Troops of the US-led coalition have been clashing with Turkish-backed militants near the Syrian city of Manbij, currently controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to a video, which appeared online this week.
Commenting on the incident to Kurdistan 24, spokesman for the US-led coalition Colonel Sean Ryan admitted that coalition forces “received gunfire from undisclosed persons and returned fire” on October 15, but avoided pointing the finger on Turkish proxy forces. Colonel Ryan added that the incident occured during a joint patrol of the coalition and the Manbij Military Council (MMC). Pro-Kurdish sources were more outspoken putting the blame on Turkish-backed forces and saying that the incident took place near the village of Bughaz.
The MMC is a local entity linked to the SDF. It was established in order to hide the large presence of Kurdish militias in the area. The main reason is that Turkey, a NATO member state and a key US partner in the region, sees Kurdish militias as terrorists and as a major threat to Turkish national security. Washington is employing a wide range of measures, including the rebranding of US-backed Kurdish armed factions, in order to avoid further escalation with Ankara. Nonetheless, US-Turkish tensions over the so-called Kurdish issue remain high. October 15-like incidents are just further confirmation of the deep contradictions between the sides.
Earlier this month, reports from both Kurdish and Turkish sources appeared that the US had started a new round of build up in northwestern Syria, which is occupied by the SDF with its help. Washington reportedly sent an additional batch of weapons and armoured vehicles to SDF units deployed near Manbij and expanded the number of US-led coalition outposts there. These developments came in response to repeated statements by Turkish President Recep Erdogan claiming that his country would kick off a military operation to expel Kurdish armed groups from the area near Manbij and from northern Syria in general.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) resumed artillery strikes on ISIS positions in the area of al-Safa in southern Syria. After the release of six hostages, the terrorist groups sabotaged further talks on the fate of the remaining civilians trapped in its area. So now, the SAA is employing a military option to force ISIS to release over a dozen civilians.
—
If you’re able, and if you like our content and approach, please support the project. Our work wouldn’t be possible without your help: PayPal: southfront@list.ru or via: http://southfront.org/donate/ or via: https://www.patreon.com/southfront, BTC: 3Gbs4rjcVUtQd8p3CiFUCxPLZwRqurezRZ, BCH: qpf2cphc5dkuclkqur7lhj2yuqq9pk3hmukle77vhq, ETH: 0x9f4cda013e354b8fc285bf4b9a60460cee7f7ea9
So, who’s going to invoke NATO Article 5 first and how will the other NATO members line up behind the US and Turkey?
I don’t know why, but for some reason these Southfront videos have so much buffering I can’t listen to them.
Would it be possible to have an audio option as well? In any case, the text is fortunately available. Thanks.
——————-
[I find they play better on YT than SF…. The Mod.]
Moscow Considers US Actions in S Syria ‘Occupation’ – Russian Foreign Ministry
https://sputniknews.com/world/201810251069208882-russia-us-syria-occupation/
“Speaking at a regular briefing on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the United States has occupied the southern part of Syria.
“The situation in the northeast of Syria, where the US side is still trying to flirt with separatist-minded Kurdish groups, is concerning, as well as in the south of the country near Al-Tanf, where there is a de facto undisguised occupation by US forces of the territory of the sovereign Syrian state,” she said.
The Russian diplomat further stated that the militants who had found such a “safe haven, a shelter in the 55-kilometer exclusive zone,” established by the US, were extorting $2,000 dollars per person from civilians who wanted to leave the area.
Drone Attack on Hmeymim
Zakharova has also confirmed the reports that the aerial attack on Russia’s Hmeymim Air Base in Syria could have been controlled by a US spy plane.
Her remarks comes shortly after Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said that unmanned aerial vehicles involved in an attack on the Hmeymim base were piloted by a US Poseidon 8 surveillance aircraft. He, however, didn’t specify when exactly the assault took place.”
Kremlin alarmed by MoD report that US spy plane coordinated drone attack on Russia’s Syria base
https://www.rt.com/news/442219-kremlin-attack-us-syria/
“Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear that the military has analyzed all available data and has drawn the necessary conclusions before saying that the drone attack on the Russian airbase was directed from a US P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane.
The Kremlin’s response comes after Colonel General Alexander Fomin, the deputy defense minister, had reportedly addressed the January drone attack during the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, a high-profile conference on defense and security.
According to the top defense military official, 13 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had approached Russia’s Khmeimim base at the time when the Poseidon plane was traversing skies over the Mediterranean. When Russian electronic countermeasures were turned on at Khmeimim, the drones continued their flying mission in manual mode.
He said the drones were not manned “by some peasant,” they were flown from “a standard, well-equipped P-8 Poseidon,” which had manual control over the UAVs in question.
When these drones came across Russia’s electronic warfare measures, they pulled back from the kill zone and began receiving some commands via satellite communications, General Fomin explained. Someone, he said, “guided the UAVs to the so-called holes [in Russian defenses],” which they utilized before being downed by Khmeimim’s surface-to-air missiles.
The incident occurred overnight on January 8, involving 10 UAVs targeting Khmeimim itself. Three more drones attempted a strike on the Russian naval facility at the Syrian port city of Tartus. All 13 craft were then engaged by the Pantsir-S1 air-defense system.
Three enemy drones, overridden by the Russian electronic warfare team, landed intact outside Khmeimim and were later inspected by the military. It was the first time that Syrian militants had used remote-controlled top-notch weaponry in the war. The Defense Ministry said the drones had been acquired “only from a country possessing state-of-the-art technologies.”
The Sputnik article was “breaking news”, but has been removed, apparently, and the url has been used now for another article – which I also had posted. Perhaps they editing the drine article and it will be back up later. The RT article has the info on the u.s. control of that drone attack.
Decent background article.
NATO-friendly media & organizations refuse to address White Helmets’ atrocities
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/442168-white-helmets-syria-propaganda/
“The human rights industry that has been created to manage the Syrian narratives manipulates events to amplify those that serve the NATO-member-state agenda in Syria, effectively the furtherment of US Coalition resource-plundering and the reduction of Syria to a rudderless state and a terrorist vacuum, where sectarian lawlessness and conflict will thrive.
Simultaneously, the crimes and massacres committed by the Western-sponsored armed gangs and terrorist groups in Syria will be normalized and “disappeared” by this highly partisan network of public opinion influencers.
The White Helmets epitomize this doctrine. As their role has developed since their British intelligence-led incubation in Turkey, they have become pivotal to the US Coalition military adventurism in Syria. They are essential to legitimize ongoing proxy and direct intervention in Syria by the regime-change global alliance. Their Western state-endorsed “humanitarian” label appears to give the White Helmets immunity from accountability, particularly when it comes to their involvement in the atrocities committed by the multitude of terrorist and extremist factions who control the areas where the White Helmets are embedded.
The history of the White Helmet construct stretches further back than the Syrian conflict, however, as does the concept of the hybrid war or the deployment of the “smart” power complex as an iron fist inside the velvet glove of “humanitarianism” – an alternative to military deployment which has become a far less attractive option since the second Gulf War when US “boots on the ground” returned home in body bags and threatened to turn public opinion against needless and expensive foreign wars.
Mesurier was expanding on a concept he had pioneered in Pristina, Kosovo after the NATO bombing campaign of 1999. From July 1999 – 2000, Le Mesurier was appointed Intelligence Coordinator for Pristina City, acting as liaison officer between intel officers of different national contingents in KFOR (Kosovo Force). Le Mesurier was tasked with the transformation of the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) into the Kosovo Protection Corps. At that point, the KLA consisted of Albanian warlords and Al-Qaeda elements which Le Mesurier rebranded and promoted as the post NATO-intervention security and stability agents.”
Moscow Considers US Actions in S Syria ‘Occupation’ – Russian Foreign Ministry
https://sputniknews.com/world/201810251069208882-russia-us-syria-occupation/
“Speaking at a regular briefing on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the United States has occupied the southern part of Syria.
“The situation in the northeast of Syria, where the US side is still trying to flirt with separatist-minded Kurdish groups, is concerning, as well as in the south of the country near Al-Tanf, where there is a de facto undisguised occupation by US forces of the territory of the sovereign Syrian state,” she said.
The Russian diplomat further stated that the militants who had found such a “safe haven, a shelter in the 55-kilometer exclusive zone,” established by the US, were extorting $2,000 dollars per person from civilians who wanted to leave the area.”