Article

2015-07-02 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Kurdish fighters regain control of Tal Abyad

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Posted by Fred 2015-07-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top
File under: Islamic State

#1 Gee, what border would that be where support is coming across... Lebanaon? Iraq? Jordan? well suprise surprise surprise... its Turkey! And the Turkish town of Akcakale right there at the border too, how convenient.

Posted by OldSpook 2015-07-02 01:10|| 2015-07-02 01:10|| Front Page Top

#2 This is actually a strategic capture, given that its a major high way nexus in the region.

Its the red ball route between Raqqa, the ISIS "capitol", and Turkey (the next one over is Kobane that the Kurds already control).

Just as important, or perhaps even more so, this town also has an E-W paved multilane road between Kursdish areas in northwestern Syria & northeastern Iraq and their forces in Kobane. It lets the Kurds move to/from Kobane without having to go thru Turkey.

The Kurds now control all the western major highway crossings at the Turkish border, an in much of that area that means they control the ONLY road crossings, there's not a lot of good N-S logistics capable road in the area that run down into ISIS territory from Turkey. And they have the best E-W road in that area now, giving them a lot of strategic mobility to swing E-W in response to ISIS, whose E-W axis is set back further. Think about the meaning of that to both ISIS and Turkey (tacitly supporting them).

This is more than half of the length of the Turkish/Syrian border.

Posted by OldSpook 2015-07-02 01:16|| 2015-07-02 01:16|| Front Page Top

Posted by 2015-07-02 02:24|| 2015-07-02 02:24|| Front Page Top

#4 When, as Turk, your primary concern is the Kurds rather than your fellow Salafists...

I won't even go into US policy. Suffice it to say the "second coming of Harold Wilson" seems strangely apropos.

Posted by Pappy 2015-07-02 12:12|| 2015-07-02 12:12|| Front Page Top

#5 Wilson indeed. You can thank Wilson and Labor for Robert Mugabe and his contributions to the continent. Now there is a legacy.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-07-02 15:21|| 2015-07-02 15:21|| Front Page Top

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