An effective war of attrition can enlist public opinion in Europe and the United States, and above all, stoke a mass protest in Turkey itself as its number of soldiers killed rises

By Zvi Bar’el, HAARETZ

Civilians carry their belongings as they flee amid Turkish bombardment, Ras al-Ain, October 9, 2019. AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration of the launch of a campaign against the Kurdish districts in northern Syria was accompanied by airstrikes on the city of Tal Abyad east of the Euphrates. The tactical plan of the war is still unclear, but starting it at Tal Abyad shows that the strategic intent is to take over the regions east of the Euphrates and from there continue west to link up with the Turkish forces that took control of the city of Afrin in March 2018.

Thus Turkey crossed the Americans’ red line, which so far has meant an attack-free zone as determined by agreements between Turkey and the United States.
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DEBKA

As President Recep Erdogan announced the start of a Turkish operation in northeastern Syria on Wednesday, Oct. 9, the Kurdish-led SDF reported that Turkish warplanes were striking civilian areas. Erdogan stated that he wants to create “a safe haven cleared of Kurdish militias to house a million Syrian refugees.”

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the Turkish army’s short-term goal is to establish a 100km long security belt, 30km deep, along the Syrian-Turkish border. (See attached map.) At the moment, Turkish air strikes are directed against Kurdish YPG militia’s bases and ammunition stores, while shelling them from across the border. The Turkish air force is also bombing Ras al-Ayn in the Hasakeh region east of the River Euphrates. Turkish ground forces and tanks crossed into Syria Wednesday night.
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Syrian Kurdish official says Turkish attack weakens ability to guard ISIS detainees

Reuters  13:24

Iran’s foreign ministry called on Turkey on Thursday to immediately halt its military offensive in Syria and pull its forces out of that country.

In a statement posted on its official website, the ministry expressed concern about the humanitarian situation and the dangers posed to civilians in the conflict zone.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran… emphasises (the need for) an immediate stop to the attacks and the exit of the Turkish military from Syrian territory,” it said.
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Former justice minister reiterates support for an independent Kurdistan; Blue and White’s Hauser says murder of Kurds will lead to wave of refugees, increase regional instability

By RAPHAEL AHREN, TOI 9 October 2019, 11:53 pm

Yamina party chairwoman Ayelet Shaked speaks at a Manufacturers Association conference in Tel Aviv, on September 2, 2019. (Flash90)

Yamina party chairwoman Ayelet Shaked on Wednesday reissued a call for Kurdish statehood, urging the West to support the Kurds as Turkey launched a military campaign in northern Syria.

“Our national memory requires us to revolt against violence directed against another nation. Such is the Turkish violence directed against the Kurdish people in northern Syria,” the former justice minister wrote on Facebook.

“I have said this in the past: It is in the interest of both Israel and the United States, for the security and stability of the region, that a Kurdish state be established,” she wrote.
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By Alex Marquardt Ryan Browne, CNN
Updated 2345 GMT (0745 HKT) October 9, 2019

Washington (CNN)Fears are growing among American officials that thousands of ISIS fighters may escape from prisons in Syria as the Kurdish personnel guarding them gear up for a fight with Turkey, which launched a military offensive in northeastern Syria on Wednesday.

Turkey’s assault has already had a “detrimental effect” on American counter-ISIS operations, which have “effectively stopped,” a senior US defense official told CNN on Wednesday.

The Turkish offensive, the official said, “has challenged our ability to build local security forces, conduct stabilization operations and the Syrian Democratic Forces’ [ability] to guard over 11,000 dangerous ISIS fighters.”
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Yisrael Beyteinu leader presents his plan for unity government, demands Netanyahu give up ‘haredi bloc’.

Yisrael Beyteinu leader Avigdor Liberman has presented his outline for a unity government.

The outline would feature a rotation in which Binyamin Netanyahu would be prime minister first and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz wiould be prime minister second.

Initially, only Likud, Blue and White, and Yisrael Beyteinu would be allowed in the coalition. Additional parties would be allowed to join the government only after basic issues and budgets have been settled.

Liberman’s plan includes four steps. In the first phase, a joint team will be set up for the three parties to formulate the basic lines of the unity government.

In the second stage, if agreement is reached on the basic lines, Liberman demands that the president’s outline for the prime minister’s rotation be adopted.
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T. Belman. Based on what we have been told, I totally reject what Trump has done and and his reasons for doing it. I have been so much against it, that I couldn’t believe that he would do it without an undisclosed benefit such as turning the tide against Iran. So far we have been told of nothing that would justify it.

While the attacks on the Kurds are the result, it’s hard to tell exactly why all of this is happening

BY Seth Frantzman, JPOST

Julian Borger in Washington and Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor, THE GUARDIAN

Wed 9 Oct 2019 23.06 BST  Last modified on Thu 10 Oct 2019 01.36 BST

Erdogan has recently talked about pushing even deeper into Syria, beyond the proposed ‘safe zone’ region to the cities of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, here is why

Reuters 

A looming Turkish incursion into northern Syria is set to reshape the map of the Syrian conflict once again, dealing a blow to Kurdish-led forces that have battled Islamic State while widening Turkey’s territorial control at the border.

This would be Turkey’s third such incursion since 2016. Motivated largely by the aim of containing Syrian Kurdish power, Turkey already has troops on the ground across an arc of northwestern Syria, the last stronghold of anti-Damascus rebels.

WHAT DOES TURKEY WANT?

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T. Belman. This is the best analysis of Trump’s Syrian move I have read. He has rightly put it in perspective. Essentially what he gave Turkey is a small price to pay to ensure they remain in NATO and the sunni camp.  It is this camp that is dedicated to containing Iran and pushing it out of Syria and Iraq.  In other words, the move is constructive rather than destructive as everyone is claiming.

What is left unsaid by Trump and Black is how will this coalition push Iran out of Syria and Iran.I think that both Syria and Russia are on board with this plan. Time will tell.

By Conrad Black, NY SUN,  October 9, 2019

[…]

The practical effects on the ground will depend on the extent to which Turkey adheres to its word in the informal agreement that has apparently been reached between President Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

If Turkey contents itself with eliminating Kurdish infiltration on its border with Syria, does not release the 10,000 ISIS prisoners detained there (Turkey has no more affection for ISIS than the U.S. does), and does not employ its position to further oppress the Kurds, who, at 14 million, are about 18 percent of the Turkish population, there will be no downside to these arrangements.

The Kurdish problem vastly transcends the skirmishing along the Turkish border. There are about 35 million Kurds in the world, the largest concentration being in Turkey, where they have frequently manifested a desire to secede and have often been an oppressed minority. There are broadly 6 million in each of Iraq and Iran, and just 2 million in Syria, and the rest are scattered, including almost 2 million in Germany.
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By James Stansbury, AMERICAN THINKER

Recently, I viewed a 12-minute YouTube video by Tony Heller, released 9/20/2019.  He described it as “my gift to climate alarmists” and added: “This is my most concise expose of climate fraud.  Please pass it around to everyone you know and your elected officials.  The video is a little short, but cuts right to the heart of the matter.”  Be advised that the video is totally devoid of slick Hollywood production techniques, and the narration is monotone, but does cut to the heart of the matter.

Before sharing, I took the precaution of researching Tony Heller.  Google listed several negative references up front that basically discredited him as a climate science–denying fraud.  However, digging deeper, I found he is well educated, often contributes to Watts Up With That?, and has occasionally used the pen name Steven Goddard.  His rather uniquely formatted website, titled Real Climate Science, contains his unorthodox yet impressive résumé.  Here was found evidence that Scott Adams of Dilbert fame considers Tony the skeptic he finds most convincing.
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T. Belman. To date, Trump has not made clear what lands he is abandoning to the Turks.  The US controls 30% of Syria being the lands to the east of the Euphrates.  It may be that he was only referring to the small safe zone adjacent to Turkey. If so then the Turks will be assuming the responsibility for the ISIS prisoners in that zone.

If this is all that is involved, its not a big deal at all and very little has changed and the Kurds have not been abandonned at all.

BY TOM O’CONNOR, NEWSWEEK 

Local and international players have begun reacting to President Donald Trump’s stated plans to pull troops out from northern Syria after an apparent deal with his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In the two days since the White House announced that the U.S. military would “no longer be in the immediate area” as Turkish forces prepared to occupy northern Syria, there have no reports of major movements indicating Ankara’s entrance or Washington’s withdrawal from the region. Russia, which has worked alongside Turkey despite representing opposing sides in the eight-year civil war in Syria, said Tuesday it had yet to be informed of any such operation.

“No one sent notifications,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. “We don’t know yet what troops are being withdrawn, from what areas, and whether they are being pulled out at all.”
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Maxim A. Suchkov, AL MONITOR October 8, 2019

Hours after Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” Turkey’s economy should Ankara do anything that he considers “off limits,” Moscow struck a different tone. On Oct. 7, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, following the drawdown of US troops and the launch of the Turkish operation, reiterated Russia’s recognition of “Turkey’s right to ensure its security,” but conditioned it with several important don’ts.

“We haven’t been informed on the American pullout,” Peskov said. “But you know, there were different statements about withdrawals from other parts of the world that have never materialized. We are observing the situation carefully.” He also denied that Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan had discussed Ankara’s plans to carry out a military operation in northeastern Syria. Yet he did say that the “Russian and Turkish militaries and intelligence agencies maintain close contact.”

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By  Yishai Fleisher, DailyWire.com

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The recent attack on Saudi Arabian oil is a watershed moment in the Middle East balance of power. It is also an opportunity.

It is yet unclear what exactly happened. A combination of drones and missiles coming directly from Iran or from their associates — the Houth rebels in Yemen — struck at the Khurais oil field and the al-Abqaiq facility, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing plant. The strike may have knocked out potentially half of the Saudi oil production, and has already affected global crude oil prices.

Sword Dancing is Not Enough

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Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked says she’s not interested in ministerial appointments but in forming gov’t, joining Likud ‘not on the agenda.’

By Haim Lev, INN  07/10/19 14:30

MK Ayelet Shaked, who chairs the Yamina party, on Monday morning said her efforts are concentrated on forming a government, not on herself and Yamina leader MK Naftali Bennett being appointed ministers.
Though she admitted that she and Bennett were fired in an “ugly” fashion, she emphasized to Kol Barama Radio: that “We’re not dealing with that right now. If the time comes we’ll talk about it. We were fired in a very ugly manner, and it was ugly, but right now that’s not relevant, and what’s important is that a government is formed.”

Regarding the fact that Yamina has not yet split into its various factions, as it agreed to do in the merger agreement, Shaked said: “It hasn’t happened because the MKs have not been able to be present in the Knesset. That is the agreement, but I think it would be better to remain together. We’re not talking about joining with the Likud, and that’s not on the agenda. No one has talked to us about it.”
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Pro-Assad, Russian forces prepare to face Turkish forces as US withdrawal clears way for new conflict.

By Yochanan Visser, INN

The United States “is hatching a new war zone in northern Syria” read the headline above a report about US President Trump’s sudden decision to withdraw his military from what is called by the Kurds Rojava, the Kurdish autonomous cantons along the Turkish border in Syria.

Trump apparently took the decision without consulting anyone and after a telephone conversation with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is the only world leader who considers the Kurds of the Syrian Democratic Forces ‘terrorists’.

Following the latest reports about the developments in northern Syria one could say the headline hit the nail on the head.
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T. Belman. Most reports on the protests make little mention of the desire to kick Iran out of Iraq. This report is an exception. I have highlighted all mentions of Iran in this report.

I believe that this is an orchestrated effort to rid Iraq of the Iranian infiltration and influence.

By Hollie McKay | Fox News

Two protestors were killed, hundreds more wounded as Iraqis protest the country’s deteriorating economy.

A small window of calm settled on the Baghdad streets on Sunday, following five days of violent protests. But, at dusk, the mayhem ricocheted once again through the Iraqi capital and southern cities with a clear message from civilians: Cut the corruption and provide essential services, and get Iran and its proxies out of government.

“Protesters are being burned with hot water, tear gas, and by live fire. We are poor people, and the Iranian-backed militias are doing this to us. They are even coming to the hospitals to kill the (wounded) protestors,” Abbas Naji, 24, who previously worked in hospitality in the southern city of Nasiriya, but for four years has been unable to find a job, told Fox News. “We Iraqis are against the existence of militias because they are a danger to us, and we are determined to continue this movement because we need jobs, and we need our services improved.”

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By Jack Detsch, AL MONITOR,   October 7, 2019

The Pentagon fought back against President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to remove US troops from northeast Syria to allow a Turkish operation, a senior administration official told Al-Monitor on Monday.

In internal US administration discussions before the White House announced Trump’s decision, Pentagon officials argued that Turkey had used negotiations for a northeast ‘safe zone’ to scout a military operation against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, known as the SDF.

“Certainly not a surprise to most, the [Department of Defense] opposed the decision to allow the Turkish operation,” a senior administration official told Al-Monitor. The official added, “We have spent considerable time and effort to build the safe zone under the expressed idea that it would appease the Turks and prevent an incursion. The Turks just used it as a way to conduct reconnaissance for their operation. That was completely deceptive on their part.”

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