by Seth J. Frantzman and Dr. Eric R. Mandel, MEPIN
After training almost 100,000 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria the US suddenly announced a withdrawal, without a road map to stability.
In 2016, Donald Trump excoriated the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq in 2011 after the successful American surge in Iraq under President George W. Bush had stabilized the country. He blamed the US withdrawal for the rise of Islamic State (ISIS). His analysis was correct, that the American withdrawal led to the rise of sectarian violence, particularly at the hands of Iraqi Shi’ite strongman Nouri al-Maliki. ISIS was able to gain a greater foothold as a result.
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T. Belman. This should have been done before the pullout. There would have been no need for Syrian troops. I always thought that Trump was using Eastern Syria as a bargaining chip when the ultimate disposition of eastern Syria was dealt with. He obviously squandered his strong position for nothing.
Pence must not start with the proposition that Turkey has the need to create a safe zone in Syria. Turkey must make the case for its necessity. I see no evidence of the need. Also I read that Turkey never agreed to be respomnsible for the containment of ISIS. Surely the Syrian refugees in Turkey required international agreement as to their disposal.
Finally why not leave it to Syria and Russia “to stop the invasion of Syria?” I thought that Trump wanted to wash his hands of of the interminable war, or so he said.
Vice president says Trump spoke with Erdogan and asked him to to ‘stop the invasion;’ US is ‘simply not going to tolerate Turkey’s invasion of Syria any longer’
By SHAUN TANDON, TOI Today, 3:33 am
Vice President Mike Pence, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Monday, Oct. 14, 2019, in Washington. The US is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Turkey’s strikes against Kurds in Syria, and is sending Pence to lead mediation effort (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Monday urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “stop the invasion” of Syria, Vice President Mike Pence said.
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There has been much speculation about the famous and controversial explorer’s origins.
Jewish filiopietists, as well as several non?Jewish historians, have speculated that the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” was a Jew. They note that the Spanish name, Colon, was a not uncommon one in Hebrew tradition; that his father was a weaver, one of the few trades open to Jews in his native Genoa; that his mother, Susanna Fonterossa, was the daughter of Jacobo Fonterossa and granddaughter of Abraham Fonterossa [also common Jewish names].
The hypothesizing has been extensive, and Columbus himself doubtless was responsible for much of it. His letters in the Archives [the Archives of the Indies in Seville] drop tantalizing hints:
I am not the first admiral of my family, let them give me whatever name they please; for when all is done, David, that most prudent king, was first a shepherd and afterward chosen King of Jerusalem, and I am a servant of that same Lord who raised him to such a dignity.
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T. Belman. Let me be perfectly clear. If the only justification for the relocating of US troops, was getting out of the Syrian War, I totally condemn it. The area has been stable for quite some time so why fix what isn’t broken. If the justification was that Turkey was going to invade, the US should have called Turkey’s bluff, not the other way around.
A couple of days later, Trump sent US troops to Saudi Arabia. Thus the argument that Trump raised for removing troops was bullshit. Also, he just relocated the the US troops to the south.
As a result of Trump’s removal of troops, everything has changed. So we must ask whether trump wanted this change and if that was the reason for the removal.
Turkish media, all supporting the invasion, would call the murder of Khalaf a “neutralization” of a “terrorist.”
The US decision on October 6 threw the future of eastern Syria up in the air, leaving whoever captures it the winner of America’s withdrawal.
The withdrawal comes after years of American involvement in helping the mostly Kurdish fighters defeat ISIS, and years in which the Kurds had fended for themselves amid the Syrian civil war, a Turkish invasion, brutal atrocities by Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups, and a deal with Moscow and Damascus sealed the fate of eastern Syria. Some 200,000 people have fled their homes, a well-known Kurdish female politician, Hevrin Khalaf, her driver and several others were killed by fighters supposedly allied with Ankara on a road outside Tel Abyad in northern Syria, and uncertainty remains as thousands of ISIS supporters appear ready to flee their detention facilities.
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Israeli voters have clearly expressed their preference for a right wing coalition Government led by Netanyahu – 1,973,246 votes – over a left wing coalition Government led by Gantz – 1,556,491 votes.
An opening to ending Israel’s election deadlock has come after Yisrael Beyteinu faction chairman Oded Forer sent a formal letter to the head of the Likud’s coalition negotiating team, Yariv Levin, on 11 October, asking for negotiations on the policy guidelines for the next government.
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin should exploit this opening to try and save Israel going to a third election in twelve months – by summoning Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitienu head Avigdor Liberman to the President’s residence for negotiations on forming a Netanyahu-Liberman coalition Government.
Rivlin’s attempt to get Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form a Government of National Unity failed quite spectacularly and in a very short time.
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A senior leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Monday their deal with the Syrian regime for the entry of government forces into Kurdish-held territory does not cover Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad), where conflict with Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies is currently raging.
“As per what we have requested, [the deal will cover] Derik (Al-Malikiyah) until Sare Kaniye, and on the other side from Gire Spi, where there is no clash, until Kobane and Manbij,” Aldar Khalil, told SDF-affiliated Ronahi TV.
“We have to raise the Syrian flag in all these areas to show there are Syrian soldiers present. We cannot enter conflict areas,” added Khalil.
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T. Belman. Trump has been open to this deal for a couple of years now but it was rejected by the SDF. The tail was wagging the dog. Trump’s withdrawal of forces, forced the Kurds to compromise which they just did. Also it pitted Turkey against Russia thereby stopping their budding romance. Yes some lives were lost but the result I think is good for the US and the Kurds. The only question is how are they going to push Iran out?
Syrian army defends threatened Kurdish towns
DEBKA Oct 14, 2019 @ 9:09
President Donald Trump’s decision to pull US troops back from the Turkish-Kurdish confrontation on Sunday, Oct.13 produced a lightning realignment of big power strength on the battlefield of NE Syria: the task of protecting the Kurds from the excesses of the Turkish operation passed to Vladimir Putin and the Syrian army. By Monday, Syrian government forces had reached the Kurdish-held towns of Kobani, Manbij and Raqqa as Turkish troops were poised to move in against the first two. According to some reports, the Syrian army was already inside those towns, but, say DEBKAfile’s military sources, it can’t hold out against a Turkish advance without Russian support.
By Michael Curtis, AMERICAN THINKER
They don’t appear too often, musical geniuses, and when they do, they sometimes die too young. Of these immortals, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at 35, and George Gershwin, originally named Jacob Gershowitz, born of Jewish Ukrainian and Lithuanian parents, in Brooklyn in 1898, died in Los Angeles of a brain tumor at 38.
Mozart began composing at age 5, composed over 600 works, symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral. His friend Joseph Haydn said of him, “Posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.” Haydn was almost exactly right. Gershwin, who began playing piano at 10, and left school at 15 and became a song-plugger in Tin Pan Alley, began composing at 17, a song that earned him 50 cents, and wrote popular, jazz, and classical music, combining highbrow and lowbrow sensibilities.
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T. Belman. The last sentance of this article. “There is more pressure on NES to reach an agreement with Damascus due to US President Donald Trump’s repeated statements expressing his desire to leave Syria.” obviously Trump’s withdrawal forced the issue. The Kurds were being too intransigent.
Sept 20/19
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US envoy to the international anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition said on Friday that the US will work to stop “penetration” from the Syrian regime into Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria.
James Jeffrey’s comments to The Defense Post come a day after the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threatened to remove Kurdish forces from the area.
“The relevant international position which we adhere to is U.N. Resolution 2254, which makes it clear that there should be a nationwide ceasefire and nobody should be trying to obtain further terrain from anybody else, and that definitely includes the Assad regime,” Jeffery told The Defense Post. “So that’s our position.”
T. Belman. I refuse to join the Trump pile on. Although it is easy to be critical of Trump’s withdrawal of forces, I maintain that he is serving a hidden agenda, which, when achieved, will validate his withdrawal.
Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted on Sunday. “This decision by President Trump will be a game changer – in all the wrong ways – for Turkey.” I believe that too.
Syrian troops have already entered the fray pursuant to an agreement between Syria and the Kurds. “We know that we would have to make painful compromises with Moscow and Bashar al-Assad if we go down the road of working with them,” Mazlum Abdi, the overall commander of SDF forces, said in an op-ed published by Foreign Policy magazine on Sunday.
BY
Johny Messo, President of the World Council of Arameans (WCA; indigenous Syriac speaking Middle Eastern Christians), has written thoughtfully and sympathetically about Zionism as a (belated) prototype for “Arameanism,” though he guardedly refrains from “championing” Zionism, outright, today. Mr. Messo, nonetheless, does not appear to have imbibed in any way the vitriolic Antisemitic persuasions one too frequently encounters, sadly, among Middle Eastern Christians (rooted in continued promotion of the Deicide allegation, and rejection of Vatican II’s ecumenism toward Jews and Judaism). Indeed, Mr. Messo expressed his sincere gratitude when Israel became the first nation to officially recognize Aramean during September, 2014, as a unique national identity within its population registry, and the WCA invited the first registered Aramean from Israel to present a statement of recognition on behalf of the Arameans worldwide at the U.N. The WCA’s press release a month later further included this remarkable statement about Israel’s indigenous Christian population, and their growing tendency to reject “Arabization”—consistent with Messo’s earlier sympathetic posture toward Zionism:
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syria’s army have begun advancing towards the Kurdish-controlled northern towns of Kobani and Manbij on Sunday, the Kurdish-led administration of northeast Syria said, after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)and Damascus negotiated a deal to prevent further Turkish advances in the area.
With Operation Peace Spring, Turkey aims to clear its border with Syria, to settle the Kurdish-majority area with up to three million, mostly Arab refugees in what opponents call demographic re-engineering.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) announced the deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in a Sunday evening statement.
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Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the move came after the US learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than had been expected.
And the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are seeking a deal with the Syrian regime and Russia to counter-attack against the Turks in the north, Esper added.
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In democracies, minority groups will often embrace one political party and cling to that attachment irrespective of changing political circumstances. This seems especially true of minorities that have experienced discrimination, marginalization, and other forms of abuse.
In America, the groups that have been most closely attached to the Democrat Party for virtually the last century are African Americans and Jews. Even consideration in the abstract of the wisdom of being predictably committed to one party would suggest likely more negative than positive consequences – for example, being taken for granted by that party while given up on and not pursued by the other – and experience has borne that out.
Germany, the country that did its best to exterminate the Jewish people, promised in the 1950s to devote its energies to healing this terrible wound. Yet in recent years, it has stood by as hatred against Jews and Israel has risen.
Fiamma Nirenstein, ISRAEL HAYOM
Last modified: 2019-10-13 09:19
As I write these lines in Jerusalem, Yom Kippur has just come to an end. The news has just reached us that during the holiday, a synagogue was attacked in the German city of Halle, and that two people have been killed.
According to the media reports, the assailant, all of 27-years-old and a neo-Nazi, attempted to force his way into a synagogue to massacre those inside. At the time of this writing, no further details are known. But while much about the attack remains unclear, one thing is certain: This crime occurred in the country with the greatest obligation of any in the world to eradicate antisemitism.
In the first months of this year alone, there were 400 antisemitic incidents reported in the country.
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It’s still unclear whether Israel’s next election will be in four years or four months. But either way, if the center-right wants a better outcome, it needs to learn the lessons of September’s election. So here are two: First, while center-right voters realize that many things leftists deem “anti-democratic” actually aren’t, they dislike behavior that’s genuinely anti-democratic. Second, though the Arab parties are shunned deservedly, treating all Israeli Arabs as anti-Israel is both wrong and counterproductive.
In April’s election, the nonreligious center-right parties (Likud and Kulanu) won a combined 39 seats running separately. But in September, running together, they won just 32 seats. Moreover, most of those lost votes didn’t stay in the center-right/religious bloc: Though the bloc as a whole lost only five seats, that was mainly because fewer religious Zionist votes were wasted on parties that didn’t make it into the Knesset.
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Turkey’s Syria invasion following US withdrawal of its troops means that all bets are now off in the Middle East
By invading northern Syria last week, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an achieved what many thought impossible – uniting all the regional countries and rival powers with a stake in the country in furious opposition to what they see as a reckless, destabilising move.
A truculent nationalist-populist with dictatorial tendencies, Erdo?an has often cast himself as one man against the world during 16 consecutive years as Turkey’s prime minister and president. Now he really is on his own.
www.verygoodnewsisrael.
In the 13th Oct 19 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
T. Belman. Greenblatt said “The dispute over the territory is a question that can only be resolved in the context of direct negotiations between the parties,” If that is the starting principle there is no peace in sight because there will be no negotiated sharing of the land.
That doesn’t sound realistic to me.
What needs to be done is the US must cede the lands west of the Jordan R to Israel just as it ceded the Golan Heights to Israel. Nothing else will work.
Outgoing US envoy sums up his work, discusses peace plan. “No one can put forth a plan that everyone will embrace.”
By Yoni Kempinski, ARUTZ SHEVA
Arutz Sheva spoke with outgoing White House Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt, who discussed the US peace plan and summed up his work.
What can you tell us at this stage about the peace plan, when will it be released?
There isn’t much that our team will reveal about our vision for peace until it’s officially released – which we have always said will be when the time is right. Most people who understand the complexity of the conflict know that only a realistic solution has a chance at ending it. It’s our hope that our vision can advance the cause of peace and bring people together to start a productive, realistic discussion – even if it’s not embraced immediately. But it’s important to remember that nobody can force this vision upon anyone. When the plan is released, it will be up to both sides to decide how to proceed. When the vision is released, we hope that both parties will read it carefully and not make any hasty decisions. We fully expect criticism from all sides. No one can put forth a plan that everyone will embrace. But we believe our plan is a realistic and implementable plan, one which can significantly improve the lives of millions of people.
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T. Belman. DEBKA is wrong to say both the US and Russia have created no-fly zones. I see no evidence of that in reports.
The Turkish push into northeastern Syria started with the aim of conquering three border towns, Ras al-Ayn, Tel Abyad and Ain al Issa, held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). By Saturday, Oct. 12, Day 4, that triple object proved beyond the Turkish army’s strength without bringing in substantial foot and armored reinforcements and incurring many casualties, say DEBKAfile’s military sources. Turkey therefore decided to start with two targets, grabbing the outskirts of Ras al-Ayn and sections of the key M4 highway near Ain al Issa. (On Saturday afternoon, Turkish sources claimed that the town had fallen.) If Ras al-Ayn was really in their hands, which other sources deny, Turkish troops would be able to surround and overwhelm the SDF force defending the town of Kobani.
To prevent this happening, the US last week sent a small Marine force to take up position in the northeast town of Kobani and on the hill overlooking the M4. On Friday, this force came under Turkish artillery fire, which caused no harm. Turkey claimed it was “a mistake,” which is hard to believe since the Turkish officers have detailed maps of the locations of US forces in the region. At all events, by Saturday, M4 had not been captured by the Turks.
HUDSON INSTITUTE
Soldiers at a staging area for the Turkish Armed Forces in the Turkish town of Akcakale along the border with the Syrian town of Tall Abyad. (Photo by Anas Alkharboutli/picture alliance via Getty Images)
This week the U.S. withdrew forces from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to wage a military offensive against the region’s Syrian Kurdish fighters. Is President Trump fulfilling a campaign promise to reduce military entanglements, or abandoning a key ally in the mission to eradicate ISIS?
Online and offline, Hudson experts are debating Turkey’s actions and the risks of a U.S. pullback from Syria. Below, find some of their key arguments, and join us next Tuesday as Hudson experts Blaise Misztal and Michael Doran go head-to-head on the issue.
