Man on left accused of being ISIS militant who has now joined Turkish invasion forces
It is claimed that thanks to Turkey the US-led coalition can now boast not only ISIS militants but also Al-Qaeda-affiliated brigades. Spearheading Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria is a rag-bag of Islamist units, whose mission is simple: to seek out, torture and kill Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – the same SDF miltias who, with US support, have been fighting ISIS for the past two years and more. Welcome to topsy-turvy land.
The forces backed by Turkey in northern Syria refer to themselves as ‘Free Syrian Army’ (FSA). They count in their ranks ultra-nationalist Turkmen fighters, allied with former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and the Salafi/Wahhabi group Ahrar al-Sham. They also boast fighters from the Nour al-Din al-Zenki battalion. Many of these militants have long been linked to the Grey Wolves – a notorious neo-fascist group in Turkey.
Significantly, there are also reports of ISIS soldiers swapping uniforms and joining the ‘FSA’ battalions as the Turkish military advances further into Syrian territory.
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Reblogged this on TheFlippinTruth.
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As much as I sympathise with many aspects of the Kurdish situation you seem to ignore the fact that they have been happy to collude with Assad and the Russians when it suits them in taking predominantly Arab lands to extend their proto Kurdish state. Like just about everyone involved in Syria they are motivated more by self interest than the interests of the Syrian people at large. Their laudable efforts against IS should not blind us to the good reasons why many Syrians have limited sympathy for them
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Have not seen evidence of this, so happy to look at it if you provide it. My understanding is that the Kurds have no truck with Assad, though they equally despise the Islamists backed by Turkey who have been waging war against Assad.
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There hardly seems to be a shortage of discussion on this point but this article seems like a good place to start. mkaradjis.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/the-kurdish-pyds-alliance-with-russia-against-free-aleppo-evidence-and-analysis-of-a-disaster/
To clarify I wasn’t suggesting that Kurds as a whole backed any dubious actions by certain of their groups or the any general agreement was made with Assad or the Russians. There is a tendency to glorify the Kurds and overlook their faults. Amnesty and others have reported on their ethnic cleansing of areas, whilst such things can’t be held against all Syrian Kurds by any means we have to be honest about the actions of some within their ranks
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