QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Spokesperson of the US Department of Defense stated on Tuesday that Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) is monitoring the situation in northeast Syria and remains focused on working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to guarantee the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a press briefing, “CJTF-OIR remains focused on working with the Syrian Democratic Forces to ensure the defeat of ISIS and support of regional and security and stability, and that remains our only focus.”
“Distractions from this critical work does create instability and increases the risk of an ISIS resurgence,” he added.
On Aug. 27, the SDF launched a military operation called “Security Reinforcement” with the support of the US-led Global Coalition on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, specifically in Deir ez-Zor, “to eradicate ISIS sleeper cells, pursue criminals responsible for perpetrating injustices against the local population, and to track down smugglers who exploit the populace’s livelihoods.”
On Aug. 30, the SDF announced the dismissal of commander of Deir ez-Zor Military Council, Ahmad al-Khabil, known as Abu Khawla, from duty, for his involvement “in multiple crimes and violations, including communication and coordination with external entities hostile to the revolution, committing criminal offenses and engaging in drug trafficking, mismanaging of the security situation, his negative role in increasing the activities of ISIS cells,” according to the SDF.
The operation led to the eruption of clashes between the SDF and gunmen affiliated with the dismissed leader and with Nawaf al-Bashir whose groups are active in the western bank of the Euphrates which is under the control of the Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias.
Ryder reiterated that they would remain in the region, which is characterized by instability, and work with local and regional partners to focus on the defeat of ISIS mission to go forward.
https://npasyria.com/en/104021/
Comment: This announcement of the continued commitment to remain in northeast Syria was made in reaction to the eruption of fighting between SDF fighters and fighters of the Deir Ezzor Military Council. That fighting is now over, but it raged for nine days and left some 70 dead, including nine civilians. One of the reasons given for the arrest of Ahmad al-Khabil was that he was making unilateral contacts with the Syrian government. The young YPJ fighter in the above video also mentions “gangsters that came in from the regime side.” I don’t know how much the Damascus government was involved in this fighting or if it was involved at all, but it does point out the wide rift between the SDF controlled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the Damascus government. However, it does appear that Erdogan was attempting to stir up trouble in Deir Ezzor.
Another development in the region is explained in the “Foreign Policy” article by Sinan Ciddi. Türkiye may be giving up on trying to oust Assad and looking for some kind of rapprochement. Erdogan needs to get some of the Syrian refugees out of Türkiye and back to Syria. But Assad’s condition for this is a complete removal of Turkish troops from Syrian territory. Russia is doing what it can to facilitate all this.
Our continued presence in Syria and active support for the SDF will not make this easy. Erdogan sees a strong SDF independent of Damascus as a threat to Türkiye. He sees no difference between the Kurds of the YPG and the Kurds of the PKK. As the CJTF-OIR sees it, we remain in Syria for the same reason we remain in Iraq, to defeat ISIS. Both the ISF and the SDF are our coalition partners. We are in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government. We are in Syria at the request of the SDF and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which is certainly not the legal and recognized government of that region. I don’t know whether the White House and our State Department sees it the same way as the CJTF. That’s a problem either way.
If there is to be a rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus, Damascus must control her northern border, all of that border. The Rojava Kurds must be militarily isolated from the PKK Kurds. We hold the key to that happening. This is how we can defeat ISIS in Syria.
TTG
Seymour Hersh today. Extremely interesting stuff. Including that Wagner was making incursions into Baltics & Poland and that’s why Prigozhin was killed, and that the new Ukraine defense chief is as corrupt or moreso than the others. And of course, no surprise, that the lies in the western press about the Ukrainian offensive are just that – lies, and that the defenses are working as designed.
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/why-putin-killed-prigozhin
Dr One attacks Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) on the Volga river. On other sites than V1.ru from Volgograd you see comments from beyond the Urals: “In Novosibirsk here, we’re next,” and “Only demilitarization.”
“Remember Dr No?” Said Dr One.
“His real name was Mr Snob, but after receiving his MD degree he dropped the BS,” said Dr One to Dr No, again wondering about mentioning the ‘e.’
What is known about the fall of a drone on a military base near Volgograd
The emergency woke up the residents of two neighboring settlements.
https://tinyurl.com/2m6er9ep
80 comments to the publication:
“Woke up to the sound of an explosion”: what is known about the fall of a drone on a military base near Volgograd.
https://tinyurl.com/4tfmx5rf
Continuing a theme from a few threads ago re AI etc.
Do the (microsoft) Hustle:
Who is Really making Billions from Chat GPT?
https://youtu.be/fHMNYnjuXak
SEO (search engine optimization) isn’t breaking news but this guy illustrates its nefarious side which is distinctly within the Twilight Zone Episodes on “How to make trillions of $ from mouseclicks, which is unproductive, corrupting and should be illegal but in a country where one individual can legally own $Hundreds of billions is not, unsurprisingly.”
Even more interesting is SEO (search engine optimized) starting at 3 min or so, which demonstrates what a grifter’s game it truly is now and even more interesting (around 4:45) – how Chat GpT specifically can churn out the junk-food SEO webpage candy! All sold to you by phony conmen ultra mega billionaires such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates.
What happened to Google search?
https://youtu.be/48AOOynnmqU
It is a bit hard to take any talk from DC about occupations of foreign lands seriously whilst our troops have been sitting in Syria for years specifically against the wishes of the government of Syria. As always occupation, and whether it is right or wrong, depends on who is doing the occupying and who is being occupied. It makes our foreign policy a joke. Our troops need to leave ASAP.
Agree 100%. An even bigger joke with multiple branches and interludes –
A) that anyone pays attention to Fox
B) that things are so bad you check Fox anyway
C) that this below isn’t a story here at all but “defeating ISIS” is.
D) Name a country whose name begins with “IS” which determines US policy on Syria.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-launches-unarmed-icbm-test-nuclear-capabilities-tensions-with-north-korea
Israel, we are there to effect regime change and oust Assad by stealing oil ,wheat and immiserating the population of Syria so the people will revolt. Syria, Russia and the Iranians wold take care of ISiS in short order but Israel does not want that and they control our policy there.
Grade: A+
In other news VP Kamala Harris steps forward to say;
“this job of Joe Biden’s? Well, no one has been doing it for the last 15 to 23 years, so I’m certain I can carry on in much the same way if the need should arise.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12487703/Kamala-Harris-insists-ready-80-year-old-Biden-dismisses-age-concerns-two-thirds-Democrats-said-old-run-again.html
What I am unclear on is which insurgents the US is now going to “defeat”.
Is the target the CIA-backed insurgents that the Pentagon-backed insurgents were killing, or is the target the Pentagon-backed insurgents that the CIA-backed insurgents were killing?
US policy has been divorced from reality since 1992.
US policy has been a bad joke since 2003.
US policy been treasonous to the interests of the American people since 2014.
Since 2021 it can no longer even be said to be “US”: it is a globalist policy set by unelected dual-citizens and carried out by cluess apparatchiks and cowardly careerists.
That so few retired officers have spoken about this only shows that the rot set in long before anyone understood.
Imagine never actually winning a war and being allowed to collect a pension as a “warfighter.”
Imagine being so clueless (or corrupt) that you care more about a border in Eurasia and yet you failed in your duty to guard your own.
This may look laughable in retrospect and it’s far too long, but I stumbled over it yesterday and suffered through the agony anyway. Bill Moyers found a nice affable geekish fellow to explain what’s by now horridly obvious. Slavery was made a condition of US residency. Voting is a comedy festival held every 4 years by force of law. (Alternative Civil War History).
The Deep State Hiding in Plain Sight (Moyers)
https://youtu.be/EYS647HTgks
My understanding is that the relevant deciders within the DC FedRegime keep forces in Syria in order to prevent the internationally recognized government of the Syrian Arab Republic from having any access to the oil fields in the region. And perhaps also to interfere with the Syrian Arab Republic’s ability to get Euphrates River water and the food grown with it back into SAR territory or control.
And the reason for this is not greed. It is pure nasty malicious spite. It is done to keep the SAR from being able to reconstruct any of the damage within the territory it controls. It is spiteful petty vengeance for having failed to overthrow the SAR government altogether.
If the Syria Kurds would settle for domestic regional autonomy with the SAR controlling the border between them and Turkey, would the SAR also settle for allowing the Syria Kurds to have that domestic regional autonomy within an SAR in total control of its border between Syrian Kurdistan and Turkish Kurdistan?
different clue,
The AANES will settle for regional autonomy within a federated SAR. Damascus is not ready to allow that. The Kurds of the YPG/YPJ were instrumental in defeating ISIS in this region with US help. The Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces had nothing to do with it. Still, that entire region is legally part of the SAR and the AANES is not recognized as a state by the UN or any other state. Our continued presence there protects the Kurds from imprisonment or annihilation at the hands of Ankara and/or Damascus. But we can’t and shouldn’t remain there indefinitely. Maybe the Russian Center for Reconciliation can do something, if we cooperate.
TTG,
That would be a good thing for all involved but it will take a change of administrations, maybe even two, for that to happen.
The FP article suggests Erdogan’s rapprochement with Assad is because the former is under domestic pressure to send Syrian refugees home. This is nonsense. If that were the case he’d have done it as a vote winner before the May election. Dreams of Turkish-backed forces leaving Syria voluntarily are just that. Erdogan is neo-Ottoman to his core and committed to the National Oath made by the last Ottoman parliament. Here is a map of what that looks like.
The Al-Monitor article is correct; this is about destroying the Kurdish pseudo state in northern Syria.
Everyone knows what the real mission is in both Iraq and northern (and southern) Syria; keeping Iranian influence at bay. Thus I don’t think there is much risk that ISIS will be defeated any time soon.
Btw, did anyone notice that the DoD has started issuing fake joint press statements? Must be some sort of new information warfare directive related to the China containment strategy I guess.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3504476/united-states-dod-and-indonesia-mod-joint-press-statement/
https://en.antaranews.com/news/292485/no-joint-statement-with-us-on-chinas-south-china-sea-claims-subianto
Barbara Ann,
So Austin is pulling a deep state/neocon move on Indonesia and they are not having any of it? Or is the message machine out of control?
Wrong Fred. Read more carefully. The US and Indonesia have a “shared vision.” It’s going around. President Xi dosed Treasury Secretary Janet Mushroom with Yellens a few months ago, didn’t you read about it?
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/15/business/janet-yellen-magic-mushrooms-china/index.html
F&L,
Vision, or Vision Quest?
Either way they need a Vision Test. Badly.
Barbara Ann,
What would “defeating ISIS” look like? Would it look like how it looked when we defeated Hezbollah or when we defeated Hamas?
Winning the War on Drugs, more like it. Or the War on Crime. Remember those victories?
My name is Joe Biden, and I am a man you can trust.
My name is Donald Trump. And if you elect me I will uproot the Swamp.
My name is Joe Biden, and I am a man you can trust.
My name is Barack Obama. Yes we can.
Them Yurpeens call me Dubya. An’ I’ll privatize Social Security with Slick Willy’s budget surplus and lower taxes since we can afford it. I sure won’t spend your hard earned tax dollars on a ..
Barbara Ann –
Agree with your points on the FP article. Interesting map BTW, ‘Halep’ is a variant of the name of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city in northern Syria It seems the neo-Ottomans are not content with the 8,835-square-kilometre area of Syria they already occupy. That includes all of Afrin Province, plus al-Bab, Azaz, Jarabulus, Tal Abyad, and Ras al-Ayn. Is the Turkish Army still in Idlib Province? I see that the people in Idlib use the Turkish Lira as legal tender, Syrian currency is not accepted. And the Turkish province of Hatay was stolen from Syria 80 years ago.
Have to respectfully disagree with your view on the joint press statement. It was neither fake nor info war related IMO. Subianto simply got his head shaped sometime after the the statement got critiqued in the Indonesian press and decided to disown it for internal political reasons. He is running for president in 2024. Shame on Austin for trusting the guy. Instead Subianto should be in the Hague defending himself for his war crimes in East Timor and for his allowing kidnappings and torture in the Jakarta 1998 riots.
Both Aleppo and Halep are both foreign language words for ﺣَﻠَﺐ (Haleb). Taking off chunks of neighbouring countries is a past time in the region. Much of southwestern Saudi Arabia was once Yemen, not that long ago.
Right next to Dubya, Cheney, Powell and Specialist Lynndie England of Abu Ghraib fame, under the retired jerseys of Goering and Speer with autographed photos of Idi Amin on sale at the coatroom?
Specialist Lynndie England was among the lowest rank order-followers there. Remember the dog leash she was holding in that picture taken of her? She did not bring it there with her.
Who brought it there? Who gave it to her? Who instructed her to pose with it in that picture which somebody far outranking her instructed her to pose for?
Who carefully and with malice aforethought engineered that whole situation to begin with, and carefully maneuvered the National Guard into position to be able to be made to carry the blame for policies and actions engineered and initiated from far outside and way above the National Guard itself?
different clue:
Congratulations. I am honored to meet you, however indirectly. You are the only person I know of who understands that Abu Ghraib was a theater production with the express purpose of flagrantly humiliating the Arab world. You’re smarter than I am. It took me until I saw all the senators, congressmen, judges, generals and other dignitaries all dressed to the nines and waiting politely to enter the special room reserved for viewing the photos in which Lynndie England figured so prominently. They were lapping it up. The most sickening or hilarious aspect was (depending on how far gone the TV viewer was) the consistency of the shocked horror and disbelief on the part of the TV hyenas (many of them former press people of actual US Presidents) who pretended to be amazed that a US soldier, a woman at that, could possibly do such things as force strong, young (and innocent) virile Arab men to strip naked and smear feces over themselves (and God knows what else off camera) while cowering and begging please, please, not to be mauled and ripped limb from limb by large, viscious dogs. And America, of course ate it up. “See how good we are: We disapprove of those things!”
It’s kind of like Hitler running an expose of what some nasty SS guards were doing in one of his deluxe Polish Vacation rest homes for the gypsy violinists, socialists and circumscised non-Christians. “Good thing your Führer keeps a close eye on things, eh what?”
I especially liked the reference and hat tip to who many people think was the most psychopathic of all US Presidents – LBJ. Pfc “Lynndie,” as in Lyndon. Or was it a reference to Charles Lindbergh, a notorious proto-fascist according to some of his admirers? ‘England’ was of course a beautiful touch – the nation that dropped chemical weapons on Iraq earlier in the same century.
leith
OK, so I was indulging in an attempt at light humor with the info war thing. But an explicit denial of what was supposedly jointly agreed is an embarrassment all round. If he did agree that stuff with Austin he’s been slapped down pretty hard. It seems Indonesia has no interest in becoming part of the China containment strategy. In fact ASEAN as a whole says it is committed to staying out of the US/China fight. M. K. Bhadrakumar, as usual, has a good write up on the subject:
https://www.indianpunchline.com/modis-trip-to-jakarta-is-a-geopolitical-event/
Barbara Ann –
ASEAN does not speak with one voice. Members such as the Philippines, Viet-Nam and others have multiple disputes with the PRC’s claims on the South China Sea. As does Indonesia. Or at least she did in the past have squabbles with China’s Nine-Dash Line and more specifically with her EEZ extending from Indonesian islands in the southern SCS. Got to wonder what changed that? Loans from Peking? Sweetheart trade deals? Something else?
Our only goal in Syria is to keep it partitioned and poor. We steal Syria’s meager oil reserves, not to make ourselves rich to prevent Syria from rebuilding. We have to punish them for getting help from Russia and Iran at the expense of the Syrian population.
We would oust Assad if we could, even if it meant ISIS or some variant of headchoppers, came into power. The poor part is important. There has been recent unrest in Syria do to poor economic conditions. We tried with the headchoppers, now we are trying a different tactic.
Stefan
If ISIS took over Syria then Syria would be indistinguishable from Saudi Arabia or Bahrain – which are very much our allies in the region.
When was the last time ISIS shot a US soldier or attacked a US vehicle with an IED? I have never heard of it happening, and yet I am told that we are fighting them.
JamesT,
Last one I know was a suicide bombing attack at Kabul Airport in 2021 with 13 US soldiers killed and 18 wounded. I have no idea id ISIS ever attacked US forces directly in Syria.
For one of our posters here whose first and last names each have 5 letters and who loves to justify everything no matter how expensive, wasteful, cruel or absurd by screaming about how socialists are to blame for everything.
All of Your Problems Have Something in Common.
https://youtu.be/RStKklOC-Z4
I’m confused – why aren’t these stories on the front page of the NYT internet edition. And a Jewish Lithuanian-Bulgarian woman named Sheinbaum is next president of Mexico?
“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood, won’t you be mine, won’t you be mine?” Said Mr Rogers.
https://t.me/malekdudakov/6020
Hunter Biden was on the verge of jail . Special Counsel David Weiss decided to set up a fast-track trial to bring charges against Hunter in a corruption and fraud investigation. Prosecutors will file charges against Hunter in the next three weeks .
Earlier, he tried to make a deal with the investigation and get away with it – but it fell apart in court . Congress presented new evidence of receiving bribes from Ukrainian oligarchs and the Biden family. Under these conditions, it would be completely ugly to let things go on the brakes. Therefore, Weiss received the status of a special prosecutor – and now he will promptly bring charges .
Hunter faces up to 10 years in prison . In court, they want to force Biden Sr. to testify. After all, he can already be officially convicted of corruption. Joe Biden himself may eventually be forced to simply pardon his son . Although it will cause a huge scandal.
Against this background, the White House is stepping up attacks on Trump. One of Biden’s advisers has begun running a campaign to ban Trump from running for office – trying to get him out of Colorado’s candidacy. Biden’s apparatchiks are also closely connected with the criminal prosecution of Trump . They advised the prosecutors who are conducting cases against Trump, right in the White House.
However, so far this only adds points to Trump. Biden is doing very badly – under 80% of Americans consider him too old for re-election for a second term. And the level of support for Biden in the camp of blacks and Hispanics is at the lowest level among all Democrats in the last 40 years. Add to this corruption, a possible sentence for Hunter and a defeat in Ukraine – and you get an explosive mixture that can send the entire Democratic Party to the bottom in 2024.
https://t.me/malekdudakov/6021
The presidential race is gaining momentum not only in the US – but also in Mexico . The current president, López Obrador, cannot be re-elected for another term in 2024. Under him, relations between the United States and Mexico became completely crisis – therefore, the stakes in the elections are very high.
The ruling left-wing populist party Morena elected the current mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Scheinbaum, as its candidate . She was born in Mexico – but her parents emigrated from Lithuania and Bulgaria in the 1920s and 40s. Sheinbaum could become the first woman and Jewess to lead Mexico.
She adheres to no less leftist views than Lopez Obrador. And intends to continue his policy of gradual nationalization of the Mexican energy sector. American corporations are getting fewer oil contracts in Mexico – and the White House is already threatening to impose retaliatory tariffs that could simply bring down the entire North American free trade market .
Mexico also wants to impose a ban on the export of GMO grains from the United States, which will be a disaster for American farmers. Recently, one of the ports owned by the Americans was nationalized – through it there is trade with Cuba, bypassing the sanctions. Military cooperation has also been frozen – in Washington, in response, they accuse the Mexican authorities of authoritarianism and actively support the opposition . A woman will also go from her – Senator Xochitl Galvez.
The ruling party accuses her of pandering to US interests. And Sheinbaum, in turn , promises to deal with Washington on an equal footing and not to obey the will of the United States. In the context of Ukraine, she – like Lopez Obrador – takes a neutral position and is not going to impose sanctions. And at the same time, it is ready to strengthen cooperation with China to the detriment of US interests. Sheinbaum leads the polls – and clearly wants to keep separating Mexico from the US . And in the event of military intervention – which Washington is calling for – the countries may even find themselves in conditions of direct confrontation.
F&L,
Interesting about Sheinbaum, but she’s hardly Lithuanian-Bulgarian since her parents emigrated in the 20s and 40s. I don’t mind Mexico going its own way at all. I do wish they could get a better handle on their crime and corruption problems.
CJTF-OIR has to know that the real reason for US forces being in Syria is to interdict ground transport between Iran and Syria/Lebanon. I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more officers go all Smedley Butler and blow the whistle on this mess. Or has it happened, but been studiously ignored by US Media?
Some comments:
1] ISIS – The UN estimates five to ten thousand Daesh and supporters remain in Syria. USCENTCOM just took out one of the Daesh leadership in July with an MQ-9 drone strike. They are mostly in areas controlled by Turkey and her Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham allies, or areas controlled by the Syrian Army and Russia/Iran. But there are still some Daesh supporters undercover on the left bank of the Euphrates. Hence the prison break at al-Sina’a least year.
2] Abu Khawla – The guy is a jailbird: theft, extortion, oil smuggling (previously for ISIS before doing it for the SDF). Formerly FSA a dozen years ago. And he once swore allegiance to ISIS in 2014. He constantly changes his spots. Possibly working with Assad or Iran now? What the hell was the SDF leadership thinking when they appointed him commander of the DMC? And God only knows what his tribesmen see in him?
3] Iran! The IRGC in Syria is playing the old ‘divide and conquer’ gambit (must have learned that from the wiley Sassenachs). They’ve been backing Nawaf al Bashir and his militia. Backing whispering campaigns with the al-Baggara tribes and other Arab elements of the SDF to mistrust the Kurds, Assyrians and other non-Arabs within AANES. Much of the current Deir ez-Zor clashes can be explained by IRGC agitprop.
4] Oil! Trump perhaps wanted to take Syrian oil but never was able to follow through. Pompeo schemed to get start-up Delta Crescent Energy LLC a sanctions waiver to explore deals to export crude oil through Iraq or Turkey. “…Delta Crescent was expected to negotiate export agreements on the AANES’s behalf and provide advice on rehabilitating damaged oil fields. In return, the company was to receive $1 per barrel from the deals it generated.” But it never happened. They only managed to bring a taxicab with 5-gallon cans of crude samples to Erbil in Iraq for analysis. And then they flamed out after the 2020 elections and they lost their protectors in Washington DC. The Biden administration gave them a courtesy short term waiver renewal so they could have time to remove equipment and personnel from NE Syria. But after that Biden has not renewed the sanctions waiver. They are gone.