They're an ethnic minority group that lives within Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran who, understandably, want their own country.
Erdogan hates Assad about as much the he hates the Kurds these days. I doubt Russia gives a shit about what happens in northeast Syria far away from their interests. If Assad survives the war Syria will be way too weak to do much about the Kurds. It's a fascinating web of allies and enemies that is extremely sad.
True. But other than fighting via proxy, I don't really see the Saudis doing anything against the Kurds. Turkey is the only state actor I see actually potentially coming to a full head conflict. I don't think Baghdad has the appetite for any conflict with them.
Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon on Monday confirmed it had targeted "senior" Al-Qaeda leader Abu Firas al-Suri and other jihadist fighters in an air strike in Syria. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the US military carried out the strike in northwestern Syria on Sunday, resulting in several enemy fighters being killed. "We assess that Al-Qaeda senior leader Abu Firas al-Suri was in that meeting and we are working to confirm his death," Cook said. He said al-Suri is a Syrian national and a "legacy" Al-Qaeda member who fought in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and 1990s. He "worked with Osama bin Laden and other founding Al-Qaeda members to train terrorists and conduct attacks globally," Cook said
Rebels shot down a SAAF plane, the pilot was then captured by Nusra forces. As the video shows he was tortured and will probably be executed. AEJ خليل ้้้้้็็็็ Ⓜ @AEJKhalil 10h10 hours ago #BREAKING Photos moment #SAA "SU-22"falling after Rebels shot down the warplane in #Tel_Eis #ALeppo cs #SYria APRIL5
Awesome, but that seems like overkill. Destroys the road and probably any living creature within the immediate houses. Amazing technology, though.
Aldin Abazović @Ald_Aba #BREAKING: Syrian prime minister says Russian air force and Syrian army preparing joint operation to liberate #Aleppo. #Syria SAA led by Issam Zahreddine fighting ISIS in Deir ez Zor
Yury Barmin @yurybarmin #BREAKING: A Russian Mi-28H helicopter crashed in Syria, pilots are dead Happened near Homs, apparently it was not shot down.
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar 2 hrs · "Six senior Afghan ISIS commanders and a group of fighters have abandoned the extremist group amid reports it was too violent and decided to join the Taliban." NBC News. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate reality from satire.
Read something about that on CNN. Basically the desecration of the bodies without a proper burial was too much for them.
Real life "Fury" operating in Iraq right now 'The Beast' Iraqi troops raised the Iraqi flag over the city of Hit on April 1, Warren told reporters. "We estimate that 75 percent of the city is now cleared, and that ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) will push ISIL completely out of the city in the coming days." Warren said the effort to liberate Hit has been assisted by a "motivated" American-trained Iraqi tank crew: "There's an Iraqi Army M1 Abrams tank that's operating inside the city of Hit," he said. The tank has been "handing it to the enemy" for several days. According to Warren, the tank "has been driving all around Hit, crazy, and blasting IEDs, punching holes in enemy defenses, and maneuvering between multiple engagements." Warren said the tank has been so successful, the American advisers who have watched it in action "have given it the hero of the day award for, like, several days running." "And our guys will sit in the ops center there and will track this tank, and in fact, at one point, they thought there were multiple tanks..." Warren said the tank has "become a little bit of a folk hero in Iraq," and it's been nicknamed on social media as "the beast."
hour long panel with 3 experts on Assad and Syria http://www.c-span.org/video/?407546-1/discussion-bashar-alassads-role-syria
BAGHDAD, April 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. coalition fighting against the Islamic State in Iraq has begun arming the Kurdish Peshmerga with heavy weapons as the battle for Mosul intensifies. The Kurdish Peshmerga have received armored personnel carriers, mortars and anti-tank weapons to combat the Islamic State as the ground assault to recapture Mosul looms. "We have decided to give them about two U.S. Army brigades-worth of equipment -- heavier stuff," Brig. Gen. John E. Novalis II, who is overseeing coalition training of Iraqi security forces, told Stars and Stripes.
ISIS Releases Apostasy Hit List Of 21 Western Muslim Leaders JONAH BENNETT Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/14/i...t-of-21-western-muslim-leaders/#ixzz45txlROiw
Not sure where to put this but looks like Merkel is allowing for the prosecution of one of their young comedians because he made a satirical poem about Erdogan. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36055488
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36035095 Article on the Afghan Hazaras fighting in support of Assad in Syria. The SAA treats them like shit with Gen. Suheil Hassan most notably saying to opposing forces with regard to captured Hazaras, "Do what you want with them. You can kill them, they're just mercenaries. We can send you thousands of them."
People go about their day in front of three upended buses, stacked there as a shield to repel sniper fire, in the residential neighbourhood of Bustan Al-Qasr in Aleppo, Syria. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-15/exhibition:-syrian-crisis-in-photos/7248210
So within the past two days ISIS has captured 18 villages in South Aleppo from the SAA along with a lot of valuable equipment. Classic SAA incompetence and once again crazy how ISIS is so resilient with everyone against them.
it's super important to note that freedom of speech in a whole, whole bunch of the world(sadly including some first world countries) does not mean you get to shit on the government as a public opinion. I very much doubt German courts will let anything happen as the law Erdogan filed under is something leftover from the early German Empire. Merkel said they're going to work on being rid of that law soon to prevent future issues and I imagine she wanted the courts to rule on the matter to show she's not swinging some proverbial dick on the matter by immediately telling Turkey to fuck off, although apologizing to Erdogan about it was super dumb and weak and another case of the EU bowing to Turkey for quite literally no reason since it really should be Turkey kissing EU ass. I mean we do a whole mess of shit wrong in this big country but by god the ability to meet the leader of this country face-to-face and tell him to eat a sack of dicks and not be at all punished for it is nothing short of awesome.
AMA with British ex YPG fighter https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/4f7n2v/ama_aiden_aslin_british_ex_ypg/
So the Kurds and the SAA/NDF are now fighting each other in Al-Qamishli in northeastern Syria.........
First part of a 5 part BBC short series on Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, the rest of the links are in the youtube description
Chuck Pfarrer @ChuckPfarrer 1m1 minute ago QAYYARAH, IRAQ: Video shows US B-52s strike Daesh weapons storage areas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGQ1dwLfyE4…
ISIS executes 250 women for refusing to become sex slaves: Report http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...me-sex-slaves-Report/articleshow/51925996.cms
Islamic State claims it killed Bangladeshi academic http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-professor-hacked-to-death-rajshahi-islamists Police said Siddique was the fourth professor from Rajshahi university to be murdered.
"Bae" edrogan continues cracking down on freedom of speech and the press. Dutch reporter arrested for sending tweets critical of the president. Fucking eoe is such a dipshit how the fuck could anyone support this moron
Friday UN backed Yemen peace talks began. They were supposed to begin Monday but Houthi delegates were initially saying "fuck that noise" and didn't show up but they changed their mind. The initial bargaining positions are: Houthis: We want a government that is inclusive of both major factions and until that is established and stable we will not disarm Hadi/Saudis: We want Houthis to utterly capitulate and lay down all arms and leave all major cities before we'll talk about a new government. Here, but more official https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/4g7ta6/qamishlo_ceasefire_agreement_terms/
Jack Shahine @jackshahine Prisoners exchange today btwn #YPG & #IS in Shadadi. Some Kurdish Ezidi women among them.#TwitterKurds https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivi...led_by_a_woman/ Locations of the people interviewed: Qamishlo, Daraa, Daraa, Afrin, Hama Countryside, Aleppo, Aleppo, Kafrnabel, Idlib countryside, Idlib countryside, in that order. All the interviews are from non-Government/regime areas (so, the non-SAA parts Qamishlo). The rebels are apparently ganging up in another attack on Sheikh Maqsoud (because Sheikh Maqsoud didn't have enough fucking problems I guess): https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivi...qsoud_en_masse/ Finally, there has been fighting between Peshmerga and PMU/Hashd militias in Tuz Khormato in Iraq: https://twitter.com/TheRealBTL/stat...9332208640?s=09 Shia fighters destroyed a Peshmerga Humvee in #Tuz. These are legit. Hassan Ridha @sayed_ridha Apr 23 Clashes renew in Tuz Khormato between Kurdish Peshmerga and the predominately Turkmen PMU Hassan Ridha @sayed_ridha Apr 24 #PMU claims that 200 mortars and tank shells fired by #Peshmerga have hit Tuz Khormato #Peshmerga have sent reinforcements to Tuz Khormato and claim to have cut all roads thus encircling #PMU in the town At least 4 #Peshmerga fighters have been killed as well as Brig. Gen. Sirwan Shaqlawayi in clashes in Tuz Khormato Talks between #PMU & #PUK reportedly begin in Tuz Khormato to end fighting #PMU source says Hadi Al-Amiri & other commanders have arrived in Tuz Khormato Hadi Al-Amiri in meeting with #Kirkuk Governor: There cannot be a military solution to Tuz Khormato #Kirkuk Governor says a deal has been reached to stop fighting in Tuz Khormato #Peshmerga commander Hassan Bhran says Kurdish forces will withdraw from Tuz if #PMU do the same so that both can focus on #IS .@alsumariatv Photos with the description "Kurdish gangs roam streets of Tuz Khormato" http://imgur.com/a/3pk5W #Peshmerga burning homes civilians #Turkmen Shiites in #Tuzkhurmatu. http://telegram.me/tnanews Claim of Peshmerga burning houses.
"bae" edrogan's AKP party now pushing to reform the turkish constitution to eliminate secularism and make turkey an officially muslim state b a e a e
It was the Turkish Parliament Speaker, and he was addressing a conference of Islamic writers and scholars; so there's a little context to that statement. The scary part is that he is the man responsible for writing the new draft constitution, and there's a good chance he will rewrite and expand on the President's powers to the benefit of Erdogan. I doubt there'll be a coup though, even if it is a national tradition. The last time something like this happened was in '97, and the military just wrote a memorandum with "recommendations" to the Islamist Welfare party. The gist was basically "you guys have seen what happens."
I think I mentioned it on here before, but I met a girl from South Carolina who married a Turkish guy in grad school, converted to Islam, and moved over there ~6 months ago. She has tattoos, wears a shit ton of make up, and cusses like a drunken sailor. Talk about your all-time backfires
I'm sort-of Muslim and drink, cuss, and eat pork. One of my best friends is Muslim and she is very much like your friend, minus getting married and moving to turkey. Being Muslim =/= wearing a hijab and following sharia law. Just like being Catholic doesn't mean going to church every Sunday and not eating meat on Friday
Oh I know that wasn't my intention with that story. I was speaking about moving to a country that could be headed towards being a less hospitable place for liberal Muslims.
Look at these idiots VICE News @vicenews 17m17 minutes ago .@vicenews has obtained headcam footage taken from a dead Islamic State fighter https://news.vice.com/video/what-it...utm_source=vicenewsfb&utm_medium=vicenewsfbuk What It's Really Like to Fight for the Islamic State April 27, 2016 | 4:40 am VICE News has obtained footage taken from the headcam of an Islamic State (IS) fighter who died in March while battling Kurdish peshmerga troops in northern Iraq. The clash took place about 30 miles north of Mosul. Unlike IS propaganda, which often presents sweeping battlefield victories, the video shows chaos, panic, and the fighters retreating. VICE News shows the grim reality of an IS foot soldier.