Tag: Syria

U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria

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The attacks were against weapons storage facilities used by Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against places in Iraq where American troops, spies and diplomats were located.

WASHINGTON — The United States carried out airstrikes early Monday morning in Iraq and Syria against two Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against American personnel in Iraq in recent weeks, the Defense Department said.

“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” the Pentagon spokesman, John F. Kirby, said in a statement.

Mr. Kirby said the facilities were used by Iranian-backed militias, including Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, to store arms and ammunition for carrying out attacks against places where Americans were located in Iraq. There were no immediate reports of casualties but a military after-action review is ongoing, Pentagon officials said. Continue reading.

Trump appears to confuse the Kurds of Syria and Iraq in a meeting with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan

Washington Post logoPresident Trump met with Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

During their encounter, Trump focused on praising the Kurds of Syria.

“As you know, we left Syria from the standpoint of the border,” said Trump, seated beside Barzani. “And that’s worked out great with Turkey. It’s worked out far better than anyone thought possible. They have the so-called safe zone, and I appreciate everything you’ve done to keep it as safe as possible.”

Continue reading.

John Bolton trashes Trump in private speech — and hints Syria pullout was based on personal financial interests: report

AlterNet logoAccording to a new report from NBC News, former national security adviser John Bolton said during a private speech that President Trump’s foreign policy regarding Turkey is influenced by personal interest.

Sources tell NBC News Bolton suggested that Trump’s claims that his business experience allows him to conduct foreign policy more effectively is without merit — saying that real estate and foreign policy are two different things. During his speech, Bolton reportedly criticized Trump for lacking understanding on how foreign policy works.

Read the full exclusive report over at NBC News.

View the November 12 article from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump says he wants to keep Syria’s oil. Here’s the problem

QAHTANIYA, Syria — The convoy of U.S. armored vehicles headed east, Stars and Stripes flapping in the wind as it lumbered toward its apparent destination — the oil fields of Rumeilan, in Syria’s far northeast.

There, pump jacks line both sides of the road, churning up and down. Smoke from small refineries rises into the sky and fires shoot from natural gas outlets. Electrical lines dot the landscape and tankers plod up and down the pothole-racked highway.

They’re the tattered vestiges of Syria’s long-crippled oil industry, which has become the latest justification for President Trump’s on-again, off-again policy to keep a U.S. presence in the country’s northeast.

View the complete November 4 article by Patrick J. McDonnell and Nabih Bulos on The Los Angeles Times website here.

Trump’s Syria Troop Withdrawal Complicated Plans for al-Baghdadi Raid

New York Times logoPresident Trump’s abrupt decision to pull forces from northern Syria forced the Pentagon to press ahead with a risky night operation that killed the ISIS leader, military officials said.

WASHINGTON — President Trump knew the Central Intelligence Agency and Special Operations commandos were zeroing in on the location for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, when he ordered American troops to withdraw from northern Syria earlier this month, intelligence, military and counterterrorism officials said on Sunday.

For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist.

But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said.

View the complete October 27 article by Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper and Julian E. Barnes on The New York Times website here.

U.S. military begins bolstering troop numbers in Syrian oil field region, defense officials say

Washington Post logoThe U.S. military has begun bolstering its troop numbers in a swath of eastern Syria where President Trump has said he wants to protect oil fields, U.S. defense officials said Saturday.

The U.S. troops began arriving in Deir al-Zour province in a convoy from northern Iraq. The defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the forces will reinforce American troops in coordination with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who have teamed with the Pentagon on operations against the Islamic State for years.

The additional forces will help “prevent the oil fields from falling back into the hands of ISIS or other destabilizing actors,” one U.S. defense official said.

View the complete October 26 article by Dan Lamonthe on The Washington Post website here.

Fact-checking Trump’s spin about the ‘great outcome’ in Syria

Washington Post logoPresident Trump claimed a diplomatic victory after Russia and Turkey took control of areas in northeastern Syria previously overseen by U.S. forces, even lifting sanctions on Turkey. Here’s a quick guide to some of the key claims he made during his 15-minute address, in the order in which he made them.

“This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else. No other nation; very simple.”

Trump is claiming credit for ending a problem that he created. After a conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and against the advice of many foreign-policy aides, Trump decided to withdraw U.S. forces from critical positions in northeastern Syria and abandon Kurdish troops that had been U.S. allies. His action was in effect a green light for Turkish-backed troops to invade.

Turkey has long considered elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — who were critical to the defeat of the Islamic State’s caliphate — to be a terrorist threat. To prevent a Turkish invasion, the United States persuaded the SDF to pull back up to nine miles from the Turkish border. In August, the SDF destroyed its own military posts after assurances the United States would not let thousands of Turkish troops invade. But then Trump tossed that aside.

View the complete October 24 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.

Trump says U.S. will lift sanctions on Turkey, calling cease-fire in Syria ‘permanent’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will lift sanctions on Turkey, saying that the Turkish government has informed the White House that it will abide by what he characterized as a “permanent” cease-fire along the border with Syria.

At a hastily organized event in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Trump also used the occasion to justify his “America First” foreign policy agenda, pushing back against critics by arguing that he is removing U.S. troops from a region where they should not be involved.

“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” Trump said.

View the complete October 23 article by Felicia Sonmez and David Nakamura on The Washington Post website here.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump exaggerates scope of cease-fire deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump describes it, the U.S. swooped into an intractable situation in the Middle East, achieved an agreement within hours that had eluded the world for years and delivered a “great day for civilization.”

It was a mission-accomplished moment that other Republican leaders, Democrats and much of the world found unconvincing.

Trump spent much of the past week trying to justify his decision to pull U.S. troops away from America’s Kurdish allies in Syria, leaving those Kurdish fighters vulnerable on several fronts and already reeling from attacks by Turkish forces.

View the complete October 21 article by Calvin Woodward, Hope Yen and Lolita C. Baldor on the Associated Press website here.

Pelosi and congressional delegation make unannounced trip to Afghanistan in outreach to allies after Trump’s decision on Syria

Washington Post logoHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led an unannounced congressional visit to Afghanistan and Jordan over the weekend, highlighting her sharp disagreement with President Trump over his abrupt removal of U.S. troops from northern Syria and Turkey’s subsequent attacks on Kurdish enclaves.

In Afghanistan, the delegation met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, top U.S. military commanders and diplomats, senior Afghan government officials and civil society leaders. The delegation also traveled to Camp Morehead to meet with Resolute Support Mission troops.  

“Our delegation received briefings from Ambassador John Bass and other top diplomats on reconciliation efforts with the Taliban, which has been responsible for violent attacks in Afghanistan. We also heard more about the still-pending status of results from the Afghanistan presidential election in September, which we all hope will be available soon,” Pelosi said in a statement Sunday night.

View the complete October 20 article by Steve Hendrix on The Washington Post website here.