[mac_truck]

To my mind....Turkey is the bad guy and an instigator.

Don't forget NATO partner also...Article 5 and all that.

[Bookshelf]

There is activity on two fronts. We have stated that we are pulling our troops from Syria, to wit, the Middle Euphrates River valley and the Deir Ez-Zor borderland with Iraq. Second, the Turks are threatening Kurdish occupation of the far northeasternmost province of Syria. This salient (it is like a finger sticking out on land west of the Tigris River) is home to a predominant Kurdish population. It is protected by the US whose presence in Iraqi Kurdistan has passed without notice. In this region, Turkish threats not only threaten Kurdish occupation (a fait accompli), but direct conflict with US forces.
Sooner or later Turkey and the US will come to blows. Count on it.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Don't forget NATO partner also...Article 5 and all that."

Article 5 kicks in if a NATO ally is attacked. If the NATO ally does the attacking, they are on their own.