Pentagon Says Airstrikes ’Not Enough’ to Eradicate ISIL; "Go to hell Erdogan"

Turkey may send troops, allow foreign soldiers into Syria

معلومات جديدة حول قضية شاحنات الأسلحة التي ضبطت في أضنة وهي في طريقها للإرهابيين في سورية

Published Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Turkey may send troops into Syria and Iraq and allow foreign soldiers to use its bases for cross-border incursions against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, according to a government proposal to be debated by parliament on Thursday.

The advance by ISIS fighters to within clear sight of Turkish military positions on the Syrian border has piled pressure on Ankara to take a more robust role in the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the insurgents.

The militants are also advancing on a tomb in northern Syria guarded by Turkish soldiers, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Tuesday. The tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman Empire's founder, was made Turkish territory under a treaty signed with France in 1921, when France ruled Syria.

The government submitted a proposal to parliament late on Tuesday which would broaden existing military powers, in a bid to enable the army to "defeat attacks directed towards ourc ountry from all terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria".

"The cabinet of ministers has decided ... to ask permission from parliament ... to send the Turkish Armed Forces if necessary to foreign countries for cross-border operations and interventions, and to position foreign militaries in Turkey for the same purposes," the proposal said.

The ruling AK Party's strong majority means the proposal is likely to be approved.

Turkey has so far declined to take a frontline role in the US-led military campaign, fearful that it could strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and bolster Kurdish militants allied to Kurds in Turkey who have fought for three decades for greater autonomy.

It also argues that air strikes alone will do little to address long-term instability on its 1,200-km (750-mile) southern frontier.

Turkey, a NATO member and Washington's key ally in the region, has been playing a major role in fueling the armed crisis in Syria over the past three years by opening its borders and allowing free access to foreign jihadists into Syria.

The Syrian government has repeatedly accused Turkey of harboring, financing, training, and arming militants since violence erupted in March 2011.

Damascus sent letters to the United Nations time and again attacking Turkey’s “destructive” role in the Syrian conflict.

In 2013, Syria’s foreign ministry said in letters addressed to the UN Security Council and to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that “Turkey supports and publicly justifies terrorist, destructive acts against Syria” and “has turned its territory into camps used to house, train, finance and infiltrate armed terrorist groups, chief among them the al-Qaeda network and the al-Nusra Front.”

Again in 2014, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari submitted a letter to Ban Ki-moon in which the Syrian government criticized “Turkey’s role in supporting terrorism in the region.”

Jaafari said the Turkish authorities allowed thousands of foreign terrorists, extremists and mercenaries from across the world to enter Syria and provided armed groups with funds, weapons and other forms of support, which is “blatant violation of international agreements on counter-terrorism.”

One non-Syrian Islamist fighter who joined the Syrian rebel ranks in 2012 told Reuters the Turkish borders “were wide open” and armed rebels “used to get in and out of Turkey very easily.

No questions were asked. Arms shipments were smuggled easily into Syria.” Turkey has repeatedly denied such accusations. T

he United States has an air base at Incirlik in southwestern Turkey near the Syrian border. (Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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Pentagon Says Airstrikes ’Not Enough’ to Eradicate ISIL

Local Editor

US War Ministry (Pentagon) on Tuesday announced that the airstrikes are not enough for the US army to eradicate ISIL terrorist group.

Pentagon spokesman told the reporters that the international campaign against ISIL will not be easy and quick, calling on them to avoid overestimating the outcomes of the airstrikes.

The US has to support the so-called "moderate rebels" in Syria and the Iraqi army in order to be able to carry out the mission.

It is worth noting that US president Barack Obama considered that depending on the so-called "moderate rebels" in Syria to defeat the regular army is a mere fancy.

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Fierce Battles between Kurds, ISIL in Syria Border Town

المنطقة العازلة التي يطمح إليها أردوغان تهدف لضرب أكراد سوريا

Local Editor Fierce clashes took place on Tuesday overnight between Kurdish fighters and Takfiri group operating in Iraq and Syria, ISIL, for a strategic Syrian border town. The “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” reported the event on Wednesday, saying that 10 people were killed in the clashes.

Nine Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and one ISIL militant died in the clashes around Ain-al-Arab on the border with Turkey, the London-based monitoring group said.

The Takfiris are just two to three kilometers (a couple of miles) from the town, known as Kobane in Kurdish, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

Their offensive, launched just over two weeks ago, has sparked an exodus of tens of thousands of mainly Kurdish refugees into Turkey.

Kurdish leaders have appealed to the US-led coalition to provide air support to the town's defenders.

But the Observatory reported no coalition air or missile strikes in the area overnight.

Ain al-Arab is a strategic town in which if seized if gives ISIL unbroken control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.