15 June 2020 — Drone Wars
President Erdogan poses with Bayraktar drone
12 June 2020 — South Front
The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and Syrian militant groups with a direct support from Turkey are preparing for a new attempt to capture the port city of Sirte from the Libyan National Army (LNA).
11 June 2020 — Indian Punchline
By M.K. Bhadrakumar
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C), flanked by Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar (R) and the Libyan Parliament speaker Aguila Saleh (L) announced a road map to end the fighting in Libya, Cairo, June 6, 2020
The series of debilitating military setbacks that Libya’s renegade general Khalifa Haftar suffered in the recent weeks have spurred diplomatic activities over the conflict in the country. But the war is far from over.
1 June, 2020 — Global Research
Alarms are sounding in Europe as Turkey, Russia and Arab states could potentially agree on shared influence in Libya, and therefore the entirety of the eastern Mediterranean, according to some experts. This comes as European states have no influence over the war in Libya despite it occurring on its southern doorstep and Turkey, Russia and Arab states continue to gain influence.
26 March 2020 — Inforos
Yuri Veselov, military observer
Turkey is unable to fulfill all the agreements with Russia. Following the March 5 Moscow talks, Recep Erdogan vowed to establish joint patrol of the M4 highway between Aleppo and Latakia starting March 15 in exchange for Syrian government army’s terminated offensive in the Idlib province. But he never got round to get this agreement done. The Turkish leader has pledged to ensure that all the detachments and weapons along the highway are withdrawn by mid-March for a distance of six kilometers on both sides. The militants do not shy away from their unwillingness to leave the positions.
11 March 2020 — Land Destroyer
(Tony Cartalucci – NEO) – Turkey’s ongoing fighting in northern Syria’s Idlib governorate was – from the beginning of recent escalations – clearly a continuation of Washington’s wider now 9 year-long proxy war against Damascus.
Whatever gains Turkey had made in terms of reducing its role in Washington’s proxy war and repairing ties with Syria’s allies Russia and Iran – were clearly less important to Ankara amid these recent weeks of renewed aggression than whatever Washington has either promised Anakara or threatened it with.10 March 2020 — Voltaire Network
Events in the “Broader Middle East” since 2001 have followed a relentless logic. The current question is whether the time has come for a new war in Turkey or Saudi Arabia. The answer depends in particular on the resumption of hostilities in Libya. It is in this context that the Additional Protocol negotiated by Presidents Erdoğan and Putin to resolve the Idleb crisis must be interpreted.
6 March 2020 • 22:45 — The New Dark Age
There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back
Another Farcical Ceasefire in Syria
https://www.globalresearch.ca/another-farcical-ceasefire-in-syria/5705729
The New Idlib Ceasefire Forces Turkey-Backed Extremists to Fall Back
https://www.mintpressnews.com/russia-turkey-ceasefire-moscow-idlib/265541/
6 March 2020 — Asia Times
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech on November 9 last year on the 81st anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey. Photo: AFP / PhotMurat Kula / Anadolu Agency
At the start of their discussion marathon in Moscow on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with arguably the most extraordinary diplomatic gambit of the young 21st century.
5 March 2020 — Moon of Alabama
Our last post on Syria concluded:
Erdogan wants Idleb but neither Syria nor Iran nor Russia will let him have it. President Putin will meet Erdogan during the coming days and will make sure that the point is understood.
President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Vladimir Putin of Russia met today in Moscow. They had a 160 minute long talk under 4 eyes and another round with their relevant staff. The parties agreed on a new ceasefire in Idleb governorate.
Continue reading
4 March 2020 — Asia Times
Refugees wait Saturday to cross the border between Turkey and Greece near the Pazarkule border post, in Turkey. Thousands of migrants and refugees, including Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis, have massed at Turkey’s border with Greece after Erdogan announced on February 28 that Turkey would no longer prevent them from leaving for the European Union. Photo: AFP / Burcu Okutan / Sputnik
The latest installment of the interminable Syria tragedy could be interpreted as Greece barely blocking a European “invasion” by Syrian refugees. The invasion was threatened by President Erdogan even as he refused the EU’s puny “offer you can refuse” bribe of only one billion euros.
Well, it’s more complicated than that. What Erdogan is in fact weaponizing is mostly economic migrants – from Afghanistan to the Sahel – and not Syrian refugees.
3 March 2020 — Consortium News
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a press conference in Turkey, Dec. 1, 2014. (Russian government)
By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News
As Recip Tayyip Erdogan prosecutes his latest military intrusion southward into Syria, all the old mythologies about the Turkish president and the 9-year-old Syrian conflict are rehearsed once again, hopelessly threadbare as they are. The problem now is not the fog of war. The problem is the war of fog.
2 March 2020 • 18:30 — The New Dark Age
There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back
Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Ansarullah is the front line, not China-Russia
http://thesaker.is/iran-syria-hezbollah-ansarullah-is-the-front-line-not-china-russia/
Today’s Links xxx el erian
http://mikewhitneysgraspingatstraws.blogspot.com/2020/03/todays-links-xxx-el-erian.html
March 2020 — The Saker
by Scott for the Saker Blog
1 March 2020 — Strategic Culture Foundation
29 February 2020 — South Front
Click to see the full-size image
On February 29, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came with a new group of claims on the situation in Syria’s Idlib and Turkish agressive actions in the region.
28 February 2020 14:00 • — The New Dark Age
There may be some duplication due to cross-posting and may be updated throughout the day, so please check back
Syria war: Alarm after 33 Turkish soldiers killed in attack in Idlib
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-51667717
Turkey, Russia Tiptoe Toward ‘Unnecessary War’
https://orientalreview.org/2020/02/28/turkey-russia-tiptoe-toward-unnecessary-war/
26 February 2020 — New Eastern Outlook
If Turkey’s Erdogan had some ‘neo-Ottoman’ dreams, they seem to have been almost fully shattered by the fast-pace Russia-Syria offensive in norther Syria and recovery of the territory hitherto being controlled by the so-called ‘rebel’ forces, including those being funded by Turkey ever since the beginning of the ‘civil-war’ in Syria. An analysis of the evolution of Turkey’s policies in Syria shows that it has been a massive failure. Starting with the objective of ‘sending Assad home’, which ultimately meant to allow Turkey to extend its influence in Syria and thereby impose a ‘permanent solution’ on its Kurdish problem, to collaborating with Russia, Iran and Syria in Sochi and Astana processes, Turkey’s primary motivation has always been to raise its regional strategic profile in a way that allows it to become a new regional hegemon. It has been trying to maintain a calculated distance from the US/NATO, considering that the US support for the Kurds remains the key element of its Middle Eastern policy, and it has been maintaining a calculated relationship with Russia—Syria in the hopes of finding the same ‘permanent solution’ to its Kurdish question through a direct control of large swaths of Syrian territory.
Recently, Ankara has crossed the line by transforming its supposed anti-terrorist operation in Syria into a full-fledged invasion. Essentially, it wouldn’t stop in spite of Moscow’s repeated attempts to talk some sense into its partner and the repeated warnings voiced by Damascus. In fact, Ankara has been answering attempts at pursuing deescalation in Syria by making provocative statements. Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan described the events unraveling in Idlib as “a war”, while his Defense Minister Hulusi Akar demanded Russia to “step aside” and allow Turkish Armed forces to deal with Bashar al-Assad’s troops.
25 February 2020 — Moon of Alabama
The Syrian Arab Army continues its campaign to liberate Idleb governorate. The current main area of operation is in the southeast of the terrorist held area where the SAA attacks in a northern and western direction. The aim of the operation is to bring the M4 highway from Latakia to Aleppo under government control.
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The New Dark Age 