & highly coordinated pullout” of troops from Syria with Erdogan, even as some allies expressed they dismay.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he “deeply regretted” the US decision.

Trump’s move has also sparked turmoil within the administration. First Defence Secretary Jim Mattis resigned, then Brett McGurk, the special envoy to the anti-IS coalition, stepped down.

American support for the YPG, under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, has long been a source of tension between NATO allies the US and Turkey.

But relations between the Turkish and American leaders appear to have improved substantially since a crisis in the summer over the detention of a US pastor, since released.

Last week, the US approved the sale of $3.5 billion in missiles to Turkey, after American outrage over Ankara’s major arms purchase from Russia.

But there are still strains over the US refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Muslim preacher who Turkey says ordered the 2016 failed coup.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6527307/More-Turkish-troops-Syria-border-ahead-US-pullout.html

The post More Turkish troops to Syria border ahead of US pullout first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%,” Trump tweeted Friday. “Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!”

The Turkish lira, tumbled from 4.7 to the dollar to a depleted 6.4 to the dollar, for the first time in history breaking the 6 mark. The lira is reported to have more than 30 percent of its value throughout August, with the biggest hit – a fall of 14 percent – happening Friday. The yield on Turkish decade-long bonds has risen to over 20 percent and inflation is now running at over 15 percent compared to 11 percent one year ago, according to TradingEconomics.

At the crux of the diplomatic dispute is Turkey’s refusal to release American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been detained in Turkey for 21 months on “terrorism” charges – suspected of having ties to the outlawed Gulenist movement – along with alleged espionage accusations. U.S. State Department representatives have called the file against him as entirely uncreditable.

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