Syrian Hmong

[Dill]

(10-09-2019, 10:29 AM)jj22 Wrote: The massacre has begun. Airstrikes are underway.
Prayers for the Kurds as they are getting wiped out.

Looks like the Kurds are getting hammered from two groups: Turkey and a resurgent ISIL.

Beyond the foreign policy establishment and the military, do US voters care about this at all?

Turkey begins attack on Kurds in northeast Syria, Erdoğan announces
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/09/syrian-kurds-call-civilians-front-lines-turkey-warns-attack/

Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, confirmed that the attack had begun. "Turkish warplanes have started to carry out airstrikes on civilian areas. There is a huge panic among people of the region," he said.

Kurdish and Arab civilians began fleeing from the border towns in the face of the offensive, according to Kurdish media.

Local authorities earlier declared a state of emergency and called on civilian volunteers to head to the front lines. 

US officials meanwhile reportedly said they had no plans to take control of prisons holding Islamic State (Isil) suspects if their Kurdish guards withdrew, further raising fears that jihadists could escape amid the offensive.  . . .[/i]

While the SDF proved adept at combating Isil, they lack heavy weaponry and anti-aircraft equipment and are likely to struggle in a confrontation with Turkey’s modern military. 

[The Kurds] position has been further weakened after they agreed to demolish their fortifications in the area at the request of the US, which as recently as last weekend was still trying to broker a compromise to forestall a Turkish offensive.   . . .

Meanwhile, Isil fighters attacked an SDF position in Raqqa, the former capital of their so-called caliphate, in an apparent effort to capitalise on the confusion caused by the looming Turkish attack.

Three suicide bombers struck an SDF position in the centre of the city late Tuesday in what the SDF called “the initial repercussions of the Turkish attack”. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attack.  . . .

US officials told the Washington Post they had no plans to intervene and seize control of the string of Kurdish prisons where thousands of Isil fighters, including British jihadists, are being held. 

The SDF have warned they may have no choice but to abandon the prisons and send all available forces north to confront Turkish troops on the border.