Afrin: Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch Is Testing the US-Kurdish Alliance

Turkey’s battle in Afrin proved NATO alliances supersede all others. Sending a message to the Kurds that dreams of an independent Kurdistan are no concern for the United States.

Sarah Abed
By Sarah Abed
Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army soldiers celebrate around a statue of Kawa, a mythology figure in Kurdish culture as they prepare to destroy it in city center of Afrin, northwestern Syria, March 18, 2018. (Hasan Kırmızitaş/DHA-Depo Photos via AP)

AFRIN, SYRIA (Analysis) --  In less than two months since Erdoğan’s Operation Olive Branch kicked off, the Kurdish “Rojava Project,” which aims for a unified Kurdish-controlled area in northeast Syria, has been delivered a strong blow. Kurdish militias have shown their inability to unite in the face of Turkish aggression. Even with forced

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Kurds, Out of Options, Look to Syria’s Assad for Help

The Kurds are feeling the squeeze from Turkey’s operation to route them from northern Syria, and with their benefactors in Washington unwilling to garner support, they are looking to former enemies to save them.

James Carey
By James Carey
A Kurdish demonstrator wears pendants showing jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and a party symbol, during a protest against the operation by the Turkish army aimed at ousting the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia fromthe area of Afrin, Syria in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 22, 2018. (AP/Hussein Malla)

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (Analysis) -- The war in Syria has been relatively absent from media coverage in recent weeks following the declared victory of Syrian, Russian and Iranian militaries in their battle against the U.S.- backed rebels and terror groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda. Now Washington is changing its strategy to draw Syria further into

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America, the Kurds, and History: Only a Pawn in Their Game

It is not known how America will negotiate being caught in the middle of its Kurdish ally in the war in Syria and its NATO ally in Turkey, but history is not exactly whispering assurances in the Kurds’ ear.

Ted Snider
By Ted Snider
Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, (Y.P.G), stand guard next to American armored vehicles at the Syria-Turkey border, Apri, 2017. (Youssef Rabie Youssef/EPA)

The only thing that has ever been faithful to the Kurds is history: it has faithfully, without fail, betrayed them. The Kurds have been cast in the role of the pawn in powerful countries’ games of chess. They do much of the hard work only to be sacrificed when checkmate is in sight. Most recently, the U.S. rediscovered the Kurds as useful pawns

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The Kurdish Connection: Israel, ISIS And U.S. Efforts To Destabilize Iran

Syrian Kurds claim to be fighting against terror as they strive for autonomy, a goal that they have yet to achieve even after decades of effort. But their efforts are being co-opted by Western powers that are using them to achieve their own ends in the Middle East.

Sarah Abed
By Sarah Abed
Security and forensic officers work the site of a car bomb which struck a bus in Diyarbakir, Turkey, May 10, 2016. The attack, carried out by the 'Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, targeted a bus carrying police officers killing at least three people. (AP/Mahmut Bozarslan)

SYRIA (Analysis)-- In Part I of independent analyst Sarah Abed’s three-part analysis for MintPress News, Abed began exposing the modern-day Kurdish/Israeli alliance that both parties have tried to keep hidden in order to avoid drawing the public's attention to their ultimate plan, as well as the U.S.’ use of Kurdish factions in destabilizing the

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The Kurds: Washington’s Weapon Of Mass Destabilization In The Middle East

In this three part series, MintPress contributor Sarah Abed analyzes the role that some Kurdish factions have played throughout history in helping major powers create chaos in the Middle East – from the Kurdish uprising in Iraq in the 1960s to the ongoing conflict in Syria today.

Sarah Abed
By Sarah Abed
Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, (Y.P.G), stand guard next to American armored vehicles at the Syria-Turkey border, Apri, 2017. (Youssef Rabie Youssef/EPA)

SYRIA (Analysis)-- PART I Historical accounts of the Kurds have been a subject of mystery and perplexity for years, and have been seldom discussed by major Western media outlets until recently. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the ongoing conflict in Syria, Kurds have been romanticized by mainstream media and U.S. politicians alike to justify a

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Turkish Air Force Pounds US-Backed Rebel Positions In Iraq & Syria, Killing Dozens

US officials have expressed “deep concern” tonight following early attacks by the Turkish military against American allies in both Iraq and Syria.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz
ATurkish fighter jet flies above the Incirlik airbase, southern Turkey. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

Turkish warplanes carried out a series of coordinated attacks against US-allied Kurdish forces in both northern Iraq and northeastern Syria today, killing more than 70 people, including at least 18 troops loyal to the Kurdish YPG, and pounding the area around the Iraqi city of Sinjar. Attacks within Syrian territory targeted the city of Derik,

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