Orientul Mijlociu

The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria called on residents on Saturday to unite against any possible attack by Turkey, warning that such an offensive would lead to long war.

The statement by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria came a week after a Nov. 13, explosion targeted Istanbul’s bustling Istiklal Avenue — a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants — and left six people dead, including two children. More than 80 people were also wounded in the attack, which came as a stark reminder of bombings in Turkish cities between 2015 and 2017, crushing the public’s sense of security.

Turkey announced on Sunday it had carried out air strikes against the bases of outlawed Kurdish militants across northern Syria and Iraq, which it said were being used to launch “terrorist” attacks on Turkish soil.

The raids in northern and northeastern Syria overnight, primarily against positions held by Syrian Kurdish forces, killed at least 31 people, British-based war monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

When

December 16, 2022
9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Where

National Press Club
529 14th St NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20045 (Map)

Several areas of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were targeted overnight after an IRGC commander warned of possible ground invasion and the Iranian ambassador set out demands.

A massive orange fireball lit up the sky in an area outside the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on the night of Nov. 20-21, as sirens sounded at the US Consulate within the city itself.

Fears are rising in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northeast over a potential military incursion by Turkey.

Turkey launched airstrikes on Syria’s majority-Kurdish region on Saturday night in apparent retaliation for a bombing that struck a crowded market in Istanbul last week.

Syrian Kurdish officials reported strikes in the areas of Kobani, Derik, Darbasiyah and Ayn Issa, key cities along the border between Syria’s northeastern autonomous region and Turkey.

As the dust settles from airstrikes on Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq, Turkey is threatening a wider operation in the region.

For months Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to “come suddenly in the night” for Kurdish militants on Turkey’s southern border. On Saturday night, scores of F-16 fighter jets and drones did exactly that.

Hamas leaders [who have relocated to Doha]… are using Qatar as a base for calling for the destruction of Israel. Yet this does not seem to bother the rulers of Qatar or its allies in the West, including the US.

This is the same Qatar whose leaders claim that they condemn all acts of terrorism and violent extremism.

It is disquieting, to say the least, that a county that hosts the leadership of a Palestinian group that carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel is talking about Qatar’s desire to help eliminate terrorism and extremism.

Human Rights Watch recently released a disturbing report detailing the involuntary deportation of hundreds of Syrian refugees from Turkey back into the proverbial lion’s den of Assad’s Syria.

For those who continue to chronicle the Syrian genocide unleashed by Assad, Iran and Russia on the Syrian people after a popular revolution against the Baathist tyrant in 2011, this news is sadly unsurprising.

New military reinforcements reached on Monday to the city of Daraa, south Syria, in preparation for a military campaign by local gunmen against Islamic State Organization (ISIS).

The military reinforcements included dozens of vehicles loaded with machine guns and members affiliated with the Syrian government’s military intelligence.