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Syria, the war, the Kurds, and into the future

Now that the Kurds have gone back into the Syrian fold, the situation on the ground throughout Syria will evolve very quickly. The war that started in 2011 will draw to a close over the coming few months. There will be a small pocket of American forces still extant in Al Tanf, but they will not be a major worry to Damascus. A fly in the ointment, but not enough to spoil it. Given what has just happened, we want to take a look at what will evolve in Syria over the next year. Continue reading “Syria, the war, the Kurds, and into the future”

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What next for Rojava?

Since the drawback of American troops from the northeast of Syria and the start of the Turkish Operation Peace Spring, there has been hue and cry in Western media about the plight of the Kurds in what they had hoped to be their independent state, Rojava. We hear that they have been betrayed, that the move is ill considered, that they will be massacred, that Daesh prisoners will be released and Daesh reconstituted, that there will be another massive immigration crisis in Europe, and so on. Just how much of this is true, and why are we hearing these things? And just who are these Kurds, anyway? These are questions worth answering. In this last of the three articles on the Turkish invasion of Syria, we look at Rojava itself. Continue reading “What next for Rojava?”

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A Christmas story…of sorts

It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas. Americans are getting a special gift this season, with the announcement by the Trump administration that the US troops in Syria are starting their withdrawal from Syria. The Pentagon has since confirmed it. State department employees begin their withdrawal from the 20th of December. The complete draw-down is supposed to take between 60 – 100 days. Continue reading “A Christmas story…of sorts”