Turkey

Syria is preparing to protect its sovereignty via military force in the event of an invasion by Turkey or Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Ambassador to Russia, Riad Haddad has said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been caught funding ISIS militants in order to advance his Middle East agenda to kill Kurds in Syria, a Turkish MP has revealed.  “Erdogan uses ISIS [Islamic State/IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL] against the Kurds. He can’t send the Turkish Army directly to Syrian Kurdistan, but he can use ISIS as an instrument against the Kurds. He has a greater Ottoman Empire in his mind, that’s his dream, while ISIS is one of the instruments [to achieve it],” Selma Irmak, a Turkish MP from the Peace and Democracy Party told the Russian media on Monday. .

Over the weekend, the biggest story in the geopolitical world was Turkey’s escalation in Syria.

With the Sunni-backed opposition on its last legs in Aleppo and under near constant bombardment by Russia from the air and Hezbollah on the ground, Ankara and Riyadh have a decision to make: intervene or allow the rebellion to be crushed.

Turkey has confirmed military strikes against Syrian government and Kurdish forces in Syria and says more is about to come. The Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that Turkish forces have attacked Kurdish YPG militias in northern Syria, and have demanded that the Kurds withdraw from the airbase that they had recently seized from “moderate” rebels. Turkey has also confirmed attacks against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in North West Syria. A Turkish official is now warning of a “massive escalation” in Syria over the next 24 hours.

On Saturday, the geopolitical world was shocked when Turkey began shelling Aleppo, where the Syrian opposition has its back against the wall in the face of an aggressive advance by Hezbollah and the IRGC supported, of course, by Russian airstrikes.

To be sure, everyone knew Ankara and Riyadh would have to do something quick if they wanted to preserve the rebellion. Their proxies are being rolled up rapidly by Hassan Nasrallah’s army and Vladimir Putin’s air force juggernaut. But few expected the escalation would come so quickly.