Turkey’s army and its allies thrust deeper into Syria on Sunday, seizing territory controlled by Kurdish-aligned forces on the fifth day of a cross-border campaign that a monitoring group said had killed at least 35 villagers.
Turkish warplanes roared into northern Syria at daybreak and artillery pounded what security sources said were sites held by the Kurdish YPG militia, after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce overnight fighting around two villages.
Turkey said 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes and denied there were civilian casualties.
There was no immediate comment from the YPG, but forces aligned with the group have said it had withdrawn from the area prior to the assault.
Turkey, which is also battling Kurdish insurgents at home, sent tanks and troops into Syria on Wednesday to support its Syrian rebel allies. The Turkish-backed forces first seized the Syrian border town of Jarablus from Islamic State militants before pushing south into areas held by Kurdish-aligned militias. They have also moved west towards Islamic State areas.
Turkish officials say their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey’s border as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds.
However, the Turkish offensive has so far focused on forces allied to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition that includes the YPG, an Observatory source said.
The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group with a network of sources in Syria, said Turkish-allied forces had seized at least two villages south of Jarablus, Jub al-Kousa and al-Amarna, that were held by militias loyal to the SDF.
Ankara wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of an unbroken swathe of Syrian territory on Turkey’s frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish PKK militant group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.
A Reuters witness in Karkamis, a Turkish border town, heard jets and artillery strike within Syria. A Turkish official told Reuters heavier air strikes could come in the hours ahead.
Turkey said one of its soldiers was killed on Saturday when a rocket that it said came from a YPG-controlled area hit a tank. It was the first Turkish death reported in the campaign.
Tensions rise following the first death of a Turkish soldier at the hands of US-backed YPG Kurdish forces with whom American Special Forces are often embedded.
The crisis in Syria has taken on another dimension with war being waged on several fronts among mixed allies and enemies after Turkey vowed to intervene more aggressively in the fight against Daesh (ISIS), but have trained their weapons instead on US-backed Kurdish forces out of domestic self-interest.
The United States now finds itself aligned not only with the Erdogan regime, but also with Kurdish YPG forces considered by Ankara to be a terrorist organization aligned with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), the latter of which aim to carve out a separatist stronghold in Turkey.
President Obama’s delicate balance between the two opposing forces who share the mission of defeating and degrading Daesh in Syria appears to be collapsing following an intense offensive by Turkish forces that have left at least 70 people killed, the majority of whom are civilians according to local monitoring groups, in Kurdish dominated areas.
Regardless of whether the Erdogan regime struck civilian or military installations, the Obama administration now finds its soldiers stuck between the two sides – both of which are US allies.
The Obama administration now faces yet another major crisis in Syria with American Special Forces potentially in the crosshairs of Turkish bombing campaigns as the Erdogan regime seeks revenge against YPG Forces after the Kurds successfully struck a Turkish tank killing one soldier.
Israel is preparing for a scenario in which hundreds of terrorists armed with high trajectory fire as well as anti-tank missiles attack from Sinai, the outgoing commander of the IDF’s Sagi Brigade said this week.
Col Yehuda HaCohen, in charge of the brigade stationed on the 105-mile stretch between the Sinai Peninsula and Israel, told Hebrew-language daily Maariv that his division has witnessed new threats coming from Sinai including the proliferation of terrorists associated with the Islamic State and an increase in cross-border smuggling.
HaCohen, who is about to begin his studies at the National Security College, said the lack of governance in the area has resulted in the Sinai becoming “a breeding ground for terror.”
The presence of Islamic State elements in recent years has changed the Sinai, though HaCohen asserts that in the meantime the extremists have not set their sights on Israel but instead are working on purging out infidels from their midst.
Egypt has upped its game significantly because it understands it must defeat the terrorists for two primary reasons: The first is to prevent IS jihadists from entering Egypt proper and the second is the country cannot risk losing its status as leader of the Muslim world – a status which Turkey is vying for.
However, HaCohen notes, the moment IS starts turning its attention to Israel it doesn’t stand a chance.
“What they need to understand with us is that soon we will have the F-35, putting an end to all their fantasies,” HaCohen said, referring to the stealth fighter that has been dubbed a “lethal, hitech wonder weapon.”
“The story will end with the F-35,” he added.
HaCohen said that even though Egypt is getting better at fighting IS, there is little doubt the terror group will eventually zero in on Israel.
“They say to themselves: ‘first we will finish the infidels, than we will take care of the dogs’…We are a notch below the infidels,” he said, adding that until now they’ve refrained from attacking largely due to deterrence.
Russian advanced bombers and jet fighters have been relocated to western part of Russia as a part of snap combat readiness inspection. MiG-39 and MiG-31 fighter jets have been relocated to mainland Russia while Su-34 bombers have been moved to Crimean Peninsula.
Russian Defense Ministry reports that Aerospace forces of Central and Western military districts have been relocated to bases in Southern military district as a part of snap combat readiness inspection.
"Fighter jets and bomber aircraft, as well as military transport and attack helicopters will perform a flight over a distance of 500 to 2,500 kilometers", says Defense Ministry official website.
Western military district spokesman Igor Muginov explained that MiG-29SMT and MiG-31BM have been relocated to bases in Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast, while Su-34 bombers have been relocated to bases on Crimean Peninsula.
Snap combat readiness inspections are running across Russia's Southern, Western and Central military districts, as well as the Northern Fleet, Aerospace Forces and Airborne Troops on August 25-31 on order of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The inspection includes, among other things, military exercises of Russian fleets in Black and Caspian Seas, relocation of airborne troops and marines and maneuvers of S-300 and S-400 air defense systems.
Amid the recently escalating tensions between US and Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday warned any military aggression against the Islamic Republic would be met with a harsh response.
In an apparent reference to the US, Khamenei told soldiers at a Tehran air base “the enemy should understand that if it makes any aggression, it will be hit hard and our defense will also include response,” according to the state-run Fars news agency.
Khamenei also called to bolster Iran’s military capabilities “to the extent that the enemy doesn’t even allow itself to think about aggression.”
Referring to Iran’s controversial purchase of the S-300 missile defense system from Russia, Khamenei charged the US “doesn’t respect our nation’s right of defense and actually wants us to remain defenseless so that they can launch aggression against our country whenever they want.”
His remarks come days after US seamen complained of being harassed by Iranian gunboats in the open waters of the Persian Gulf, ramping up tensions.
On Saturday, a top Iranian military official claimed the strength of its navy was deterring the US from launching a military offensive against Tehran.
The Left always complains that the United States isn't more like Europe, particularly Scandinavia, and now the joke's on them because Norway now plans to build a border wall to halt the flow of illegal migrants pouring in from Russia.
This racist display of European white supremacy will be a 660 foot-long steel fence stretching 11 feet high and will run from the Storskog border crossing on the Norway-Russia border.
Though some Refugee Welcome groups view the wall as "a very negative signal," others see it as a much-needed remedy to an ongoing problem.
Just last year, nearly 23,000 migrants applied for refugee status in Norway, which dropped a whopping 95 percent in 2016 when the government put in place stricter border control measures.
"The gate and the fence are responsible measures," Deputy Justice Minister Ove Vanebo told Reuters.
The Norwegian government predicts the fence will be finished sometime before this coming winter.
- "We will show the Armenians and the Christians who we are... We have been ordered not to leave any Armenians in the area." — Islamic rebels, Aleppo, Syria.
- Thousands of Christians are fleeing Eritrea due to extreme persecution. A report describes Eritrea as "one of the world's fastest emptying nations" and the "North Korea of Africa." The majority of the 40,000 who fled to Italy last year are Christians.
- "The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused." — Report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
- A new study claims that as many as 40,000 Christians -- including Muslims who wish to convert to Christianity -- are being attacked and harassed by Muslims in migrant homes. According to the report, "Now in European asylum homes they are finding more and more that they are in as much danger from radical Muslims in Europe as they were in their home countries."
More reports of the brutal treatment that Christians and other minorities experienced at the hands of the Islamic State (SIS) emerged during May. One account told of a couple who, after their children were abducted by ISIS militants, answered their door one day to find a plastic bag on their doorstep. It contained the body parts of their daughters and a video of them being brutally tortured and raped.
Another Christian mother from Mosul answered the door to find ISIS jihadis demanding that she leave or pay the jizya (protection money demanded as a tribute by conquered Christians and Jews, according to the Koran 9:29). The woman asked for a few seconds, because her daughter was in the shower, but the jihadis refused to give her the time. They set a fire to the house; her daughter was burned alive. The girl died in her mother's arms; her last words were "Forgive them."
The Islamic State reportedly beheaded another Christian leader on February 18. No media reported it, except for one Italian paper in May: "There are reliable reports are that Father Yacob Boulos, was beheaded by the terror group' militants after he prayed on the altar of his church. He was punished for his faith."
"In yet another disturbing example of the genocide facing Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East, on 12-13 May a group from Islamic State (IS) entered a town near the city of Hama in Syria, populated only by Christians and Alawites, killing an as yet unspecified number of men, women and children. Men were beheaded, whilst women were raped and then murdered. Many children were also killed. It is not yet clear exactly how many people have been killed."
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