Afrin | Astute News

Lavrov, Erdogan and Afrin: Masterful Perception Management in Action

April 13, 2018

The curious episode earlier this week of President Erdogan rebuffing Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s request to return Afrin to Damascus’ control was nothing more than a brilliant display of percept…

Turkey ‘To Launch Wider Offensive Against Kurds’ After Taking Afrin

March 22, 2018

Opinion

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to follow up the capture of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin by launching an across-the-board military offensive against the remaining Kurdish-held ar…

The FSA’s Victory in Afrin Exposed Alt-Media’s Fake News about Syria

March 20, 2018

Opinion

According to a wide range of Alt-Media outlets and pundits, Operation Olive Branch has been nothing but defeat followed by defeat for President Erdogan’s FSA proxy forces…until now. The FSA’s victory …

While the World Looks Away, Civilians in Afrin are Being Slaughtered

March 11, 2018

Opinion

On a green hillside in Afrin in northern Syria, Arab militiamen allied to the Turkish army which invaded this Kurdish enclave seven weeks ago have captured a group of terrified looking Kurdish civilia…

Unity vs. “Decentralization”: The True Meaning of Syria’s Manbij

March 9, 2018

Opinion

A Kurdish representative from the American-backed “Syrian Democratic Forces” informed Sputnik last week that the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) might take control of Manbij, which has yet to be confirmed by D…

Is the US Secretly Behind Thousands of SDF Militants Heading Towards Afrin to Fight Turkey?

March 8, 2018

Opinion

I’d like to begin with a disclaimer. This piece is one part thought exercise and one part speculative. It it is no way to be understood as an assertion of any single or group of claims, but rather it …

Trump and Assad are on the Same Side in Afrin

March 4, 2018

Opinion

The independent convergence of American and Syrian interests against Turkey’s anti-terrorist campaign is coincidental and doesn’t imply a “conspiracy”, but it’s also instructive in the sense that it p…

Syria, Turkey, Russia and the Kurds: the Struggle for Afrin

February 27, 2018

Opinion

The complexities of the fighting in Afrin have – unsurprisingly – confounded most people, to the points where understanding of what is actually going on there is becoming very difficult and is causing…