President Trump and Syria

President Trump has ordered the withdrawal of American troops in Syria and the public is watching things unfold on television, wondering what is going on? The conflict is the result of a civil war in Syria, now in its 8th year, having come about as a result Russia and Iran’s intervention.

Bashar al-Assad has been able to survive and take back part of the nation he lost at the outset of the war, but there are opposition forces known as TFSA in the northwest backed by Turkey. Among this 80,000 to 100,000 group are former Al-Qaida and ISIS fighters which belong to the Sunni faction of Islam. They hate the Kurds since they are secular Muslims and allow women to be part of the armed forces.

The Kurdish forces in Northeastern Syria numbering 60,000 are known as SDF. They were recruited by the U.S. to fight against ISIS and acted as the ground troops of the American coalition. The U.S. had a small force of some 1,000 soldiers training and guiding the SDF forces. American airpower came from carriers and air bases in Iraq.

There were artillery units among the U.S. forces but the US troops basically moved around in lightly armored vehicles. The devastating firepower came from Air Force planes.

The SDF was never given any heavy weapons due to resistance from Turkey that hates the Kurds.

The Turkish onslaught came with aircraft and artillery, augmented with tanks. Turkey did not want to use its own soldiers in the ground fighting and unleashed the fanatical TFSA fighters, who behave just like ISIS, slaughtering and murdering captured fighters and civilians.

From the Desk of John Torell
October 14, 2019