The warbirds and scavengers are circling: “The US has struck targets associated with Islamic State (IS) in central Syria, while Turkey has attacked US-backed Kurdish forces.” [ Comment: There has been some question about the identity of targets in some strikes. Notably, some local Sunni tribes have been in contention with the Kurdish presence in some areas. These may be tied in to Turkey-supported Sunni militiants, not ISIS. ]
“‘Israel also confirmed that it had sent forces into the buffer zone beyond the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and into former Syrian military positions on Mount Hermon… It said it would continue with airstrikes on former regime sites associated with missiles and chemical weapons, and with airstrikes reported on Monday evening at an air defence installation near the port of Latakia. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said on Tuesday that Israel had “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria” with about 250 airstrikes since the fall of the Assad regime. The strikes had targeted airports and warehouses, aircraft squadrons, radars, military signal stations, and multiple weapons and ammunition depots over the past 48 hours, it said.”
“The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, however insisted that Turkey has no interest in expanding its reach into Syria, despite its backing of the Syrian rebels. ‘Turkey has no eye on the territory of any other country,’ said Erdoğan. ‘The only aim for our cross-border operations is to save our homeland from the terrorist attacks,’ he added, referring to raids targeting the Kurdish-led YPG, based in northeastern Syria.
Guadian, Israel, US and Turkey launch strikes in Syria to protect interests.
