Tag Archives: Kurds

Featured, Hot, Podcast

Ben Swann Breaks Down ABC News Fake Video of Syria Massacre

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Mainstream media outlets across the country have been rigorously covering the news of President Trump pulling troops out of Northern Syria. But are these outlets telling the truth? Is President Trump actually betraying the Kurds? And why won’t Congress officially declare war in this situation?

I discuss this and more in an interview with Daniel McAdams, the Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. We talk about the mainstream media’s disingenuous narrative surrounding this complex issue, particularly an ABC News report that used video footage of a gun range demonstration and claimed it as footage of Turkish forces slaughtering Kurds, and the lack of accountability faced by corporate media when publishing false news content.

Origin of ISIS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6kdi1UXxhY&t=

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Featured, Foreign Policy, International, US

Pentagon: Syrian Kurds Didn’t Recover Any Airdropped Arms

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By Jason Ditz

Adding to the confusion about who exactly this week’s US airdrops of weapons into Syria’s Hasakeh Province actually targeted, the Pentagon today issued a statement insisting the “Arab groups” they targeted successfully got all of the aid, and hadn’t shared it with anyone.

The statement was directed at media reports that the Kurdish YPG, the largest faction in Hasakeh and a US ally, had recovered some of the gear, and the Pentagon seems to be trying to reassure Turkey, who is outraged at the idea of Kurds armed by the US, that this didn’t happen.

Totally unanswered, however, is who exactly the US arms went to, as these “Arab groups” that the Pentagon keeps referencing are never named, and so far don’t seem to be actively fighting in the Hasakeh Province in any meaningful way.

The “Arab Groups” were also referred to in some statements as the Syrian Arab Coalition, and was claimed to have included tribal factions as well as an unnamed Assyrian Christian militia. The YPG, however, claimed to have joined this faction; claimed to have renamed it the Democratic Forces; and claimed to have been promised arms by the US.

Turkey has been warning both the US and Russia that they won’t tolerate any cooperation of any kind with Kurdish factions, and Russia has since assured them they aren’t providing any direct armament to the Kurds, though they are said to be backing them in anti-ISIS operations.

Foreign Policy, International

Confusion as Pentagon Arms Syrian ‘Arab Groups’

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by Jason Ditz

After ditching the $500 million “train-and-equip” program, the Obama Administration rapidly started making high-profile pronouncements about new arms shipments to assorted rebel factions. Dubbed “Arab groups” in Pentagon statements, the program is creating a lot of confusion, primarily over who they’re arming.

“Arab groups” aren’t really a specific thing in a largely Arab country like Syria, and while some airdrops were reported in Hasakeh Province, Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions openly talking up terrorist attacks are also claiming stepped up shipments of missiles from the US.

The Pentagon doesn’t seem to be really specific about anything involving this new program. Yesterday, they insisted that the rebels don’t need to be vetted because they’re fighting ISIS, but today they assured al-Jazeera that the unnamed leaders of these unnamed groups were vetted.

But if so, why is the US so desperate to keep these factions a secret? A lot of tiny factions across Syria style themselves as US-backed groups, mostly recipients of CIA weapons in years past, and while a lot of them assumed they’d be the recipients of this major new armament effort. A lot of them don’t seem to be in the mix so far though.

Somewhere along the line, some of those arms are probably going to start flowing toward the Kurdish YPG, and that’s going to start a whole new round of arguments with Turkey, which has repeatedly warned the US against arming the Kurds, even though the YPG is the primary faction in Hasakeh, and fighting ISIS.

In the meantime, however, the US airdrops remain shrouded in mystery, with assurances that whoever the US intended to arm was armed, and expectations that those factions, whoever they are, are going to do something at some point.

Foreign Policy, International

19 Turkish Soldiers, 34 PKK Killed in SE Turkey Attacks

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by Jason Ditz

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has issued a statement today claiming that multiple ambush attacks against the Turkish military has left 19 security forces dead, including 16 soldiers and three members of the national police forces.

These attacks were carried out over the course of the last two days, and sparked another round of Turkish military retaliation, mostly in the form of airstrikes, with the military issuing a statement saying that 34 PKK fighters were killed int the attacks.

The incidents took place in Sirnak and Diyarbakir Provinces, along the Turkish border with Iraq. Turkey’s southeast is predominantly Kurdish, and the PKK is active both there and in northern Iraq, which has also been the target of multiple airstrikes.

Kurdish MP Salma Armak reported that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, still in Turkish prison, has reiterated his support for a return to the two-year ceasefire that was in place before Turkey launched airstrikes against the group in late July. Turkey has suggested that they have no intention to return to the ceasefire without a unilateral disarmament of the entire PKK and the group relocating wholly to Iraq.

Featured, International, Politics, US

U.S. Humanitarian Aid for Kurds, Going to ISIS Instead

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As the United States continues its mission to ultimately “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), it hinders any progress made through airstrikes, by continuing to provide the targeted land with aid and supplies.

The aid coming to the Jihadist-controlled territory, from the West, consists of mostly food and medical supplies, and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, numerous European donors, and the United Nations.

According to The Daily Beast, the current debate is over whether or not to continue the aid, which is “meant for Syrians displaced from their hometowns, and for hungry civilians,” but is being controlled and manipulated by Islamic State militants.

An anonymous aid worker told The Daily Beast that “the convoys have to be approved by ISIS and you have to pay them: The bribes are disguised and itemized as transportation costs.”

This translates into ISIS putting more money towards war efforts, due to the fact that it does not have to worry about coming up with the money to provide as much for the civilians in the area it controls.

A Middle East expert from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington D.C., Jonathan Schanzer, is concerned that providing aid to the areas controlled by Islamic State militants will make Syrian civilians favor having the militants in power.

“I am alarmed that we are providing support for ISIS governance,” said Schanzer. “By doing so we are indemnifying the militants by satisfying the core demands of local people, who could turn on ISIS if they got frustrated.”

Another anonymous aid worker explained to The Daily Beast the debate between “right and wrong” the workers go through when they are required to deliver supplies that they know will benefit Islamic State militants. The worker explained one instance that occurred a few months ago, when he and his coworkers were delivering aid to a mobile clinic.

“The clinic was earmarked for the treatment of civilians, but we all know that wounded ISIS fighters could easily be treated as well,” said the worker. “So what are we doing here helping their fighters, who we are bombing, to be treated so they can fight again?”

However, The Daily Beast reported that what becomes “even more bizarre” is the fact that while U.S. humanitarian aid flows into ISIS-controlled territory, “only a little is going into Kurdish areas in northeast Syria.”

Featured, International

Iraq is slowly crumbling inwards

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With Kurdish forces taking over various airbases and abandoned military facilities in northern Iraq, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) continuing to move south towards Baghdad, Iraq is set to collapse in on itself.

Yesterday, the city of Kirkuk was seized by Kurdish forces in the north, which has long been sought as a potential capital for an autonomous Kurdish state, and for its rich oilfields.  The city is outside of what is considered the Kurdish autonomous region, but Kurds in the area claim it to be their historical capitol.

ISIL claimed the city of Mosul on June 6 after Iraqi military and policing forces abandoned the city, leaving behind military grade weaponry and tanks.

The group has begun to set the roots for what appears to be a Sharia law based region in the city as they put forth an 11-point charter with rules against drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, while requiring people to pray five times a day and women to stay indoors unless of an emergency.

For ISIL, they now plan to move on Baghdad, which a spokesman for the group said, “we have an account to settle there.”  Similar threats to Baghdad, and the general danger spreading throughout the country, saw three planeloads of Americans evacuated from an air base just north of the capital.

President Obama responded to the recent unrest in Iraq saying he has not ruled anything out in terms of how to handle this delicate situation.  “What we’ve seen over last couple of days indicates degree to which Iraq is going to need more help,” the president said.

The central Iraqi government has been aware of the growing threat of insurgent groups for over a month now, and the New York Times has reported Iraqi officials have made various requests for military aid in the form of airstrikes across the region.

Spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, Bernadette Meehan, told the Times, “We are not going to get into details of our diplomatic discussions, but the government of Iraq has made clear that they welcome our support.”

Russian Foreign Prime Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying, “What is happening in Iraq is an illustration of the total failure of the adventure undertaken primarily by the U.S. and Britain and which they have let slip completely out of control.”