August 23,
2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Activist
Post"
-On
Wednesday morning,
Turkey abruptly launched an all-out military
assault on Syria,
sending in tanks, troops, and
engaging in airstrikes, in concert with
airstrikes from the United States, to the northern
portions of Syria near the Turkey-Syria border under
the guise of combatting ISIS forces. At this time,
the military operations seem focused around Jarablus.
According to the BBC, “A dozen Turkish tanks and
other vehicles have rolled across the Syrian border
after heavy shelling of an area held by so-called
Islamic State (IS). Military sources told Turkish
media 70 targets in the Jarablus area had been
destroyed by artillery and rocket strikes, and 12 by
air strikes.”
For those who may be wondering exactly what the
Turkish goal might be, two points must be mentioned
in regards to Turkey’s actions which should go some
length to demonstrate that the Turks are still
focused on destroying the Syrian government as well
as preventing the establishment of a Kurdish enclave
either in Syria or Turkey.
First, the Turkish military is acting as the frontal
assault for “moderate” rebel forces like the FSA who
are marching in directly behind the Turkish military
to hold territory conquered by the Turks. Any
association with the
Free Syrian Army, a gaggle of
Western-backed extremists indistinguishable
from ISIS, should be a major warning sign to any
informed observer that the goal is not to aid in the
destruction of terrorist forces in Syria or to
assist the Syrian government in its goal to do so.
Second, the Turkish invasion was accompanied by
American airstrikes which clearly indicates that the
Turks are operating closely with the United States,
which has been chomping at the bit to either
directly destroy the Syrian government via military
invasion or to create “buffer zones” and “safe
zones” in the country to act as forward operating
bases for future terrorist proxy operations.
Al-Masdar reports on the progress of the Turkish
military offensive by writing:
The
Turkish Special Forces, alongside the Free
Syrian Army (FSA) and Faylaq Al-Sham, reportedly
captured their first village during this new
offensive dubbed “Operation Euphrates Shield.”
According
to Faylaq Al-Sham’s official media wing, their
forces captured the village of Tal Katlijah
after the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham
(ISIS) terrorists quickly abandoned the area in
order to reinforce Jarabulus.
ISIS has
mostly abandoned the small area between
Jarabulus and the Turkish border, leaving only
small units to resist the advancing
Turkish-backed rebels.
The
Turkish-backed rebels are now attacking the
hilltop village of Tal Sha’er, which is along
the road to Jarabulus.
The Turk agenda here is also two-fold: On one hand,
Turkey’s Erdogan wants to continue to work with NATO
and the United States to destroy the secular
government of Bashar al-Assad while, on the other
hand, Turkey needs to do all it can do to prevent an
autonomous Kurdish enclave on its border with Syria.
An effective way to do this is to create a “buffer
zone” between the Kurds and Turkey while, at the
same, making sure that the dimensions of the “buffer
zone” are the same as the “safe zone” desired by
NATO two years ago in order to keep terrorist supply
lines moving through Turkey and in to Syria. That
narrow and porous jihadist corridor has become
known as the Jarablus corridor, the same areas
which the Turks are now invading and filling up with
terrorists as we speak.
For its part, the Syrian government has condemned
the Turkish invasion.
As ABC news reports,
Syria's
government has denounced Turkish military
incursion, describing it as Turkey's "blatant
violation" of Syrian sovereignty.
In a
statement reported by state-run news agency SANA
on Wednesday, the government says that "any move
to combat terrorism on Syrian territories should
have been coordinated with the Syrian government
and army."
The
statement also calls for an immediate end to the
Turkish "aggression," which it says is being
carried out under the pretext of fighting
terrorism.
It says:
"Fighting terrorism cannot be undertaken by
ousting Daesh and replacing it with other
terrorist organizations directly backed by
Turkey." Daesh is the Arabic language acronym
for IS.
The YPG has likewise condemned the Turkish
involvement in Syria,
labeling it a “blatant aggression in Syrian
internal affairs.”
Turkey’s move
raises even more questions now regarding the
nature of its recent “failed” coup as well as its
relationship with Russia and the United States. A
troubling new dimension has also been added to the
Syrian crisis as the Turks have now officially
invaded a sovereign country in an already volatile
region.
Erdogan: Russian claim on
Syria ‘laughable’:
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday blasted as
“laughable” Russia’s accusation that Turkey was
actively preparing to invade Syria.
US ready to target Russian, Syrian jets in Syria:
Pentagon
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