Syria Calls America’s Bluff on the Turkey / YPG Conflict

Syria Calls America’s Bluff on the Turkey / YPG Conflict

Turkish forces along with their FSA proxies have successfully captured the strategically important town of Bulbul in Kurdish occupied northern Syria. It is thought that all of Afrin might soon be under Turkish control as YPG/PKK fighters have been exposed as inadequate when faced with forces backed by a full modern army and air force. While…

Why America’s Bad Choices Can Lead to a Shooting War with Turkey in Syria

Why America’s Bad Choices Can Lead to a Shooting War with Turkey in Syria

The consequences of the contradictory choices of the United States in Syria are beginning to become apparent. The obsessive efforts to advance geopolitical goals with war, chaos, betrayals and shaky alliances has brought us to the recent events in Northern Syria on the border with Turkey in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The overall picture of alliances…

How Regional Rivalries Threaten to Fuel the Fire in Syria and Iran

How Regional Rivalries Threaten to Fuel the Fire in Syria and Iran

Turkish allegations of Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian support for the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) threatens to turn Turkey’s military offensive against Syrian Kurds aligned with the PKK into a regional imbroglio. The threat is magnified by Iranian assertions that low-intensity warfare is heating up in areas of the Islamic republic populated by ethnic minorities, including the Kurds in the…

Operation Olive Branch, Growing Tensions Between Ankara and Washington

Operation Olive Branch, Growing Tensions Between Ankara and Washington

The rivalry between the external forces supporting President Bashar al-Assad and those that oppose him, for a long time was a struggle for control for the borders or key regions as well as oil fields, highways and waterways. Today the government troops’ control of the majority of the territory, supported by Iran and its allies…