ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

(to the northwest from Aleppo):

Caz-nODWIAA6Bih.jpg

OK three sources now:
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has been captured by
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(I also saw Rebels' denial though)
 
I noticed through gazeta.ru
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according to The Guardian
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Turkey's rising tension with Russia over Kurds puts Erdoğan in a corner
Escalating tension between
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and Turkey will reach a new high when the Democratic Union party (PYD), the leading Kurdish political organisation in north-eastern Syria, which Ankara regards as a terrorist group, opens a representative office in Moscow on Wednesday at Vladimir Putin’s personal invitation.

The development comes amid a dangerous tug-of-war between Russia and the US for power and influence in strategic areas along the Turkey-Syria border. Washington backs the Syrian
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in fighting Islamic State (Isis) jihadis. Moscow’s priority is to thwart western-backed efforts to topple Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime.

Turkey is caught in the middle. Its biggest fear is that the PYD could establish autonomous control over large areas of northern Syria,
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and encouraging Turkey’s alienated ethnic Kurdish population to follow suit.

“Our ambition is to rally support behind our Kurdish enclave in Syria through this office,” said Abdulsalam Ali, the
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who is a member of the PYD.

Ankara says the PYD is in league with the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), a long-time foe that its security forces are currently battling in urban areas of south-east Turkey. Like
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, the US deems the PKK a terrorist organisation, but it does not extend the definition to the PYD. Moscow recognises both the PKK and PYD as legitimate actors.

Wednesday’s opening ceremony in Moscow, which is expected to be attended by Russian foreign ministry officials, is seen by Turkish politicians and analysts as a deliberate provocation and part of a wider bid to expand Russian regional influence.

In Turkish eyes, the move stems from a Putin vendetta that began last November after a Russian warplane entered Turkish airspace from Syria and was shot down. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, rejected Putin’s demand for an apology and compensation and has called on Nato for support. On Monday,
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Turkey has come under additional pressure in recent days as Russian military backing for Assad’s forces has tipped the balance against rebel forces around Aleppo and sent tens of thousands of additional Syrian refugees to its border. This in turn has led to more pressure on Ankara from European states and aid organisations.

Russian forces have also stepped up attacks on Syria’s Turkmen minority, whose fighters killed one of the pilots of the downed Russian bomber and have allegedly given military assistance to the PYD’s military wing,
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– a claim largely denied by Moscow.

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blame Turkey for contributing to last week’s failure to advance Syrian peace talks in Geneva, after Erdoğan vetoed PYD participation. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned last month that the talks would collapse if the Kurds were excluded.

An exasperated Erdoğan replied that peace talks were pointless while Russia continued to kill people in
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. “In an environment where children are still being killed, such attempts do not have any function apart from making things easier for the tyrant [Assad],” Erdoğan said. Independent estimates suggest 1,400 civilians have been killed by Russian military action since October.

Erdoğan, penned in on all sides,
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after a senior US official met YPG leaders in Kobani, Syria, last week, apparently to offer reassurance after their exclusion from Geneva. The delegation included Brett McGurk, US special envoy on Isis.

“He [McGurk] visits Kobani at the time of the Geneva talks and is awarded a plaque by a so-called YPG general? How can we trust you [the US]? Is it me who is your partner or the terrorists in Kobani?” Erdoğan demanded. Last June, the Turkish president vowed that he would never allow a Kurdish state in northern Syria. To him, McGurk’s visit must have suggested tentative US recognition of just such an entity.

Visiting Turkey last month,
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, the US vice-president, was shown a border map that identified several places where Turkish officials claimed Syrian Kurdish fighters have been diverting US-made weapons and ammunition intended for use against Isis to the PKK. Biden was reportedly told the arms smuggling was unacceptable and that Turkey was prepared to bomb Washington’s allies in Syria if it continued.

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, including intervention on the ground, in Kurdish areas of northern Syria have surfaced in Turkish media. For its part, Russia insisted last week that renewed Turkish accusations of airspace violations were cover for Ankara’s threatening military plans.

“The Russian defence ministry has registered a growing number of signs of hidden preparation by the Turkish armed forces for action in Syrian territory,” a ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said. Turkish forces have frequently intervened in the past in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq and
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A big, new military operation against Kurdish strongholds, in defiance of both Russia and the US, would be a sign of Erdoğan’s desperation, marking a potentially catastrophic spreading of the Syrian conflict.
source:
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Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
I generally don't post RT stories but here's one of them:
US A-10s bombed city of Aleppo on Wednesday, shifted blame onto Moscow – Russian military
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and its denial:
U.S. says Russian reports of U.S. strikes in Aleppo are a fabrication
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There is NO WAY the US can or will lie about whether or not US A-10s struck Aleppo, if the US says we didn't, we didn't. There are way to many "eyes on" all US ops, as many liberals in high-ranking govt positions would have a literal "KRAP hemmorage" if we indiscriminately targeted civilians or otherwise innocents in our very reserved/careful attacks on ISIS!

If we had done it, there would already be an official investigation ongoing.
 
noticed as breaking news at gazeta.ru
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World Powers Agree to Syria Ceasefire, Kerry Says
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but I quit right at "The deal announced in Munich in the early morning on Friday, local time, ..." because for 77 and a half years now in Central Europe we've been arguing about "deal announced in Munich in the early morning on Friday" September 30, 1938 (by the way I've been active in this debates, which of course would be off topic here)
 
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