|
US secrecy on Baghdadi raid exposes distrust of NATO ally Turkey
[France24] Islamic State (IS) group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was found and killed over the weekend in northern Syria just a few miles from the Turkish border in a US raid that evaded the Turkey’s Incirlik base, in a sign of the increasing distrust between US and Turkish militaries.Kinda exactly like the lack of trust in the Paks during the Abottabad attack The compound where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was targeted early Sunday is located near the village of Barisha in northwestern Syria barely three miles from the Turkish border in Idlib, a province that has come to be known as "the last refuge of Syrian rebels" resisting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. But it was an odd last refuge for the self-styled "caliph" of the IS group ‐ one that underscores the conflicting interests of the players, and their backers, in the Syrian war. While the international community has welcomed Baghdadi’s killing, his location and the manner in which the US raid was planned and executed highlights the security threats that still dog the region and beyond. Barisha village lies in a zone marked "rebel control" on Syrian battle maps, and is where an estimated three million people, mostly civilians, coexist with a witch’s brew of jihadist groups, including al Qaeda’s Syrian branch and a number of allied or warring factions. Most of them are mortal rivals of the IS group. Turkey has about a dozen military observation posts in Idlib that monitor the rebel area, where the Turkish-backed rebel Free Syrian Army ‐ now confusingly called the National Syrian Army (NSA) ‐ also operate. Ankara has emerged as a guarantor of sorts for the Idlib pocket, after Turkey negotiated a ceasefire with Russia and Iran in May under the Astana process. The deal saw the establishment of a buffer zone, which Turkey wanted, to protect Idlib residents from Assad’s offensive. In return, Turkey was required to remove all jihadist groups, including al Qaeda affiliates and breakaway groups, from the province. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-10-31 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=554156 |