JERUSALEM – President-elect Trump could possibly be the important thing think about stopping the reported Turkish destruction of the pro-U.S. Syrian Kurdish neighborhood, Fox Information senior strategic analyst and retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane informed Fox Information’ Mark Levin on “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Saturday.
“Erdoğan is an actual downside right here. He has a hall in northern Syria. He backed the unconventional chief who took over, al-Golani, in deposing Assad as a result of he is been wanting Assad to go like all of us did for years, however now what’s he doing? Now he is attacking the Syrian Kurds, who we help, in jap Syria.”
Keane mentioned, “Biden is just not going to do something about it, however President Trump has an enormous alternative, and I do know for a incontrovertible fact that President Trump handled Erdoğan as soon as earlier than over the identical challenge. And it stopped on account of a telephone dialog that he had with President Erdoğan.”
FALL OF SYRIA’S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY
A masked Islamic State terrorist holding the ISIS flag in 2015. (Historical past/Common Photographs Group by way of Getty Photographs)
Keane mentioned one in every of Trump’s first phone conversations as soon as in workplace will most likely be with Erdoğan, “if he hasn’t began speaking to him already.”
He mentioned the motivation of the Syrian Kurds in jap Syria is to not seize Turkish territory however to make sure ISIS stays defeated and ensure “they don’t rise once more,” including that the U.S. “would not have to become involved in any consequential means in Syria aside from to guard our personal pursuits and make sure that ISIS would not rise once more in jap Syria which they’ve the potential to do.”
Whereas world leaders are largely targeted on the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime, Turkey’s strongman ruler Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has mobilized forces loyal to his authorities to eradicate Kurdish combatants on his southern border to Syria that helped the U.S. defeat the terrorist motion ISIS.
President Trump meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Nov. 13, 2019. (AP Picture/ Evan Vucci)
Alarm bells are ringing in regards to the dire plight of the Syrian Kurds.
“Turkey has turn into too aggressive. In the event that they get a free rein in Syria, they could covertly commit an ethnic cleaning,” warned Efrat Aviv, a professor within the Division of Normal Historical past at Bar-Ilan College in Israel and a number one professional on Turkey, in a press release to Fox Information Digital.
In an obvious effort to change his jihadi motion, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the chief of the U.S.-designated terrorist motion, Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which performed a decisive function in toppling Assad’s regime, mentioned, “The Kurds are a part of the nation and have suffered nice injustices, simply as now we have. With the regime’s fall, the injustice they confronted can also be lifted.”
SYRIAN DICTATOR BASHAR ASSAD FLEES INTO EXILE AS ISLAMIST REBELS CONQUER COUNTRY
U.S. forces present navy coaching to members of the YPG/SDF in Syria, Aug. 18, 2023. (Hedil Amir/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Photographs)
Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was till not too long ago recognized by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Golani, is allied with Turkey. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken introduced that the U.S. had made “direct contact” with HTS regardless of it being an outlawed terrorist entity.
Mazloum Abdi, the pinnacle of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on Saturday urged Kurdish events in northeast Syria (Rojava) to generate a unified entrance.
“At the moment, Kurdish nationwide unity in Syria has turn into a historic necessity in response to the challenges of this essential part. We name on all Kurdish events to put aside partisan pursuits and genuinely have interaction with public requires dialogue and unity,” Abdi wrote on X.
Final week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted on X, “Up to now I’ve drafted sanctions focusing on Turkey in the event that they have interaction in navy operations towards the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS. I stand prepared to do that once more in a bipartisan means.
“We should always not permit the Kurdish forces – who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch – to be threatened by Turkey or the unconventional Islamists who’ve taken over Syria.”
The Dutch Parliament also intervened final week to guard the Syrian Kurds, urging its authorities to advocate for a cessation of Turkish assaults on Kurds.
President Biden and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discuss throughout the G-7 summit on June 14, 2024, in Fasano, Italy. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Photographs)
The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced on Sunday in response to the continued assaults by pro-Turkey forces, “We face important threats and risks, and we name on the World Coalition and the whole world to unite with us to guard Kobani.”
“The world now owes Kobani and its fighters, and it’s time to stand with Kobani,” the assertion continued, “calling on the World Coalition and freedom-loving people to unite and safeguard the area’s dignity and humanity.”
TURKEY’S INVASION THREATS SHOULD BE TAKEN ‘VERY SERIOUSLY’: CYPRUS OFFICIAL
Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Turkish Minister of International Affairs Hakan Fidan on Dec. 13, 2024, in Ankara. (Getty Photographs)
Turkey’s International Minister Hakan Fidan, who was the previous head of the nation’s formidable intelligence service, MIT, mentioned on Sunday in Jordan about his nation’s view of the Kurdish political and navy organizations, Kurdistan Staff’ Get together (PKK) and The Folks’s Protection Models (YPG): “We’re underneath risk from Iraq and Syria. Over the previous decade, the PKK has sought to use the chaos in Syria, making an attempt to restructure itself inside the SDF group. We proceed to fight PKK/YPG terrorism, focusing on them wherever they’re.”
He added, “Our goal is to tell apart the Syrian Kurds from the terrorist group PKK/YPG. We help the professional representatives of Syrian Kurds of their efforts to advocate for his or her rights in Damascus.”
The YPG is the primary U.S.-allied power that contributed to the defeat of ISIS. The U.S. labeled the PKK as a international terrorist group. The YPG falls underneath the rubric of the Syrian Kurdish group, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)
Turkey’s authorities has intensified its rhetoric towards the Kurds. Turkish Protection Minister Yaşar Güler said on Sunday “Our major agenda is the dissolution of the PKK/YPG.”
Displaced Kurds go away the refugee camp within the north of Aleppo, fleeing to Afrin, on Dec. 4, 2024. (Ugur Yildirim/DIA Photographs/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa by way of AP Photographs)
Incoming freshman Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., whose dad and mom are Syrian immigrants, informed Fox Information Digital, “As we consider Turkey’s current airstrikes on Syrian Kurds and studies of Hamas operatives in Turkey, it’s clear that our alliances should be anchored in mutual respect and shared targets. For many years, Turkey has been a strategic accomplice, however internet hosting teams like Hamas with out clear steps towards dismantling their operations undermines that relationship. Turkey should seize this chance to show it’s dedicated to preventing terror, not enabling it.”
When requested by Fox Information Digital if the U.S. was considering sanctioning Turkey, a State Division spokesperson mentioned, “As a normal matter, we don’t preview sanctions.”
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The State Division referred Fox Information Digital on Friday to feedback made earlier on Friday after Blinken’s assembly with Fidan in Turkey.
The assertion mentioned, partially, “Secretary Blinken emphasised the significance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation within the World Coalition to Defeat ISIS mission in Syria.”
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