BREAKING: Syria Dispatch November 1: Important Developments on the Ground (Dalton Thomas)

Syria Dispatch November 1: Important Developments on the Ground

1. Turkey is continuing its campaign in Rojava. The eye of the storm is a place called Tel Tamir. Tel Tamir is a mixed community of Christians, Arabs, and Kurds. Tel Tamir is being pushed to the brink of genocide. The Assyrian Christian community there will soon be eradicated. Their homes and possessions will be stolen by TFSA elements once they finish the ethnic cleansing and begin the ethnic reengineering.

To be clear: There still is no cease-fire. SDF forces have withdrawn from the territory under the US and then the Russian agreement, yet Turkey continues to hunt Kurdish forces with drones and advance with ground forces in and outside of the “safe-zone.”

On that note, there is no safe-zone. The “safe-zone” is more accurately described as a “genocide zone.”

2. Assad is pressuring SDF to integrate into the central Syrian Army. SDF is refusing. Assad is using Turkish invasion as leverage to force the SDF to integrate as Syrian forces who replaced SDF forces continue in their failure to push the Turkish forces back. The SDF is requesting an immediate no-fly-zone to halt the mounting death toll. Their choice now is to face genocide or integrate into the Syrian army and fight alongside Assad’s forces. The SDC/SDF are requesting assistance from the US for the emergence of other options.

3. President Ilham Ahmed of the SDC (Syrian Democratic Council) held a press conference in DC last night and laid blame on the Pentagon for the mounting death toll in light of the fact that the US is responsible for the air-space the Turkish military is using to hunt and kill Kurds with aircraft and drones. This means in effect that the US is responsible for allowing the largest ethnic cleansing operation of the 21st century.

4. The US House of Representatives voted to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to impose sanctions on Turkey. While Armenian Christians welcome the long overdue decision of the Americans recognizing the genocide of the past, they are not confident they will prevent the genocide of the present. They are also skeptical it will make it to, or past the President’s desk.

5. There is mounting pressure in the House and Senate to hold Turkey accountable for their war crimes in Rojava and the Trump Administration accountable for their indifference to them. Yesterday Chris Van Hollen asked James Jeffery if Turkey’s killing of Syrian Kurds outside of the “safe-zone” would trigger the US to impose the promised sanctions. Jeffrey—one of the architects of US policy in Syria—did not provide a clear answer. Lindsay Graham urged Turkey to halt the violence in and out of the fake safe-zone, but the Turkish government remains defiant. Turkish President Erdogan has explained in recent statements that with or without sanctions, his campaign will not cease. Moreover, yesterday he is considering expanding the boundaries of his intended occupation of Syria.

6. The statistics in and out of the fake “safe-zone” are as follows:

Casualties from the Turk/ FSA attacks from 9th to 30 October�
(Confirmed by Kurdish Red Crescent )�
Wounded number total: 1089
_children:69
_female adult:149
_male adult:873
�Of these the number dead: 206
_Children:8
_female adult:20
_male adult:178

Tel Tamir hospital statistics:

From the start of the Turk/FSA attacks 9 Oct until 30 Oct:

Total casualties treated: 609
Of these transported to
Qamishli:286
Dead: 119
Total people displaced by the invasion: Over 300,000.

7. Lastly, US forces have begun returning to Rojava. They are not currently playing any official role where the genocide is taking place. The purpose of their presence is still unknown and undefined. While the official numbers are not known at this stage, it appears the US is about to have more US forces in Syria than it did before the withdrawal was announced on October 6.