Trump warns of 'carnage' in rebel stronghold in Syria
Source: AP
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President Donald Trump is speaking out against the carnage involving thousands of civilians in a rebel stronghold in Syria.
In a tweet Thursday, Trump wrote: Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Dont do it! Turkey is working hard to stop this carnage.
The tweet refers to an intense air and ground bombardment by government forces in southern and eastern Idlib province, the last rebel-held bastion in the country.
Syrian government forces about a month ago launched a renewed effort to take the province, which is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants and is also home to 3 million civilians. The United Nations has warned of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe along the Turkish border.
Truckloads of civilians flee a Syrian military offensive in Idlib province on the main road near Hazano, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019. Syrian forces launched a wide ground offensive last week into the northwestern province of Idlib, which is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants. The United Nations estimates that some 60,000 people have fled from the area, heading south, after the bombings intensified earlier this month. (AP Photo/Ghaith al-Sayed)
Read more: https://apnews.com/4418b476f1aadd63812418593a38bed8
louis-t
(23,199 posts)He's a fraud and a failure.
Perseus
(4,341 posts)Who the hell believes this idiot?
no_hypocrisy
(45,759 posts)there wouldn't that kind of "carnage."
EX500rider
(10,517 posts)Midnightwalk
(3,131 posts)Google search of Idlib and Kurds came up with a link with what seems like a Kurdish point of view.
[link:https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/analysis/61d8ffec-1a62-4e9d-8d44-1351b6c7c8d6|]
Gaining access to the sea is a goal long-sought by the Kurds to break their homelands landlocked condition.
We have to disrupt the terror corridor [they] want to create from the east to the Mediterranean, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, using a phrase to delegitimize the Kurdish region in northern Syria that stretches from the border with the Kurdistan Region to the enclave of Afrin.
This isnt ancient history. I dont know enough history, but the Kurds were fighting aligned with our interests only a couple of months ago.
The AP should have at least mentioned the connection and not left it at Trumps assertion that Turkey was fighting terrorists. Turkey has long called the Kurds terrorists.
spike jones
(1,654 posts)Midnightwalk
(3,131 posts)I dont think so. Turkey has considered the kurds a terrorist group for decades.
Im not informed enough to know exactly what is going on in the province, but it I read this as trump giving Turkey a green light to attack Kurds.
Igel
(35,191 posts)A few pockets if Kurds, but not a huge number.
Idlibs where most of the rebel groups fighting Assad were allowed to go to or retreated to; most of them were of an Islamist cast and wound up under Turkey's aegis.
Thats the insight I figured I was missing not knowing enough about the details. I didnt quite trust the link I gave since it was unreservedly pro Kurd.
I still dont trust trumps assessment one bit. I would guess our experts wouldnt completely agree with each other But I am sure that trump never even hears the conflicting arguments much less making any decision driven by our best interests.
It would have been good if AP provided some of the context you did. Thanks again.
42bambi
(1,753 posts)media...seems as if this should be a major story all over the TeeVees!
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)He's been over there, reporting on these wars and internecine fighting for years. Because he speaks fluent Arabic, he can determine the BS from the true story. Follow him if you want to really keep informed.
If trumpie thinks that the Turks are trying to stop the ethnic cleansing, he's mainlining adderall again. The position HE alone has put the Kurds in will damn him for all time.
Impeachment isn't the only stain on him.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)in the Dock in the Hague.
Nasruddin
(741 posts)withdrawing US forces would turn it all loose, right?
AdamGG
(1,275 posts)PSPS
(13,512 posts)marble falls
(56,353 posts)lpbk2713
(42,696 posts)He cares less now about Syrian civilians than he usually would.
keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)Trump was kind enough to abandon and give a military base to Putin.