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Ankara views the YPG as a threat because of its close links to Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-old insurgency on its own soil. It has been alarmed by the YPG’s gains in northern Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, fearing it could extend Kurdish control along Turkish borders and fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.

“Jihad is not only in Islamic State, it is everywhere,” one message said.

Why does Turkey want Assad gone? The alternative to the Assad regime would be a new Sunni government. Syria is majority Sunni. Syria could serve as an extension of the Turkish government. The Middle East is on the verge of being born anew. Borders once observed will not be much longer. Turkey is in concert with the Gulf states in their desire to bring about regime change.

The operation was targeting both Daesh and the Kurdish YPG militia, whose gains in northern Syria have alarmed Turkey.

Fazeli received food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for four or more years before his 2013 departure when he joined fellow Daesh members in Turkey.

“We will be an alternative army subordinated to the state, just like Iran’s [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

We give ISIL a lot of credit in some ways. Even addressing them by their preferred names is a sign of respect. It validates them and helps their cause. By no means am I advocating we do not take our enemy seriously, but leave that to professional warfighters.

The effect of the Obama administration’s policy has been to replace American boots on the ground with the Iranian’s. As Iran advances, one anti-American actor is being replaced with another.

Of Blackwater’s involvement in the development and execution of such a plan, Erik Prince said that something would be “fully baked by the time the next administration comes on board.”

CENTCOM established an intelligence “fusion center,” a specially equipped JIC facility staffed around-the-clock, to serve as a “focal point” for Daesh-related intelligence. Interviewees recalled only informal communications noting the center’s establishment, and some were also uncertain about the center’s organizational structure, responsibilities, and how it was determined which JIC analysts would participate.

When I deployed to the Middle East in 2014, Daesh was just starting to really get America‘s full attention. I was fascinated with getting the opportunity to meet them in battle, and wanted to know everything I could about them. But first, I wanted to know what to call them. ISIS, IS, ISIL? So I […]

As U.S. munitions hit extremists’ military vehicles and mobile ammunition depots, the militants have adapted by reducing their visibility and hiding remaining tanks, armored personnel carriers and rocket launchers.