People's Protection Units

Turkey has renewed plans to launch a military operation against the U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters who helped the United States defeat the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL) territorial caliphate, the Turkish president announced over the weekend.

The Pentagon on Wednesday urged Turkey to suspend its planned operation into territory in northeastern Syria controlled by Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) with the support of the United States.

Turkey is “ready” to “trample” U.S.-backed Kurds in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Tuesday.

Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan reportedly issued a “final warning” on Friday to U.S.-backed fighters to pull out of areas in northern Syria east of the Euphrates river.

British prosecutors have dropped terror charges against an ex-soldier who fought against Islamic State with the Kurdish YPG forces, with the veteran’s lawyer claiming the charges were brought as a political move by the UK government to protect arms sales with Turkey which opposes any expression of Kurdish nationalism.

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) confirmed on Tuesday that it reached an agreement with Turkey to pull the American-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), deemed “terrorists’ by Ankara, from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, arguing that the move will “reduce tensions.”

Contents: Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board overwhelmed by migrants crossing border from US; Turkey achieves victory in Afrin, Syria, but Kurds threaten guerilla war

Contents: Socialists and feminists to act as ‘human shields’ protecting Kurds from Turkey in Afrin Syria; US cuts back operations in Incirlik as Turkey-NATO relations sour

Contents: US-backed Kurds stop fighting ISIS in order to fight Turkey in Afrin; Reports of Free Syrian Army atrocities on Kurds in Afrin; Mahmoud Abbas may step down as Palestinian Authority president

Contents: Turkey suffers military setback in ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin Syria; Turkey doubles down on Afrin-Manbij operation, despite US opposition

Contents: Russia’s ‘humanitarian pause’ in Syria turns into farce on first day; Report: North Korea is selling chemical weapons supplies to Syria; Areas of control in Syria and Iraq

The U.S. military denies having a “direct relationship” with members of a Kurdish militia under attack from Turkey in Syria’s Afrin region despite acknowledging they have “familial ties” to the very same Kurds who helped the U.S.-led coalition bring the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to its knees in the region.

Contents: Turkey gets bogged down with military ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin, Syria; Syria says it will send its ‘popular forces’ to support the YPG against Turkey in Afrin

Contents: Israel’s F-16 warplane shot down in aftermath of downing Iranian drone; Turkish helicopter shot down in Afrin, days after Russian warplane downed in Idlib; With defeat of ISIS, war escalates, and Syria becomes more fragmented and chaotic

WASHINGTON, DC — Russia urged Syrian Kurds to “hand over” the Afrin region to Moscow-backed dictator Bashar al-Assad “one day” before the ongoing Turkish assault on the territory, confirmed an official of the self-declared autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Syria.

Contents: Turkey begins its air and ground invasion of Syria’s Afrin; China lies about ‘indisputable sovereignty’ in new confrontation in South China Sea; Summary of major Generational Dynamics predictions

Contents: Turkey’s troops mass on border, preparing to invade northern Syria; Collapse of the Russian ‘peace process’; The growing conflagration in northwest Syria

Contents: Turkey announces major military operation in Syria’s Idlib province; Turkey’s success in Idlib is far from certain

Contents: Washington shocked as Turkey’s security forces attack peaceful protesters; Turkey’s Erdogan leaves empty-handed from meeting with Trump

Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad accused of burning thousands of political opponents in crematorium; Final push to expel ISIS from Raqqa, Syria, to begin in June

Contents: US will ‘quickly’ arm Kurdish militias in Syria, despite Turkey’s opposition; Turkish officials furious at plans to arm the Kurds

Contents: Kurdish forces in Syria take Tabqa city en route to Raqqa; US military moves to protect Syrian Kurds from Turkey’s military

Contents: Turkey’s warplanes strike Kurdish militias fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq; PKK conducts new terror attack in southeastern Turkey; US State Dept. says that it’s ‘deeply concerned’ about the Turkish airstrikes

Contents: Hundreds of American troops deployed to Syria in support of local forces; As more US troops enter Syria, the endgame becomes fuzzier

Contents: Investigation reveals depraved new atrocities by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad; Epicenter of Syrian conflict moves from Aleppo to Idlib and al-Bab

An alleged lack of allied support for Turkey’s offensive in the Middle East has reportedly prompted officials in Ankara to reconsider American use of Incirlik Air Base for their bombing campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

Contents: Turkey, Syria, Kurds, ISIS converging on a major military confrontation in al-Bab; Syrian airstrike on Turkish forces threatens wider war

The U.S.-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), despite objections from Turkey, are expected to soon join the ongoing U.S.-backed offensive to retake Raqqa, considered to be the de-facto capital of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria.

U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian forces have announced the start of a campaign to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa from the extremist group.

The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned it will not participate in a U.S.-led coalition offensive to push the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of Raqqa, its de facto capital in Syria, if the Syrian Kurds are also involved in the operation.

President Barack Obama is reportedly considering directly arming the Syrian Kurds who are fighting the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a move that is certain to further strain or perhaps even fully disintegrate the relationship between the United States and its NATO Ally Turkey.

Rebel fighters affiliated with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly discovered a “hidden” detention center in northern Syria where Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists used the “worst, most violent torture tools” on female prisoners.

The co-leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which controls large swathes of northern Syria, has solicited help from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq.

Intensifying clashes in northern Syria between Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, who have received military assistance from America, and the U.S.-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), are a testament to the quagmire of perpetual chaos the Obama administration has worked itself into in the Middle East.

Fighting has erupted in northern Syria between two US allies on opposing sides of a Turkish military offensive — the now Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

An American who was fighting the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria alongside U.S.-backed Kurdish forces became the sixth foreign volunteer and the second U.S. citizen to be killed by the terrorist group.