Turkey Syria offensive: Fierce battle rages in Ras al-Ain

Fierce fighting is taking place around the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain as Turkish forces continue their offensive in the north-east against the Kurds.

Turkey says it has taken the key town, but the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dispute this.

The SDF on Saturday called on their Western allies to close off air space to Turkish warplanes.

Nearly 50 civilians have reportedly been killed on both sides of the border and more than 100,000 displaced.

President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from the area effectively triggered the Turkish incursion against the SDF - the main Western allies in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Jennifer Griffin
@JenGriffinFNC Oct 9
I just spoke to a distraught US Special Forces soldier who is among the 1000 or so US troops in Syria tonight who is serving alongside the SDF Kurdish forces. It was one of the hardest phone calls I have ever taken.
“I am ashamed for the first time in my career”
This veteran US Special forces soldier has trained indigenous forces on multiple continents. He is on the frontlines tonight and said they are witnessing Turkish atrocities.

“Turkey is not doing what it agreed to. It’s horrible,” this military source on the ground told me.
“We met every single security agreement. The Kurds met every single agreement. There was NO threat to the Turks - NONE - from this side of the border.” “This is insanity,” the concerned US service member told me. “”I don’t know what they call atrocities but they are happening.”This American soldier told me the Kurds have not left their positions guarding the ISIS prisoners. In fact “they prevented a prison break last night without us.”
“They are not abandoning our side (yet).”
The Kurds are “pleading for our support.” We are doing “nothing.”Troops on the ground in Syria and their commanders were “surprised” by the decision Sunday night.
Of the President’s decision: “He doesn’t understand the problem. He doesn’t understand the repercussions of this. Erdogan is an Islamist, not a level headed actor.”
Acc[ording] to this US soldier on the ground tonight in Syria: “The Kurds are as close to Western thinking in the Middle East as anyone. “It’s a shame. It’s horrible.” “This is not helping the ISIS fight.” Re: ISIS prisoners: “Many of them will be free in the coming days and weeks.” This US Special Forces soldier wanted me to know: “The Kurds are sticking by us. No other partner I have ever dealt with would stand by us.”
Disappointed in the decisions coming from their senior leaders.

I don’t know what the heck is going on with this policy. Maybe Trump is just giving the Turks the rope to hang themselves, but if so it’s one expensive price. But this is probably wishful thinking.

The US forces there were small in number. But it may have acted as some kind of deterrent.

Maybe the Kurds will end up with their independent state after all. I just don’t know.

“He doesn’t understand the problem. He doesn’t understand the repercussions of this. Erdogan is an Islamist, not a level headed actor.”

The "problem" is that the United States isn't in the regime change business any more.

Maybe Sgt. Emo would like to talk about his days training Islamist extremists to overthrow the Syrian government.

The United States was supposed to be in Syria for 30 days, that was many years ago. We stayed and got deeper and deeper into battle with no aim in sight. When I arrived in Washington, ISIS was running rampant in the area. We quickly defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate,.....

....including capturing thousands of ISIS fighters, mostly from Europe. But Europe did not want them back, they said you keep them USA! I said “NO, we did you a great favor and now you want us to hold them in U.S. prisons at tremendous cost. They are yours for trials.” They.....

.....again said “NO,” thinking, as usual, that the U.S. is always the “sucker,” on NATO, on Trade, on everything. The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for....

....almost 3 years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home. WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN. Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to.....

...figure the situation out, and what they want to do with the captured ISIS fighters in their “neighborhood.” They all hate ISIS, have been enemies for years. We are 7000 miles away and will crush ISIS again if they come anywhere near us!

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
7:40 AM · Oct 7, 2019

Yes it is true, but they did a crap job. Maybe from the 15th century to the 18th century they did as good as any but eventually they didn’t modernize, had a horribly inefficient tax and ministerial system and ended up overtaxing the population into a sort of apathetic revolt, with corruption and bribery etc run rampant. They ended up taxing so much because they collected so little of it with all the middle men pocketing their takes. That’s one of the reasons the Ottoman empire fell apart - WWI was just the final factor that broke whatever administrative strings they still maintained. The region was ruled by Syrians (Assyrians), Romans, Babylonians, Egyptians and plenty of others too.

Americans, surely not.

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