Civilians are already dying in Trump-enabled Turkish attack on Kurds, thousands more fleeing

Monitoring groups are reporting that two civilians, allegedly including a six-year-old boy, have been killed and “thousands” more are fleeing Turkish bombardment against the cities and villages surrounding Ras al-Ain, Qamishili, and Tal Abyad in northern Syria as Turkey launches their long-planned and cynically named “Operation Spring Peace” to seize territory from America’s Kurdish allies and open the door for ISIS’ return.

The SDF has announced they have been forced to halt all operations against ISIS forces in order to respond to the invading Turks and are demanding that the international community implement a no-fly zone as it immediately became clear the shelling and bombing would be indiscriminate.

The invasion was greenlit by President Trump earlier this week after he abruptly told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would be withdrawing American forces from northern Syria and would not interfere in fighting between Turks and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that currently control the area. The beginning of hostilities from Turkey sparked the ignition of ISIS sleeper cells in the city of Raqqa last night, launching a wave of suicide bombings.

The SDF lost 11,000 lives in the grueling village-by-village, house-by-house battles against ISIS and gave Trump the “victory” against the terror group that he loves to take credit for. He’s rewarded them by betraying them at the drop of a hat and opening the door for the ethnic cleansing of northern Syria by the Turks and their Islamist proxies.

The Turkish landgrab intends to fulfill two purposes. The first is to carve out a 300-mile “safe zone” in Syria where they will resettle at least a million Syrian refugees that currently reside in Turkey. Erdogan has threatened to send them into Europe should the international community complain about his plans, cynically using the lives of a million people as a political pawn and a cudgel with which to advance Turkey’s agenda.

The second is to break the power of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multiethnic coalition led by the Syrian Kurdish YPG/YPS and includes other local tribal militias, which currently control significant portions of northern Syria on the border with Turkey. The Turks have long been waging a genocidal war against the separatist Kurds that live in southwest Turkey, and the existence of a de facto autonomous Kurdish enclave on the other side of the border is an existential threat that they cannot stand.

The presence of U.S. military forces has been a major deterrent preventing the areas that the SDF forces liberated from ISIS from being overrun by the Turks and their proxy militia forces. Trump’s bending over for Erdogan opens the door for ethnic cleansing in northern Syria, as the Turks will likely drive out the Kurdish and Yazidi populations and then resettle the area with Arabs like they did in the Kurdish canton of Afrin.

The SDF warned that a humanitarian disaster would follow if Trump allowed the Turks to follow through with their evil plans — and it’s unfolding at terrifying speed.

Colin Taylor

Managing Editor

Colin Taylor is the managing editor of the Washington Press. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice, equality, and universal health care in America.