An unusual triple alliance is emerging from the Syrian war, one that could alter the balance of power in the Middle East, unhinge the NATO alliance, and complicate the Trump administration’s designs on Iran. It might also lead to yet another double cross of one of the region’s largest ethnic groups, the Kurds. However, the…
Conflicting interests and a realignment of alliances over Syria have left Turkey with tough choices to make as the US looks to confront another nuclear-armed power south of the Turkish border. Officials are adamant Ankara won’t be forced into taking absolute sides as in the Cold War. There is currently no possibility of Turkey allowing…
France declared that it’s dispatching troop to northern Syria in support of the Kurds President Macron announced Paris’ unprecedented decision after meeting with Kurdish leaders in the French capital last week, a move that was summarily denounced by Ankara as “crossing the line” and amounting to the Western European country supporting terrorism through what Turkey…
French President Emmanuel Macron entertained a Syrian Kurdish delegation last Thursday. He praised the Kurdish-dominated SDF militias for their role in fighting ISIS and promised continued support. After the meeting Kurdish and French media outlets reported Macron had also promised to move French troops to Kurdish-held Manbij in northern Syria, and block the advance of…
Trump’s surprise announcement that the US will be “coming out” of Syria “very, very soon” probably won’t lead to the full-fledged retreat that some people are expecting, but this tactical downscaling would nevertheless be a response to the “Rojava Civil War” if it does indeed happen, and the influence of Turkey’s looming anti-terrorist intervention in…
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 areas in northern Syria and the main Yazidi population centre in the Sinjar region of Iraqi Kurdistan. He claimed that the next target of Turkish troops would…
