Hillarious: US and Turkey Strike a “Deal” That Syrian and Kurdish Fighters Will Withdraw, Cede Northern Syria to Turks
'Massive success' for Trump as Turkey confirms it won't shoot if it gets everything it wants without a fight
What an amazing diplomatic success for POTUS. He struck a deal whereby the Turkish invading army will conduct a 120-hour “operational halt” to allow the YPG and the Syrian army to capitulate and give the Turks everything that they want without fighting:
For a 5-day pause in large-scale offensive operations Turkey got the US to sign under its demands for a massive 14,000 km2 occupation zone in Syria, and the full disarmament of YPG:
Turkish foreign minister denies deal with US on north Syria is a ceasefire. This is only a pause in military operations and after Kurdish fighters leave the area only then will there will be a halt in the operation.
— Ayla Jean Yackley (@aylajean) October 17, 2019
Cavusoglu says the buffer zone will run 444-km long to the Iraqi border and be 32 km deep (again the length of the "safe zone" Turkey has sought). Erdogan will discuss areas outside of that, like Manbij, with Putin later this month.
— Ayla Jean Yackley (@aylajean) October 17, 2019
The deal includes disarming the Kurdish militia, Cavusoglu says.
— Ayla Jean Yackley (@aylajean) October 17, 2019
Hillarious. Trump has gone from saying the two should “fight it out” to mandating that the Kurds (nobody is even talking about Damascus) acquisce to everything Turkey wants in Syria, and hyping this as an amazing deal he was able to get for the Kurds thanks to his sanctions threat against Turkey.
A senior US official tells me that the announced deal "is essentially the US validating what Turkey did and allowing them to annex a portion of Syria and displace the Kurdish population. This is what Turkey wanted…" https://t.co/F4lrZSvkx6
— Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) October 17, 2019
Turkey confirms it will stop shooting if the #YPG surrenders
And apparently that's a ceasefire https://t.co/B38QZA63mN
— Jennifer Cafarella (@JennyCafarella) October 17, 2019
The US has no leverage. The Syrian governemnt and the Kurds have already rejected the US-Turkish fantasy as having nothing to do with them. That is the Kurds have said they welcome the “cease-fire” part and will indeed “cease firing” but haven’t said they will necessarily meet any of the other demands.
https://twitter.com/bitteranagram/status/1184908881413079040
Trump should stop embarassing himself. If there is a negotatied settlement to be had it will have come out of negotiations between Damascus and Ankara, not Washington and Turkey.
Indeed there might be middle ground if the YPG withdraws but the border zone is taken over by the Syrian army rather than the Turkish one. But may that be too reasonable for Erdogan?
Erdogan changed the demographics of the previously Kurdish Afrin enclave in NW Syria and would love to be able to do the same to Hasaka and Kobani and thereby extinguish once and for all Kurdish secessionism in Syria, as well as expanding its Syrian Islamist emirate. However by this time it must be dawning on him that that is no longer militarily and politically feasible. Ie the international fallout and military casualties would be too high.
when you’re in a state of rapture like pompous pompeo and the pig farmer from indiana reality takes on a different meaning
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Netanyahu has loudly called for the US to keep a contingent of troops in Syria, which of course could really mess things up.
His voice carries weight with both parties in Congress.
One just hopes that Trump can stick to the arrangements in place which provide the foundations for long-term peace.
But Trump is someone who never stops responding, just as he never stops tweeting on almost any subject, never stops trying to look as though he is at the very center of events, and in control, and that does represent a danger.
Thank Goodness for the steady hand and sound mind of Vladimir Putin working quietly away.
The DC dog and pony show never ends .