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Omaha Steve

(99,054 posts)
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 02:57 PM Dec 2019

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. Don’t 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

20 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Trump warns of 'carnage' in rebel stronghold in Syria (Original Post) Omaha Steve Dec 2019 OP
Nobody listens to jerkface. louis-t Dec 2019 #1
He was ordered by Putin to say that, to have a "pretend-to-care moment" Perseus Dec 2019 #2
MAYBE, you JERKFACE, MAYBE if you HADN'T REMOVED U.S. MILITARY FROM SYRIA, no_hypocrisy Dec 2019 #3
Different part of Syria, the US troops were not near here, neither are the Kurds: EX500rider Dec 2019 #20
Not one mention of the Kurds Midnightwalk Dec 2019 #4
I think "killing, thousands of innocent civilians" is a direct reference to Kurds. n/t spike jones Dec 2019 #12
The turks are going to save the kurds? Midnightwalk Dec 2019 #13
Idlib isn't a bastion of Kurdish ethnicity. Igel Dec 2019 #16
Thanks Midnightwalk Dec 2019 #18
Where is CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the 42bambi Dec 2019 #5
The ONLY authentic reporting on this comes from Richard Engel. Haggis for Breakfast Dec 2019 #19
Hope we see the Orange Anus Wellstone ruled Dec 2019 #6
"[B]ut nobody could have imagined ... " Nasruddin Dec 2019 #7
What, he didn't tell them to move to the desert hundreds of miles away where the oil wells are? AdamGG Dec 2019 #8
"Trump gleefully created 'carnage' in rebel stronghold in Syria" - Fixed. PSPS Dec 2019 #9
Gee, maybe if our POTUS wasn't such a rank bumbler. marble falls Dec 2019 #10
Trump is on one of his $3 Million Mar-a-Loogie vacations. lpbk2713 Dec 2019 #11
Trump was kind enough to abandon and give a military base to Putin. keithbvadu2 Dec 2019 #14
He is a joke and has NO idea what the fuck he's doing. Can barely talk at this point. Sad. Evolve Dammit Dec 2019 #15
Here's an idea. Get out of your fucking golf cart and get on Air Force One and broker something. JHC Evolve Dammit Dec 2019 #17
 

Perseus

(4,341 posts)
2. He was ordered by Putin to say that, to have a "pretend-to-care moment"
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 03:08 PM
Dec 2019

Who the hell believes this idiot?

no_hypocrisy

(45,759 posts)
3. MAYBE, you JERKFACE, MAYBE if you HADN'T REMOVED U.S. MILITARY FROM SYRIA,
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 03:10 PM
Dec 2019

there wouldn't that kind of "carnage."

Midnightwalk

(3,131 posts)
4. Not one mention of the Kurds
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 03:16 PM
Dec 2019

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|]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – By deploying its army into Syria’s Idlib Province on Sunday, Ankara effectively aims to block Kurdish ambitions of reaching the Mediterranean Sea.

Gaining access to the sea is a goal long-sought by the Kurds to break their homeland’s landlocked condition.

“We have to disrupt the terror corridor [they] want to create from the east to the Mediterranean,” Turkey’s 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 isn’t ancient history. I don’t 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 Trump’s assertion that Turkey was fighting terrorists. Turkey has long called the Kurds terrorists.

Midnightwalk

(3,131 posts)
13. The turks are going to save the kurds?
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 06:07 PM
Dec 2019

I don’t think so. Turkey has considered the kurds a terrorist group for decades.

I’m 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)
16. Idlib isn't a bastion of Kurdish ethnicity.
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 06:42 PM
Dec 2019

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.

Midnightwalk

(3,131 posts)
18. Thanks
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 07:03 PM
Dec 2019

That’s the insight I figured I was missing not knowing enough about the details. I didn’t quite trust the link I gave since it was unreservedly pro Kurd.

I still don’t trust trump’s assessment one bit. I would guess our experts wouldn’t 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)
5. Where is CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 03:22 PM
Dec 2019

media...seems as if this should be a major story all over the TeeVees!

Haggis for Breakfast

(6,831 posts)
19. The ONLY authentic reporting on this comes from Richard Engel.
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 11:22 PM
Dec 2019

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.

lpbk2713

(42,696 posts)
11. Trump is on one of his $3 Million Mar-a-Loogie vacations.
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 05:10 PM
Dec 2019



He cares less now about Syrian civilians than he usually would.

keithbvadu2

(36,360 posts)
14. Trump was kind enough to abandon and give a military base to Putin.
Thu Dec 26, 2019, 06:16 PM
Dec 2019

Trump was kind enough to abandon and give a military base to Putin.

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