Guerilla Attack in Northern Syria Kills 2 Coalition Commandos, Wounds 5

Start of a new NATO vs NATO war? Possible US and British soldiers were killed by a Turkish-backed group

Or is it the start of a pro-Assad insurgency? ISIS vengeance? Or a personal vendetta? Anything is possible in this one

Thursday a US special forces soldier, and a British SAS commando were killed, and five others wounded, when a roadside bomb was detonated in the Syrian city of Manbij next to a van with the soldiers.

The blast was actually rather small but deadly as the civilian Hyundai van is not armored. Locals speculate it may have even been a hand grenade attack and not a roadside bomb at all. Two Kurdish female fighters were also wounded in the attack. The attack took place late at night (past curfew) in what has been described as an “isolated” neighborhood with narrow streets.

This all sounds like the blast may have interrupted a randevous between the Anglo-Americans and the Kurdish females. This also means the motivation for the attack could have been personal. But if it wasn’t — if the attack was political it raises the question of who struck and why?

https://twitter.com/Emrys56/status/980106275504582657

Manbij region is under the control of Kurdish-dominated US-augmented SDF but is solidly Syrian Arab. The populace seemed to welcome the eviction of ISIS in 2016 (if not the widescale destruction visited on their city in the process) but there have also been a number of protests against the Kurds and Kurdish-appointed authorities where support for the national government in Damascus was expressed openly.

In August 2017 a new armed group, Harakat al-Qiyam announced its existence in Manbij and elsewhere in northern Syria and pronounced its intention to combat the SDF and expel Kurdish militias from Arab-majority northern Syrian regions. The group exhibits pro-rebel sympathies (rather than sympathies for the sitting Syrian government in Damascus) and is suspected to receive Turkish support, or may have even been initiated by the Turks. Since then they have carried out a few attacks against the Kurds in Manbij including using roadside bombs.

So who blew up the Anglo-American soldiers? Is this the start of a new guerilla war to evict the US from Syria?

It could have been stay-behind ISIS remnants, however ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the attack which they almost always do when it’s them (and often when it is not).

It could have been a hitherto unknown pro-government group. As seen there is popular support for the Assad-led order in Manbij and such a group, devoted to expelling the Kurdish militias, has announced its existence in Kurdish-held Raqqa. Then again no such organization is known to exist in Manbij and this would have been their first strike.

Perhaps the most likely option, and certainly the most interesting one, is that this was the work of Harakat al-Qiyam or a similar outfit. Which would mean that a Turkish-backed group has killed American and British troops. On the frontlines outside Manbij Turkish-backed rebels regularly take potshots at US troops who regularly fire back. But so far these skirmishes have not caused any reported US casualties. Now it seems Turkish-backed guerillas operating from inside Manbij may have drawn blood. The tabloid Daily Mail says that UK military suspects just that:

SAS sources also revealed last night how the terrorists who planted the bomb could belong to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), an affiliation of militia, including jihadi elements, which is backed by Turkey. If the investigation into the incident concludes this was the case, it could lead to a diplomatic row with Turkey, a Nato member.

Even more intriguingly the tabloid claims Anglo-Americans have been clashing and sustaining casualties in Manbij for weeks now:

The Mail on Sunday has been told how other British Special Forces troops have been wounded in separate clashes with jihadis in Manbij in recent weeks – and that Sgt Tonroe and his colleagues had been due to withdraw from the area just days before he was killed. This was not confirmed by the MoD – it does not disclose any details about SAS operations.

This would mean there now exists a proxy war between NATO members US and UK, and Turkey which is killing American and British soldiers.This would truly be a fascinating development as it would mean there is a bloody NATO-on-NATO war. Or maybe it wasn’t Harakat al-Qiyam at all, but a fragging by a jealous boyfriend? The future will tell.

2 Comments
  1. Tim Rutkevich says

    The chain dogs raised by NATO coalition in Syria, now Killing US and UK soldiers.

  2. […] di una rivolta pro-Assad? Vendetta dello SIIL? O personale? Tutto è possibile Marko Marjanovich Checkpoint Asia 2 aprile […]

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