Yahoo! News photo staff put together a vivid photo essay of life in the safe zone in northern Syria.

ca.Yahoo! News: PHOTOS: For Syrian Kurds, and aid workers – the ‘safe zone’ is not so safe

Darnell’s Son

That first picture is just a taint punch.

More Kurdish propaganda: People have unearthed a video from Sep 1997 of Nelson Mandela’s message of solidarity with the Kurdish struggle.

It’s really interesting to hear the revolutionary rhetoric Mandela uses from before his edges were sanded down for broader western consumption.

UPDATE:

Holy shit, it works. The internet works.

Behold: The power of the internet.

barbed wire bob

Don‘t get carried away. “ Though the pen is mightier than the sword, the sword speaks louder and stronger at any given moment*.”

*Leonard Wibberley – The Mouse That Roared.

Reverend

Heh. Well, I did’t think this would be the flare to rally the world. But it’s nice to see that Trump supporters aren’t the only ones who respond when they are name checked in social media.

Devizier

Stop quoting laws, we carry swords*.

*Pompey

For awhile now, towns in the south east region of Turkey where the Turkish military is conducting operations of various sorts, military and otherwise, have been attempting a kind of small scale public relations of campaign about how they are ancient settlements of immense intrinsic value to humanity that are being destroyed.

OK, Nov 8 was a relatively “dull” day from a tactical and geopolitical strategy POV (though terrifying on the ground). There’s the same fighting in the same places, but not a lot of ground given up. There is reason to believe that the relative lack of movement on the ground is a function of the geopolitical positioning/posturing that’s gone on in the last 36 hours or so.

First, this situation on the ground.

The main takeaway is that the M4 highway remains compromised. Other than that, fighting in the same places in mostly the same ways; I can post more granular maps if anyone wants, but there’s not a lot of movement.

I’ll go from west to east to cover the major fronts:

Idlib: 

The people continue to get fucked, especially from the air, as Russia hammers anti-Assad SNA rebels but also the Syrian Army is taking aggressive action on the ground, as are Turkish forces in opposition. It’s ugly; the destruction comes in all sorts of flavors, and now with what appears to be increased buildup of armor.

Manbij:

There was fighting with shelling yesterday, but that stopped when Russia (and Syria) showed up.

Ain Issa & Tall Tamr:

Continued skirmishes. “Ambulance hunting” by UAVs around Tall Tamr is really pissing people off.

Qamishli:

Basically all the major players are there and cautiously eyeing one another, so it’s pretty quiet…

This video actually covers more than rocks.

This picture is much more rock focused.

Geopolitics:

The relative maintenance of the status quo on the ground today makes a lot of sense given the strong stances made by pretty much all the significant players.

USA, Turkey, Russia, and, to an extent, Syria—

—all staked out bold positions.

Lesser players took positions as well. France broached the idea of Europe needing to rethink NATO. Israel has voiced support for the Kurds. Iraqi Kurdistan has released a controversial statement. (The powers in Baghdad are mostly keeping their heads down, wisely, I think.) Iran has been Iran.

Add the context of a bunch of high end press coverage of the situation, and it seems like the power chess game needs to play out a bit to dictate the next moves on the ground.

During WWII, when the United States conducted the internment of Japanese descent in America on the west coast (It’s not well known that there was no internment on Hawaii; being a different theater of operations, they had a different general who, among other things, did not give overtly racist testimony to Congress. Hawaii had no internment, and had no problems. Well, besides that one thing.

Anyway, one of the weirder things to go largel unnoted, except in Carey McWilliams’s eception book, Prejudice, where he chronicles the internment as it happened. One of the factoids that blew my mind was that there had been like half a dozen Inuit people of Japanese descent living in Alaska and living with Inuits, they didn’t even speak any Japanese or know any Japanese people and… I don’t even know how the government found them, much less bothered.

But that’s how it works, I guess. It’s the extension of the logic of “the system” or whatever one wants to call it.

I’ll say this for Erdogan: He is not fucking around.

It may well make sense to strike while the iron is hot and before the international community gets its shot together about doing anything, so that would go for their perceived terrorist opposition in Turkey and Iraq as well as Syria. Given enough time, some solutions will become final, as the saying goes; there’s a ruthless practicality to the approach.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey has launched a new phase of its operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in eastern regions of the country, the Interior Ministry announced on Friday, as it continues to squeeze the group in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.

The fifth phase of Operation Kiran, meaning “breaker,” targets PKK in the eastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Bingol and Mus. The operation was launched on August 17 in the southeastern provinces of Van, Hakkari, and Sirnak, and was followed by campaigns throughout the mainly Kurdish areas.

More than 2,500 personnel are taking part in the latest phase, the ministry stated, as reportedby state-owned Anadolu Ag

. . .

In recent years, Turkey has taken its war against the PKK across international borders. In addition to Operation Claw, it also conducts airstrikes in other parts of the Kurdistan Region and Shingal. It is also fighting Kurdish armed forces in northern Syria.

Turkey’s attacks on Syria and Iraq escalated on Tuesday as its warplanes bombed Sinjar two days in a row, striking at villages inhabited by the Yazidi minority. Yazidis survived the ISIS genocide, but they have been targeted in both Afrin in Syria, which Turkey invaded in January 2018, and in eastern Syria, where Turkey is carrying out an invasion against Kurdish fighters. Turkey claims it is fighting “terrorists,” but locals say airstrikes and attacks by Turkish-backed militants have caused civilians to flee.

Turkey claims it is operating against “security concerns,” but its attacks on Syria have led to 200,000 people fleeing, including 14,425 who had to flee all the way to Iraq and now live in refugee camps in the Kurdistan autonomous region. In Sinjar, Yazidis were subjected to genocide by ISIS in 2014, thousands of them being massacred and their bodies dumped in mass graves. In addition, 3,000 of them – mostly women and children kidnapped and enslaved by ISIS – are still missing.

Yo. I mean, it’s one thing to want to kill a fool. But when you get into the, “I will kill you and everyone who looks like you!!” territory… I mean, I get it, the violence inherrent in the system yaddayaddayadda… but killing Kurds in three countries is an absurd amount of work. And what if the time comes and Iran doesn’t let them kil the Ku–

Well… I suppose there’s a first time for someone not trying to kill the Kurds. Anything’s possible.

I’m glad they’re stepping up to the jerk. Like this guy. (Well, not exactly like this guy. It’s probably a lot more intense in northern Syria, I imagine.

But this is cool to:

When he signed with the Celtics, I totally knew we’d be reading all about him in the <checks list> Wall Street Journal.

WSJ: Boston Celtic Enes Kanter Calls Foul on Repression in Turkey

The outspoken NBA center has been labeled a ‘terrorist’ by his native country’s government for his association with an exiled cleric

I get a huge kick out of the Operation Inherent Resolve Twitters

So there’s fighting in all the places there is fighting. SDF have reportedly made progress near Ayn Issa and Tal Abyad picking up some villages. Turkey is still pounding SDF near Tel Tamr. And our friend David Eubank may be moving through the stages of grief, because he’s pissed.

And Idlib is getting hit by Russian air strikes, as usual.

And Turkey is attacking Kurdish areas in Turkey and destroying parts of ancient cities in the process. And they’re conducting air strikes on Kurds in northern Iraq. Kurds in Iran appear to be safe.

In other developments, this is interesting: Four Arab tribes joined SDF. That’s both interesting in itself, but also this is an attempt to advertise that this is a thing that is happening.

The War on Twitter

More complaints about Twitter biased censorship are showing up. Accounts closed. The blue check system is completely fucked for SDF/SDC (and some Iraqi, from what I’ve seen.).

FakeNews: Turkey

AP now reporting on a pro-Turkish soldier fake news campaign.

AP: Twitter accounts push propaganda photos of Turkish soldiers

As Turkish forces invaded northern Syria in early October, supporters of the offensive launched a different kind of campaign — online.

Dozens of images claiming to show Turkey’s soldiers cuddling babies, feeding hungry toddlers and carrying elderly women spread across Twitter and Instagram where they were liked, retweeted and viewed thousands of times thanks also to popular hashtags.

Except some of the photos weren’t of Turkish soldiers. None of them were recent and some had been taken in parts of Syria unconnected to the invasion – even in other parts of the world.

The online campaign follows a pattern of social media propaganda that seeks to sway global opinion when controversial, international events erupt.

Turkey also arrests people for social media posts they don’t approve of. It’s part of why Kanter can’t talk to his family.

We Need at Least Two Rock.

Finally; Two more examples of rocks, but weightier than the others:

Christian Messaging

Rojava pushing the Christian angle hard again; seeing it show up more again, after there was a lull.

I mean, it also happens to be completely true. They seem baffled that people don’t care. It’s probably easier for them to keep track of a half dozen sides war, what with their survival depending on it and all.

FaithWire: The Plight of Ancient Christians in Northeast Syria

CBN News: ‘Shocking’: Cradle of Christianity on the Verge of Collapse as Turkey Turns Northern Syria into Death Zone

I’m really used to that kind of language being hyperbole. “It’s a literal death trap!”

Literally.

So how do we even speak about this stuff in any meaningful way?

Turkey’s (mis)Use of Allied Sold Weapons Continues

Reports: Gambling in the establishment has been discovered.

CNN: US believes reports Turkey misused US-supplied weapons in Syria incursion are ‘credible’

US looking in to possible misuse of arms sold by them to Turkey.

This feels like a joke almost. Like, the whole What Did You Expect Them To Do With Them schtick. Bad joke, if you will.

The Denial of Culture: Two Levels

With the modern magic of social media, you too can know watch the subtleties of ethnic cleansing as tools of power in real time from the comfort of your own home.

More Rocks!

An absurd amount of my Twitter feed is people throwing rocks at trucks.

Most of them are different cuts of the same footage. This one’s a different angle though.

Hopefully more to come.

New Meetings on Syria Scheduled

This can’t be right… ?

One way or another, major pro-Turkish media just put this out, announcing a summit of France, Germany, UK, Turkey, and Syria (not SDF/SDC).

Milliyet: Last minute … Fourth summit date for Syria is announced (Google Translation)

I keep seeing dates for possible meetings kicked around that are, like, in lawyer or judge time. Like, a month from now? srsly?

Edit: Narrator: It was right.

teddywingman

Thanks for keeping us informed Rev.

Earlier you kinda asked it there were any requests, right? Or did I imagine that? Either way, I have one.

Reverend

You did not imagine it.

teddywingman

It might be a rather mundane task for you, so feel free to ignore it. I would love to see a list of all the players involved, with a brief synopsis of their backers, motives, strengths, vulnerabilities, etc. I find it hard sometimes with all the abbreviations and the various power struggles taking place.

OK… maybe! It depends what you mean.

If you mean, like, a grouped lists of the major players with their major “umbrella organizations” and affiliations, such as SNA/FSA/TFSA and SDF/YPG/YPJ/SDC and so forth, I can probably do that if it would be useful.

If you want a list of all the various fucking acronyms for each group, NFW (see below).

teddywingman

One simple example is how the Syrian Democratic Forces is usually abbreviated to SDF, though sometimes HSD or QSD. Then sometimes I’m reading something and wondering to myself if they are entirely allied with the SAA or if there are dynamics I fail to understand.

It’s just a fact: Everything has like 2-5 different acronyms. It’s frustrating. But you’re completely not wrong.

It sorta makes sense, but only if you think of it for awhile and think about the language issues.

Take town names in northern Syria. Each town has an Arabic and a Kurdish name. Now, Arabic uses a different alphabet and Kurdish might as well since the letters all dressed in their finery and have fancy hats and pants and stuff. So you get two or three spellings of an Arabic name (Ras al-Ain, Ras al-Ayn, etc.), and Lord knows how many in Kurdish (Sari Kani, Sari Kaniye, Sarikanîyê, etc.) which I’m not even sure is fully standard and Google translate cant even identify it half the time—Those are all the same place.

[Fun Fact: Google Maps accepts place names in Arabic, anglicized Arabic names, but not the Kurdish place names. Though the names are on the map, you can’t search for them. That basically sounds like an ancient proverb or a clue to some sappy treasure hunting movie, I know. but there you have it.]

It gets worse when acronyms come around. Like, the acronym at what phase? What some of these end up is, like, take a three word English phrase with an acronym and it’s also a memory aid, right? But if you take those words, then translate them into a different language with a different alphabet, then grab the initial SOUND of each word in the other letter language, and then just translate those initial sound/letters back to English, and there’s your acronym even though it may not have any direct relationship to a name in any fucking language in known existence.

I’m serious. This took me forever to figure out—and then I realized how it must work and looked on Wikipedia and it’s all right there.

Like, check it: What is the acronym for Syriac Military Council? MFS.

Why?

MFS. It’s basically, with apologies to Will Hunting, Fuck You That’s Why.

Romanticized Syriac! Of course! It’s so obvious!!

Now, add to that the fact that the militias are often named after their leaders (the eastern way, if you will, for tribes, religions, and other social systems, etc.). So the closer to the ground someone is or the more granular they are getting, the more often you get an acronym that is a specific militia—SNA is actually like 30 militias under one brand. And then there might be some slang.

I like it when there are pictures of women in fatigues with guns. Then I know it’s the YPJ.

Don’t even get me stated as to whether or not it’s possible to figure out which SNA militias are NOT Daesh at this point or something like that.

Really Fun Fact: The reason SDF seems so easy compared to some of the others is it’s because it’s actually in English; and, if you’ll recall, it’s in English precisely because the USA told the YPG they needed a new name, and they came up with Syrian Democratic Forces for our benefit.

teddywingman

Know what I mean? Maybe I’m just dumb in this area (abbreviations often confuse me) but I wonder if anyone else is having trouble keeping all the players straight.

Maybe I’m alone on this and you shouldn’t waste your time.

It’s definitely not you.

In fact, per above, there are at least two levels where that makes sense.

ZMART100

Rev, you are our own Claire Varrens. Thank you.

I think you might be underselling just how rough it is to keep track of these organizations. There’s a good primer on page 11 here of the components of the TFSA and their past alliances. Take Jaysh al-Islam. They have received CIA, Saudi and Turkish support. They will fight anyone and have no problems with war crimes. At times fighting against ISIS, the Assad regime, the YPG/PKK and al-Nusra (al-Qaeda). They have also been allied with al-Nusra in the past. The SDF will probably call them ISIS because that’s a good way to get them bombed. These are definitely not the good guys, but they are some sort of mercenary force with waxing and waning Islamist tendencies that will hold land. They remind me a bit of the medieval mercenary bands that liked to pillage their way through the Italian states switching from one benefactor to another. The one constant for them though is they hate Assad.

Reverend

And you still got me.

And wow. Yeah, @teddywingman , what he said.

Cool link too. Need to check that out. Thank you.

Edit: Heh.

This just happened: