US Airstrikes Kill At Least 43 Civilians In Syria’s Raqqa

The victims were killed by U.S.-led warplanes carried out several air raids at noon Saturday, targeting residential areas in Raqqa, Syria.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
A US Air Force plane takes off as a Turkish Air Force fighter jet taxis at the Incirlik airbase, southern Turkey, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013. (Photo: AP/Vadim Ghirda)

New reports out of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa say US airstrikes hit a number of residential districts in the city over the course of Saturday, killing at least 43 civilians and wounding an unknown, but a substantial number of others. There was no obvious specific target for the strikes, though the US has been generally targeting ISIS forces

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الأكراد: سلاح واشنطن لزعزعة الاستقرار الشامل في الشرق الأوسط

في هذه السلسلة المكونة من ثلاثة أجزاء، تحلل سارة عابد، المساهمة في MintPress، الدور الذي لعبته بعض الفصائل الكردية عبر التاريخ في مساعدة القوى الكبرى على خلق الفوضى في الشرق الأوسط – من الانتفاضة الكردية في العراق في الستينيات إلى الصراع المستمر في سوريا اليوم.

Sarah Abed
بواسطة 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)

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 Western interventionist

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US Airstrike Kills 11 Civilians in Northern Syria

The Pentagon, as usual, says they cannot confirm or deny the incident, though the US and its coalition partners are the only ones with warplanes active in the area north of Raqqa, strikes which are mostly meant to support the Kurdish YPG in its advance on Raqqa itself.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz

While the US has presented the area north of the ISIS capital of Raqqa as virtually all “liberated” by Kurdish forces, that doesn’t mean US warplanes aren’t still launching airstrikes against the villages in the region, often with horrific results. Overnight, US warplanes attacked the village of al-Salihiya, just north of Raqqa, killing at least

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Turkey Backs Russian-Iranian Plan For Syrian Safe Zones – U.S. Responds By Arming Kurds

The U.S. plans to arm a Kurdish militia in Syria with heavy weaponry, a move likely made to provoke Turkey over its planned establishment of “safe zones” in Syria. The militia has ties to a group that has been previously described by the U.S. and Turkey as a terrorist organization.

Whitney Webb
بواسطة Whitney Webb
Kurdish fighters of the(YPG guard U.S. forces in the northern village of Darbasiyah, Syria, April. 29, 2017. (AP/ APTV)

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- On Tuesday, President Donald Trump continued to mimic the Obama administration’s stance on Syria by approving a plan to arm the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG). Little is known about the details of the plan, other than that it will involve the delivery of heavy weaponry to the YPG.

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Trump Approves Direct Arming Of Syrian Kurds With Heavy Weapons

The Kurds had already received a lot of weaponry, and some limited armored vehicles from the US before, and this move eliminates restrictions on what more will be sent.

Jason Ditz
بواسطة Jason Ditz
Acommander of the Kurdish womenís self-defense force, known by its Kurdish acronym YPJ, takes a break in Kobani, Syria. (AP/Jake Simkin)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was already making much of his plans to lambaste President Trump during his DC visit later this month, complaining about the US provision of arms and military support to Kurdish factions that Turkey considers terrorists. That issue is going to be even bigger now, as President Trump has signed off on a plan

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Tensions Mount Between Turkey, US Along Syrian Border

Syrian children watch as U.S. forces patrol a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, in northern Syria. U.S. armored vehicles are deploying in areas in northern Syria along the tense border with Turkey, a few days after a Turkish airstrike that killed 20 U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels,April 28, 2017. (AP/APTV) Tensions rose Saturday along the […]

Associated Press
بواسطة Associated Press
Syrian children watch as U.S. forces patrol a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, in northern Syria. U.S. armored vehicles are deploying in areas in northern Syria along the tense border with Turkey, a few days after a Turkish airstrike that killed 20 U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels, April 28, 2017. (AP/APTV)

Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the United States moved armored vehicles to the region and Turkey’s leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting Syrian Kurdish militants there. The relocation of Turkish troops to the area came a day after U.S. troops were seen patrolling the tense

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