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Cut off from US help, Kurds fighting a desperate battle against Turkey on their own, says a former commando who describes himself as ‘disillusioned' and ‘embarrassed'
 [MilitaryTimes] They started out like the Minutemen and ended up as a seasoned fighting force that wiped out most of ISIS in Syria.And now the Syrian Democratic Forces are fighting off a massive Turkish invasion with no assistance from the U.S. military, according to a former U.S. special operator who worked with Syrian Kurds while in uniform and now with the SDF through a non-governmental organization. "What I understand, we have stopped any support," said the former commando, who spoke to Military Times on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the ongoing situation. Officials from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region, referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not immediately respond to this or any other recent queries about the situation in northeastern Syria. "I am disillusioned," said the former commando. "I am embarrassed. I am at a loss for words. Seventy-two hours ago, we were running patrols together. Everyone was waiving and continuing to clean up and watch for Daesh. Then, all of a sudden, the playground bully comes along and we ran away from our brothers, leaving them to fight the bully all by themselves." Prior to Tuesday’s long-promised invasion by Turkish forces, which came in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull a small cadre of commandos out of the area, the U.S. provided the SDF with a wide array of military support, the former commando said. Based on what he is hearing from his personnel on the ground, the former commando says that it appears Turkey, a NATO ally, has far exceeded its initial goal of an 18-mile buffer zone that runs in a salient south of the Turkey-Syria border. Also: "I think this is completely idiotic, from a strategic aspect," he said. "We have seized all of eastern Syria and isolated the Assad regime from the Russians and Iranians. Now we are just going to open a ground bridge between Iran and the Mediterranean. For what, because (Trump) says we are fighting other people’s wars?" Another problem created by the Turkish invasion is that in addition to taking the heat of ISIS, the SDF says it will no longer make containing ISIS prisoners ‐ said to number in the tens of thousands ‐ a top priority. Their escape would add to concerns that ISIS, which has yet to be completely defeated, will have a resurgence. The Kurds "are great soldiers, very trainable," said the former commando. "They are probably the closest Western mentality for ethics that you could find in that region of the world." Posted by: Whavimp Grath4899 2019-10-12 |
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