Page 699 - Bases News Today

Risk inside of syria. as far as we understand west of ain issa at a coalition base turkish-backed forces, seen yar rebels backed by turkey, a u.s. official says, mostly extremists former isis and al qaeda came "very close" to a coalition base. there are pretty big u.s. bases on the outskirts of kobani and maybe associated with that. so close, in fact, the u.s. had to show they were prepared to defend themselves and call in air support. so possibly helicopters, possibly jets to get these forces t...

To fight with the turkey from tg in the middle are u.s. forces ordered to leave, already emptying some bases as they consolidate troops to depart more safely president trump tweeting the kurds, who lost 11,000 men and women fighting isis with u.s. forces, are not americas responsibility anyone who wants to assist syria in protecting the kurds is good with me, whether its russia, china or napoleon bonaparte. isis sees this as an opportunity. hundreds of isis prisoners have escaped camps and priso...

Also, vice president pence on his way for some diplomatic mission. by the time, he gets here and sits down for these meetings and hammers out some sort of deal, the deed will already have been done. dont forget, as the u.s. is trying to use this economic leverage, trying to use diplomatic leverage with the vice president coming as the presidents envoy, as its using these slow tools, its pulling out american forces. so if the u.s. really wanted to pressure the turks and really wanted to stop this...

Continues, he has no intention of stopping. now, that could be for his domestic audience, well see what happens when vice president pence arrives. there are still american forces in the country, they are consolidating and in the process of leaving, but if we really wanted to stop this process, they could be protecting our allies. we have an extraordinary situation here. i dont think history will remember it well. you have a campaign that the kurds describe as ethnic cleansing going on right now ...

Whats the latest happening there? i heard you just spoke with the commander of the syrian democratic forces. what did he tell you? >> reporter: the situation is extremely grave. and yes, we did speak to the commander of all of the kurdish forces, the commander who just made an alliance with the government of president bashar al assad and through that government made an alooliance wh russia. there are two levels to understand what is happening here. on the geopolitical levels, u.s. forces are lea...

Any bast will any battle in the one is fast moving. i think what were seeing are turkish forces targeting mostly kurdish forces in this town that was held by the kurds until, you know, just a week ago. you know, the kurds have now put their lotting, if you like, with president assad. and there are reports this morning of russians who obviously are aligned with damascus, russians arriving at former u.s. bases, just piles the humiliation on to the u.s. to see that if those reports are true. but at...

Middle east, as the u.s. pulls out of syria. turkey is driving ahead, with the full force of its military. grabbing kurdish territory, capturing 50 villages and towns, in six days. and turkey is also using arab militias as shock troops. today, they tore down symbols of kurdish rule. u.s. officials say the militias include former isis and al qaeda members. the kurds, u.s. allies, are losing. and dying. 130,000 so far have fled turkeys advance. so the kurds made a devils bargain, calling on their ...

Town of ras al ain where battles seem to be sporadically erupting between turkey, the syrian arab force it allied itself with on the ground and the kurdish fighting force, the ypg. as this is pushing forward, there are also growing concerns about the safety for the civilian population as well as what turkeys long-term objectives may be. many quite surprised by some of the moves that have unfolded, moves by turkey that extend well beyond, it would seem, its initial goals. turkey and its arab alli...

The u.s. isnt exactly saying that so far. as richard was explaining there, americans are being closed in from all sides at these several bases that they have in the northern part of syria. thats the real concern here. its so much they might be overtly targeted. its that there are regime forces moving up from the south towards the north. there are turks moving from the north down to the south. at a certain point many of those locations will be surrounded and americans will be stuck in the middle....

Actually go even further than any of them had anticipated. turkey and its arab syrian fighting force have managed to capture a key area of whats known as the m4 highway, a strategic highway that cuts east to west. this has not only cut off key kurdish towns from one another, but also poses a risk to the u.s. military given where their bases are located. in all of this, who is actually the big winner? an expert i was talking to says its russia. they are not only the playmaker here, but also the k...