Tag: ISIL

Syrian Kurdish official rejects Turkish calls to lay down arms, says SDF seeks integration instead +

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

A top Syrian Kurdish official has rejected Turkish calls for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to give up their weapons as part of Ankara’s broader peace efforts with Kurdish militants, saying the situation in Syria requires integration, not the laying down of arms.

Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava), told BBC’s Turkish service that the SDF’s continued armed presence is necessary due to ongoing security threats, particularly from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) remnants and the lack of a permanent Syrian constitution.

Syrian Kurdish official rejects Turkish calls to lay down arms, says SDF seeks integration instead

The U.S. continues to back the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a coalition dominated by the YPG, which Turkey sees as indistinguishable from the PKK. Despite the PKK’s recent disarmament announcement, Washington has resuscitated funding and military coordination with the SDF—a coalition whose very name was crafted to obscure its PKK lineage. This comes even as the U.S. consolidates its military presence to a single base in Hasakah, signaling a shift from occupation to strategic entrenchment.

In 2019, as Trump was weighing a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria during his first term, Tulsi Gabbard brought Ilham Ahmed—the then-head of the Syrian Democratic Council, political wing of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in Rojava—as her guest to Trump’s second State of the Union. The message was clear: autonomy should have air support. Ahmed currently serves as Co-Chair of the Foreign Affairs Department of Rojava, also known as the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

Related:

Trump should be convinced of US pullout from Syria- but… (Disarmament, dissolution of YPG)

The SDF equals the YPG/PKK/Kurds: A timeline of the PKK’s war on Türkiye

Why Washington is Worried About Burkina Faso’s Young Revolutionary Leader

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Why Washington is Worried About Burkina Faso’s Young Revolutionary Leader


Related Videos:

Source (Full video) / Stenographic Transcript Before the Subcommittee on Seapower (p.96)

HRW accused Burkina Faso of war crimes

Ibrahim Traoré on NGOs (HRW)

Related Articles:

The US/EU/NATO’s Regime Change Playbook for Burkina Faso and Captain Ibrahim Traoré

The Rising Star of Cpt. Ibrahim Traore – Burkina Faso’s Spirit of Sankara

In February 2024, Traoré ordered the suspension of the issuance of export permits for small-scale private gold production, a move aimed at tackling illegal trade. According to the World Gold Council’s 2023 figures, Burkina Faso is the 13th-largest gold producer in the world, producing about 100 tonnes, equivalent to about US$6 billion in value, each year.

Document: Burkina Faso

Russia, Iran were urged not to intervene militarily in Syria

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Türkiye says its embassy in Damascus to open on Saturday (Anadolu Agency)

On the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime earlier this month in the face of rapid anti-regime advances, Fidan said Türkiye “paved the way for this to happen in a bloodless manner” by continuing to pursue talks with “two key actors,” referring to Russia and Iran.

…

*Fidan said before the latest developments, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was controlling an area where 5 million Syrians were living and highlighted that they have gained experience in providing municipal services, education services, basic services, transportation and many other services in the past 5-6 years. [Idlib]

Related:

New Syria govt won’t recognise PKK/YPG terror group’s authority  — Fidan (TRT)

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Syria’s Rojava [Where They Run Torture Camps] Is in Grave Danger +

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Federalization of Syria a.k.a. Balkanization

Syria’s Rojava Revolution Is in Grave Danger (Reason magazine)

If the Kurdish-Arab alliance unravels, the U.S. military may decide to directly back Arab tribes as a bulwark against Iran and the Islamic State, according to Nicholas Heras, who has advised the U.S.-led military coalition in Syria and is now senior director for strategy at the nonprofit New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington. In 2019, when former President Donald Trump wanted to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, the Trump administration considered a strategy of letting the Kurdish forces fall to Turkey and buying off Arab tribes.

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The United States has, directly and indirectly, backed all sides of the fight. Turkey is a NATO ally. Some of the SNA [Syrian National Army] units now attacking Kobane had received weapons and training from the CIA and the U.S. military. (After the Trump administration cut off support, a U.S. official condemned these same factions as “thugs, bandits, and pirates that should be wiped off the face of the earth,” and the Biden administration imposed human rights sanctions.) Meanwhile, several hundred U.S. troops are embedded with the SDF.

…

In his Sunday victory speech about the fall of the Assad government, President Joe Biden said that he wanted to support an “independent, sovereign—an independent—independent—I want to say it again—sovereign Syria.” But U.S. policy at the moment seems to be creating the opposite: a Syria chopped up [Balkanization] by foreign powers.

Rojava is also known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

Related:

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US to cut military presence in Niger + Pentagon lied to Congress

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Pentagon reportedly plans to pull out some of its troops from the African country

The US has begun “repositioning” the troops it has in Niger and plans to cut their number “nearly in half” over the next several weeks, Politico reported on Friday citing two Defense Department officials.

US to cut military presence in Niger

Related:

Pentagon Misled Congress About U.S. Bases in Africa

Rand Paul: Why do we still have troops in Niger?