Fasten seatbelts in Syria..

A headline from a tweet but apt at the moment..

#BREAKING: Turkish fighter jets target the pro-Syrian government forces who arrived in #Afrin. pic.twitter.com/XngQdLfEPg— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) February 20, 2018


twitter.com...


This was bound to happen. Kurds prefer to "loose" Afrin to Syrian government aligned forces (which they have a working relation with in that region) than to Turkey (which they view as archenemy). Unclear how Turkey will respond to this. Also unclear if Russia is on board. @akhbar
twitter.com...

twitter.com... ( conflict News )

syria.liveuamap.com... ( Livemap )

It surprises me that Turkey is willing to piss away their warming relations to Russia, especially considering they are moving further away from NATO each passing day.

Turkey's foreign policy has the very real prospect of diplomatically isolating themselves from both Moscow and Washington. Erdogan is playing a very dangerous game.

I really don't see how he can salvage this in a way that is beneficial to Turkey.

a reply to: Ohanka

They just proved this can be messier than it already was.

This puts the US and Russia at risk as well.

Anyone know if Turkey has access to the channel we communicate with Russia to ensure we don't hit each others troops?

If they accidentally tag some Russians and they retaliate, we have Russia hitting a NATO member.

a reply to: skywatcher44

Russia won't care as long as their bases are save. That's the only reason Putin backed Assad.
What many forget is Turkey has one of the strongest military of all NATO members.
Who exactly would stand up to them?
Erdogan is an icecold opportunist. He saw Europe loosing it's strongest military with Brexit. How the US slowly but surely starts eating herself.
He only wants the northern top of Syria to make sure no Kurd will ever bother Turkey again.
And he will succeed.

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: skywatcher44

Russia won't care as long as their bases are save. That's the only reason Putin backed Assad.
What many forget is Turkey has one of the strongest military of all NATO members.
Who exactly would stand up to them?
Erdogan is an icecold opportunist. He saw Europe loosing it's strongest military with Brexit. How the US slowly but surely starts eating herself.
He only wants the northern top of Syria to make sure no Kurd will ever bother Turkey again.
And he will succeed.

Unless Putin, Trump or the hunchback of Notre Dame takes him out....

a reply to: skywatcher44

I bet those "Turkish Fighter Jets" were General Dynamics F16 Falcons.

Who knows who the pilots were.

Headline should just read "NATO bombs Syrian targets in Operation Olive Branch".

a reply to: nwtrucker

I can't imagine a scenario where that would happen. Can you?

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: nwtrucker

I can't imagine a scenario where that would happen. Can you?

LOL. Let's see...Syria would love to see him 'transitioned'. Israel, Iran, The Kurds, obviously, The U.S...then there's the Greeks...probably Brussels, too....who have I left out?

a reply to: nwtrucker

He's not the most popular kid, but that alone doesn't mean someone will act.
After Macron threatened Assad just recently I can't see how he could now side up with him to attack a NATO Member.
Israel I believe is pretty busy on its own right now. Plus they might even welcome a strong neighbouring military force like Turkey becoming active in Syria. It actually is more promising to get a bit stability in the region and hold it.

And Russia is backing Turkey whoever attacks them ... should have lots of reserves.
No. No one will risk the fallout.
On the bright side the genocide on the Kurds shouldn't last longer than a few days and after that we will enjoy the discussion if Turkey can remain in the NATO.
Which it will because we are all a bunch of spineless pussies.

a reply to: Peeple

No, it doesn't mean someone will act. I'm moderately surprised no one has though. A key point is what faction or individual would replace him.

Russia? I'm not so sure about them. IF the replacement was more compliant to Russian goals it isn't impossible.

Israel is about in the best shape ever. I don't see them as 'busy', at all. A messed up Syria seems to much more aligned to Israeli goals that a stable one. It keeps Syria's attention away from Israel. Yes?

Spineless pussies? Absolutely.

Just to add.. Mr Erdogan wants to head to Manbij and all other villages occupied by Kurds ?
Idlib one so called safety zone area which is being bombed nearly daily is also on his radar which would at least
curtail that bombing I hope.. As for his zealous Kurdish disposal is there any that will check him ?
Conflict with USA has not quite happened as yet.. What a bucket of worms..

syria.liveuamap.com...

twitter.com...