A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[Paul Rigby]

From Ron Kokinda's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ron.kokinda.1/p...8490057839

Obama Targets Russia-Turkey Alliance

Sept. 19, 2016 (EIRNS) -- Turkey considers the U.S. bombing of Syrian government forces and the alliance fighting Islamic State (ISIL) as also an attack on Turkey, and by implication, an attack on the emerging Turkish-Russian alliance. {Hurriyet} editor-in-chief Murat Yetkin, writing under the title, "Obama Pushes U.S. into Bigger Problems in Syria," questions the claims by the U.S. command that they made a "mistake" in bombing Syrian troops while ISIL forces were attacking them.

"Is it possible that world's biggest military power, the U.S., with the most superior military satellites, U-2s and other spy planes, plus their field intelligence supported by local collaborators, the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) ... could make such a mistake and hit the Syrian army supported by Russia `believing' they were ISIL?" U.S support for the YPG, Yetkin wirtes, is support for the PKK which is carrying out a deadly insurgency against Turkey.

He then points to the fact that the U.S. is now attacking the Free Syrian Army, who are supported by Turkey, through a "demarbling' campaign ... started by the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) in order to disintegrate the Free Syria Army (FSA)," even though it was also originally supported by the Obama administration. "Demarbling," according to sources cited by Yetkin, refers to the U.S. attempt to "convince some Arab groups (`marbled' into rebel units which also contain jihadists [other than] ISIL or al-Nusra) to leave the FSA, which was actually trained and equipped in Turkey with the cooperation of the CIA."

Yetkins says this is to protect the Syrian Kurdish YPG. But, he writes, "Obama is not very happy with the FSA." Yetkin adds that Obama's support for the YPG "contradicts Obama's policy to support the territorial integrity of Syria when it comes out of this civil war [sic]; a Kurdish state carved out of Syria might trigger a chain reaction in the region, which could change Iran's position as well and turn into a bigger problem for the next U.S. administration, whether it is Clinton's or Trump's.... If Obama, having only a few months left in office, continues that, it would push the U.S., as well as other countries and peoples in the region, into bigger problems in Syria."

Ibrahim Karagül, editor-in-chief of the very pro-government {Yeni Safak}, goes one step further and writes under the headline, "Before the Syrian War Turns into a World War...," warning that the U.S attack on Syrian forces not only showed that the U.S. was supporting Daesh; it could have led to a conflict with Russian forces. "What is happening is not a Syrian civil war. It is not a regime issue. It is no longer a matter of democracy and freedom. It is the fight of pro-Atlantic and Asian powers. Syrian organizations have become the figurines of this great clash, regardless of which side they are on."

As for Turkey, Karagul compares the situation to the Crimean War. "The Crimea war that took place between 1853 and 1856 [was] an Ottoman-Russo war. The U.K. and France sided with the Ottoman Empire and the Russians were kept away from the Mediterranean. But this is the war in which the Ottomans were taken hostage. The Crimea war and Ottomans turned into `Europe's internal problem' and [were] taken under tutelage. The process in the Syrian issue aimed at setting Turkey and Russia against one another is very similar to [that] one. Turkey, which is struggling to get out of tutelage, would probably be made to clash with Russia, wearing out both countries; the U.S. and Europe might back Turkey, but in the end Turkey would be taken under tutelage once again."

To prevent this, he writes, Turkey must continue to support the territorial integrity of Syria, but also Iraq: "Turkey must rebuild its ties with Baghdad as much as it defends the integrity of Iraq. It should stand close to the center power in Iraq rather than the power islands within Iraq.... Baghdad-Ankara ties must be strengthened by resetting all plans."

This is new and could be a signal that Turkey is preparing for an overture to Baghdad, which would mean Turkey joining the Russia-Iraq-Iran alliance.