Civilians flee the fighting in Syria. NBC News/AFP/Getty.
Turkey has launched their invasion of the Syrian border area long controlled by the Kurds. NBC News. The Turks have launched airstrikes and people are beginning to flee the area. The Turks claim they are trying to prevent terror attacks and set up a "safe zone" in Syria to return refugees. However, it is generally accepted that their true goal is to attack the Kurds. The Kurds have been a long-time US ally in the fight against ISIS but America pulled troops out of the area of the attack. Though military force isn't being considered to defend the Kurds, President Trump warned of sanctions and had the Ambassador to Turkey warn against the Turks killing civilians or endangering US troops.
My Comment:
I'm fairly puzzled by the reaction to this. This is not the first time that the Turks have invaded Syria to attack the Kurds. Did everyone forget the fact that Turkey and their Syrian allies already control some of the border region in Syria? That operation involved attacking the Kurds and nobody seemed to care then. Why is it such a big deal now?
Don't get me wrong, I'm totally opposed to what the Turks are doing in Syria. It's very clear to me that this operation has very little to do with anything other than punishing the Kurds for existing. There are secondary goals, such as protecting the Turkish border and being able to settle the Syrians, but this is mostly because Turkey cannot stand allowing the Kurds any form of independence. The Kurds de facto rule the territory they control and that won't stand in Ankara.
That being said, the media reaction to this is pretty odd to me. Why is this now the worst thing that ever happened when Turkey has a long history of screwing with the Kurds even in Syria? This is not a new event at all.
My guess is it has to do with President Trump. His determination to pull back from Syria is not popular among either the neocon wing of the GOP or the elite that makes up the centrist Democrats and the media. Plus both groups will use any ammo they can possibly get to attack President Trump. It doesn't matter that he was elected on a mandate to end Middle Eastern wars, he's the one that's doing it so it's now "wrong".
As for the war itself, it doesn't seem like Turkey is making much progress. I think they will find more trouble than they expect. The Kurds are well trained, well equipped and well motivated to fight the Turks. They don't have backup anymore or access to air support and armor, but they are battle hardened due to their years long battle with ISIS. It's very possible that the Turks bit off more than they can chew here.
It does seem that the Trump administration is probably going to follow through on their threats to sanction Turkey. How that will work between two NATO allies is a mystery to me but it could involve Turkey getting kicked out of NATO.
It really is a lose lose situation for America. We can't go to war with Turkey, as much as Lindsey Graham may want to. Going to war with a NATO ally who could take some of the troops stationed in Turkey and Syria hostage fairly easily is just an insanely bad idea. Nobody really wants to risk the lives of American soldiers to fight an enemy that legally and strategically isn't an enemy. I'm on record saying that Turkey is a terrible ally and we should kick them out of NATO but as long as that is the case we can't possibly use force here.
But it obviously looks bad to not back up the Kurds. Though I am not as pro-Kurdish as many people seem to be, due to their connections to leftism, I do acknowledge the fact that if it wasn't for them ISIS would probably still be in control of territory in Syria and we would still be seeing massive terror attacks originating from the country.
Our options are extremely limited. Sanctions might be the only path we can take but I doubt Tayyip Erdogan cares. Turkey will not stand for independent Kurds and are willing to risk pissing off their biggest ally to stop them. They know that we simply can't use force to protect the Kurds and might be willing to be kicked out of NATO. What other leverage do we have? Not much.
I don't really think that anyone supports what Turkey is doing. Syria's obviously angry that the Turks are taking more of their territory and the Russians and Iranians don't appreciate the fact that their inroads with Turkey are probably shot now. Europe isn't happy that the Turks might be creating even more refugees and pretty much everyone doesn't buy Turkey's excuses.
I also want to point out it's perfectly reasonable to want to pull troops out of Syria while at the same time condemning what the Turks are doing here. Ultimately it's not our responsibility to put out the fires every time one country decides to attack another. America isn't the worlds police and we don't have to go to war everything something bad happens. That in no way excuses what the Turks are doing but in the end we can only do so much.
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