Trump’s Syrian Maneuver Works

– President Erdogan Asks for Negotiations With Kurds in Syria

President Trump has played this out perfectly.  By isolating Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and effectively leaving him naked to an alliance of his enemies, Erdogan is now urgently asking for the U.S. to mediate peace negotiations with Kurdish forces.

This request happens immediately after President Trump signed an executive order [See Here] triggering the sanction authority of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.  Erdogan called the White House requesting an urgent phone call with President Trump.

After President Trump talked to Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, President Trump then discussed the options available to President Erdogan.  As a result of that conversation, Erdogan requested the U.S. mediate negotiations.

October 16, 2019 | 2 Comments »

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  1. The Kurdish news service Rudaw reported on Tuesday that elements of the Islamic State (ISIS) are taking advantage of Turkey’s invasion of Syria to increase the tempo of their own attacks on positions held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

    Rudaw wrote that ISIS is hitting the SDF from the south while the Turkish army and its Syrian proxies hammer them from the north:

    With the SDF distracted by the Turkish invasion, emboldened ISIS sleeper cells have upped their attacks on the force, most recently near the al-Hol camp where tens of thousands of ISIS families and supporters are being held. As detainees staged riots inside the camp, militants targeted a vehicle belonging to the SDF in the vicinity of the camp on Sunday, killing and injuring a number of fighters.

    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/10/15/kurds-say-isis-launching-attacks-turkish-invasion-continues/

  2. Entry of radical Islamist forces into northern Syria is disturbing,’ ex-Israeli intelligence official says

    According to Israeli intelligence expert Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, while events in northeast Syria are still at an early stage, there’s already a lot to worry about, from the resurgence of ISIS to Iran exploiting the situation to create a land corridor.


    By Yaakov Lappin

    (October 15, 2019 / JNS) Israel has been closely monitoring Turkey’s brutal offensive against the Kurds in northeast Syria in recent days.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Turkish invasion on Oct. 10, stating that Israel “warns against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies,” and that “Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the gallant Kurdish people.”

    However, Israel’s concerns with regard to the Turkish operation extend beyond Ankara’s conflict with the Kurds.

    Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s research division and director general of Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, told JNS that the strengthening of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated extremist Sunni forces in northeast Syria “should disturb us.” He stressed that Turkey had launched its offensive with “problematic, radical forces, who are exploiting the U.S.’s wish to leave this area.” Continue article at https://www.jns.org/developments-in-northern-syria-disturbing-for-israel/