Video: US Troop Withdrawals? Washington Green-light to Turkish Incursion into Northeastern Syria

By South Front
Global Research, October 09, 2019
South Front 8 October 2019
Region:
Theme:
In-depth Report:

On October 7, US forces started withdrawing from their positons along the border with Turkey, in northern Syria. The US military had permanent garrisons in Tel Abyad, Tel Musa, Tel Hinzir and Tel Arqam. They were abandoned.

On October 6, the White House released a statement saying that Turkey will soon carry out its “long-planned operation” into northern Syria. According to the statement, US forces will not “support or be involved in the operation” and “will no longer be in the immediate area”.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly consisting of Kurdish armed groups, blamed the US for not “fulfilling their responsibilities” and “allowing the region to return to the battlefield”. The SDF leadership fears a Turkish military action in the area because Ankara sees its Kurdish armed formations as terrorist organizations linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

Watch the video here.

According to pro-SDF sources, the Kurdish-dominated group already started deploying reinforcements to the border area between the towns of Ras al-Ayn and Ayn al-Arab.

The irony of the situation is that just a few weeks ago the US convinced the SDF to remove fortifications in the border area providing the SDF security guarantees. After this, the US gave a green light to a Turkish military operation in northern Syria.

After the US troops withdrawal, President Donald Trump threatened that “if Turkey does anything that” he, in his “great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits,” he “will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey”. Nonetheless, it is yet to be seen how this kind of twitter diplomacy will work in practice.

Local sources indicate that Turkish-backed militant groups in the province of Aleppo were already placed on a high alert preparing for a possible military action.

*

Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.

Support South Front in its endeavors.

If you’re able, and if you like our content and approach, please support the project. Our work wouldn’t be possible without your help: PayPal: [email protected] or via: http://southfront.org/donate/ or via: https://www.patreon.com/southfront
Articles by: South Front

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]