Author: Steven Sahiounie

By Rick Sterling The foreign policy elite is in an uproar. They claim “we have abandoned our allies”. They question “how can America be trusted?” They say the decision to withdraw from northern Syria was a “gift”  to Russia, Iran, and Assad…. even ISIS. It is true that the policy of US/NATO interventionism is failing. But that has been true since the invasion of Iraq or earlier.  After the disastrous invasions and attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and the 8 year undeclared war on Syria,  isn’t it time to  question the foreign policy elite?  If one believes in restoring international…

By Andrew Korybko The smoothness with which the US’ “sudden” withdrawal played out and the Pentagon’s decision not to militantly enforce the so-called “deconfliction line” along the Euphrates River after the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) triumphantly crossed it en route to protecting their new Kurdish “allies” strongly suggest that these were premeditated decisions indirectly coordinated with Russia in advance as part of the “New Detente” whereby Moscow’s reciprocal “compromise” would be in “convincing” Damascus to request Iran’s dignified but “phased withdrawal” next on the “face-saving” basis that its anti-terrorist assistance is no longer required. *** Alt-Media is cheering the Syrian Arab Army’s…

BY DAVID MACILWAIN Three days after the US President announced that US forces would be withdrawing from Syria and allowing the Turkish military to clear a zone along its border of Kurdish militants, someone thought to ask Australia’s PM Scott Morrison about his government’s position on the US action. The Commander in Chief’s direction to his military met with howls of protest from almost every quarter in the West, even before there was the slightest sign Trump’s order had been obeyed on the ground, but for Morrison it was US business alone. “The US has done the lion’s share of the…

US fighter jets and gunship helicopters were sent to scare off Turkish-backed militants in northern Syria after they came “very close” to US troops at Ain Issa, the Pentagon said. Washington has also sent a complaint to Ankara. F-15 fighters and AH-64 Apache gunships were used in the “show of force” on Tuesday, an unnamed US official told reporters, after the militants “violated a standing agreement” not to threaten US troops. A formal complaint was lodged with the Turkish military through diplomatic channels, the official added. Though US troops have been withdrawing from Syria for the past week, some Special Forces operators were apparently…

US Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Ankara to meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week to discuss the country’s ongoing military operation in Syria, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the White House, during the meeting with Turkish President, Pence will try to urge Turkey to reach an immediate ceasefire in Syria and to work towards a negotiated settlement. “On October 17, Vice President Pence will participate in a bilateral meeting with President Erdoğan,” the White House said. “During the meeting, Vice President Pence will reiterate President Trump’s commitment to maintain punishing…

By: Lilly Martin The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) who are the ONLY National Army in Syria, and their allies, the Russian Security Forces, have today moved through the formerly “Kurdish” held land, to arrive at the Turkish border. Moscow stated they believe that this move will cause Turkey to stop its attacks into Syria. This was made possible by an alliance between Damascus and the Kurds, who are all Syrian citizens. Several years ago, the Kurds set up headquarters in Qamishli and set up their own “State”. They considered their “State”, which was the NE corner of Syria, to be…

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid headed to Syria to help displaced families who have been forced to flee the violence caused by the Turkish military offensive, said the representative of the Kurdish Barazan Charity Society, Badr Eddin Najim Eddin. Around 30 trucks, loaded with food and other humanitarian items, were sent by Iraq’s Kurdish Barazan Charity Society. Turkey launched a cross-border operation against Kurdish-led groups in northern Syria last Wednesday. (Source: Reuters)

Syrian army troops have established full control over Manbij, a city in the northern province of Aleppo, and its nearby settlements, amid Turkey’s cross-border invasion in northeastern Syria and an abrupt US retreat of its forces from the city. Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that Syrian Arab Army units completed their deployment in Manbij and its surroundings, where they were welcomed by the locals. It added that residents of the northeastern city gathered in the city center, carrying Syrian flags and cheering for the army forces, which arrived to defend the city and its people from the…

By Drago Bosnic A senior Iraqi security expert disclosed that Washington is attempting to transfer 3,000 members of the ISIS terrorist group from Syria to Iraq. Hafez Al-Basharah told the Arabic-language al-Ma’aloumeh news website on Tuesday that the US which has created and supported the ISIS terrorists in the past few years is now plotting to create a safe area for them in Iraq. He added that Washington, which has chosen three areas in Iraq for the ISIS relocation, wants to transfer the militants first to the regions under Turkey’s military attacks in Syria and then to Iraq. “The first region that the…

By Pepe Escobar In the annals of bombastic Trump tweets, this one is simply astonishing: here we have a President of the United States, on the record, unmasking the whole $8-trillion intervention in the Middle East as an endless war based on a “false premise.” No wonder the Pentagon is not amused. Trump’s tweet bisects the surreal geopolitical spectacle of Turkey attacking a 120-kilometer-long stretch of Syrian territory east of the Euphrates to essentially expel Syrian Kurds. Even after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cleared with Trump the terms of the Orwellian-named “Operation Peace Spring,” Ankara may now face the risk of US economic sanctions.…