JERUSALEM — Simply hours after assembly with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and discussing the combat towards the Islamic State in Syria, Turkey’s overseas minister despatched a stunning message to Washington through pronouncing his nation’s purpose is to get rid of the principle preventing drive of the Syrian Kurds, which defeated ISIS in tandem with the U.S..
According to Turkish media, International Minister Hakan Fidan mentioned in a reside broadcast on NTV that “the removing of YPG is [Turkey’s] strategic purpose.” He additionally famous the rustic’s Kurds should be secure.
Requested about Fidan’s feedback, the State Division referred Fox Information Virtual to feedback made previous on Friday after Blinken’s assembly with Fidan in Turkey.
The observation mentioned, partially, “Secretary Blinken emphasised the significance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation within the World Coalition to Defeat ISIS venture in Syria.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Turkish Minister of International Affairs Hakan Fidan Dec. 13, 2024, in Ankara, Turkey. (Getty Photographs)
The U.S. has a long-standing army alliance with the Syrian Kurdish army group, The People’s Defense Units (YPG), in Syria. The YPG is a part of a broader group referred to as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and performed a key position in dismantling the Islamic State in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has seized at the cave in of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s rule to gobble up territory managed through the pro-American Syrian Kurds, risking hard-won beneficial properties towards the Islamist State terrorist motion.
Erdoğan’s marketing campaign to purge the SDF in northern Syria has created a deadly safety state of affairs within the combat towards the Islamic State (ISIS), consistent with Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the SDF’s commander in leader.
In an unique interview Thursday, Mazloum told Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, “We’re nonetheless underneath consistent assault from the Turkish army and the Turkish-supported opposition, which is known as SNA. 80 drone assaults an afternoon we’ve from the Turkish army. There may be extensive artillery shells. This case has paralyzed our counterterror operation.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks to attendees all over a rally to turn team spirit with the Palestinians in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 28. (AP/Emrah Gurel)
Islamic State prisoners held in SDF-run detention camps may break out amid the army offensive introduced through pro-Turkish forces towards the SDF. The SDF has redirected a lot of its drive capacity and assets to blunt an competitive Turkish-backed army offensive.
In 2022, Fox Information Virtual reported that Erdoğan’s slated invasion of northern Syria may open the floodgates for the discharge of as many 10,000 Islamic State fighters.
The U.S. on Wednesday brokered a cease-fire between the pro-Turkey Syrian Nationwide Military (SNA), the Syrian opposition (TSO) and the SDF.
Syrian Kurdish safety forces stand through as former detainees suspected of being individuals of the Islamic State are launched in Syria’s northeastern town of Hasakeh Sept. 2, 2024. (Delil Souleimani/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
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The U.S. has about 900 troops stationed in northeast Syria who coordinate with the SDF to stop the resurgence of the Islamic State after the brand new wave of Turkish assaults towards the Syrian Kurds.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned the Turks on X, posting, “Previously I’ve drafted sanctions focused on Turkey in the event that they interact in army operations towards the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump damage ISIS. I stand able to do that once more in a bipartisan means.
“We will have to now not permit the Kurdish forces — who helped us damage ISIS on President Trump’s watch — to be threatened through Turkey or the novel Islamists who’ve taken over Syria.”
Fox Information Virtual tried to touch quite a lot of Turkish officers, together with its embassy spokespeople in Washington and Tel Aviv and its United Countries venture in New York.
“We’ve again and again identified threats towards our nationwide safety, posed through the PKK/YPG terrorist community in Syria and Iraq,” Turkish diplomats in the past informed Fox Information Virtual concerning the Kurdish army forces PKK and YPG. PKK is an abbreviation for the Kurdistan Staff’ Celebration, a company categorized through the U.S. as a terrorist entity.
Displaced Kurds go away a refugee camp within the north of Aleppo, fleeing to Afrin, Dec. 4, 2024. (Ugur Yildirim/DIA Photographs/Abaca/Sipa USA by way of AP Photographs)
Efrat Aviv, a professor within the Division of Normal Historical past at Bar-Ilan College in Israel and a number one knowledgeable on Turkey, informed Fox Information Virtual, “Turkey’s movements in Syria additional complicate the location and impede world efforts to convey a few complete solution to the warfare. The withdrawal of Turkish forces from the area and the cessation of conflicts with the Kurds may give a contribution to bettering regional balance and efforts to finish ISIS terrorism.
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“Turkey’s army movements in Syria jeopardize regional balance and undermine efforts to finish ISIS terrorism. The Turkish moves now not most effective hurt the Kurds, but additionally exacerbate the humanitarian state of affairs within the area, inflicting important inhabitants displacement.”
Uzay Bulut, a Turkish-born political analyst, informed Fox Information Virtual, “Erdoğan’s imperial ambition in Syria has now not modified. Land take hold of and demographic exchange have all the time been Turkey’s plan in Syria. Turkey’s army campaigns towards Syria have introduced not anything however instability to the area and serious persecution of minorities.
“To forestall additional abuses, massacres or compelled displacements towards Christians, Kurds and Yazidis and to forestall the unfold of jihadism within the area, the Trump management will have to become involved diplomatically to offer protection to non secular and ethnic minorities, specifically defenseless Christians, in Syria.”
The doorway of the Kweyris army airfield within the japanese a part of Aleppo province Dec. 3, 2024, presentations a portrait of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and a countrywide flag in a dumpster after the takeover of the world through rise up teams. (Rami Al Sayed/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Syria’s Christian inhabitants might be as little as 2.5%, down from 10% ahead of the civil warfare began in 2011. Christian and different ethnic and spiritual minorities face persecution from the novel Islamist Sunni 15 may organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its extremist allies.
“The continued jihadist attack towards Syrian Kurds and Christians is led through the al Qaeda offshoot, HTS,” Bulut mentioned. “HTS forces are sponsored through the federal government of Turkey and feature brutalized and displaced non secular minority communities in Idlib since 2017. HTS objectives to put in Islamic rule in Syria.”
The Trump transition crew didn’t reply to Fox Information Virtual press queries.
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When requested through Fox Information Virtual if the U.S. was once considering sanctioning Turkey, a State Division spokesperson mentioned, “As a common topic, we don’t preview sanctions.”
On his travel to the area Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Turkish counterpart, and the 2 mentioned the newest tendencies within the house.
A readout in their assembly famous partially that Blinken “reiterated requires all actors in Syria to recognize the human rights and basic freedoms of all Syrians, together with individuals of minority teams, and to stop Syria from getting used as a base for terrorism.”
