By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Stars and Stripes reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov may be very near a new US-Russian deal on Syria. The key elements are reported to be: 1. Syrian Air Force stops bombing cities, including Aleppo and Homs 2. […]
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Syria
America’s Shameful Record on Syrian Refugees
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US government played a role in the collapse of Syria. It continually placed sanctions on this little country, including the 2003 Syrian Accountability act. By 2013 the CIA was apparently passing medium weaponry through Saudi Arabia to fundamentalist militias, the ideology of which cannot easily […]
US: Turkish-backed campaign against our Allies in Syria ‘unacceptable’
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Sunday evening, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a rally in Gaziantep, a city near the border with Syria, “We will make any kind of contribution to the work to clear Daesh [ISIL] from Syria.” This pledge should have been music to Washington’s ears, since Turkey […]
America’s Syria SNAFU: Pentagon’s Militias fight Turkey & CIA’s Militias
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Turkish incursion into Syria at Jarabulus was advertised as an attack on a Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) stronghold and smuggling station in conjunction with (fundamentalist) remnants of the Free Syrian Army. But the southern outskirts of Jarabulus had already fallen to the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, […]
Is Turkey’s incursion into Syria about Daesh, or about the Kurds?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkish military sources told the Anadol news agency that Wednesday’s military attack on the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, held for years by Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), involved hitting 82 targets. The objective, Ankara said, was to secure the Turkish border and to support the US-led Coalition […]
Top 6 Reasons Turkey is Finally attacking ISIL in Syria’s Jarabulus
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey and coalition allies launch air strikes Wednesday morning against the Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) stronghold of Jarabulus, on the Syrian side near the Turkish border. At the same time, Turkish artillery on the ground pounded the town. With Manbij in the hands of the Kurdish-led Syrian […]
The Short-Lived Russia-Iran Axis
By Michael G. Roskin | (Informed Comment) | – – Russian use of an Iranian airbase led some to see a Russia-Iran axis. They jumped the gun and surmised too much. In less than a week, Tehran, perhaps remembering that the constitution of the Islamic Republic prohibits foreign bases on Iranian soil, pulled Iranian permission. […]
Is Turkey’s Pivot to Russia about Erdogan’s Survival?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkey’s prime minister, Yildirim Binali, has announced a significant about-face in Turkey’s Syria policy. Murat Yetkin writes: ” “The most important priority for us is to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible,” Yıldırım said at a press conference in Istanbul on Aug. 20, later adding […]
US-Allied Kurds advance in Hasaka City, NE Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Clashes continued on Sunday between the Kurdish YPG [People’s Protection Units] and the Syrian Arab Army in Hasaka, according to the Egyptian press . Surveying Syrian social media, Misr24 said that the Kurds had apparently advanced into Hasaka and driven the Syrian army from some districts, […]