YPG

“The Kurds have no friend but the mountains,” as the old saying goes. Yet there are few mountains in Northern Syria, where the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) formed a coalition with Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The […]

An Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist attack in the Syrian city of Manbij has killed four American and wounded three. The dead included two service members, one Department of Defence (DoD) civilian, and a DoD contractor. In addition, 13 civilians were killed and 18 wounded. The attack took place early in the afternoon. The Americans were patrolling […]

The new year will bring a new rifle to Germany’s elite soldiers. In the upcoming months, the HK416 A7, which the Germans have designated the G95K, will be issued to the soldiers of the Kommando Spezialkrafte (KSK) and sailors of the Kommando Spezialkrafte Marine (KSM). The standing order is for less than 2,000 new rifles, […]

Seven Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 25 wounded when an artillery ammunition depot exploded last week. The military base was located in Hakkari Province, in southeastern Turkey. Hakkari borders both Iraq and Iran. Turkish military forces stationed there have been conducting counterinsurgency operations against the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). This is not a […]

Secretary of Defense Mattis today re-iterated that American soldiers can remain in Syria to help ensure stability, but no one knows what kind of time horizon is being discussed for these deployments… if it is even being discussed at all.  While ISIS appears to be largely defeated and other Islamist forces are up against the […]

Ankara, Turkey—A British national faces jail time in a Turkish prison because he fought with the Kurdish Peshmerga against ISIS. Last year, Joe Robinson was arrested while enjoying a respite in a Turkish beach resort. At the time, the Turkish authorities used his association with the YPG, a Kurdish militant group that fights ISIS in […]

Turkey-United States relations are strained, what started with the detention of an American pastor and the levying of tariffs has worsened after a serious breach of military operational security. This is especially significant given the two NATO members close military cooperation, an air base in Turkey, and coordinated training efforts. In the most recent act […]

The United States is attempting to maintain its relationship with the Turkish government, especially now that the elections have concluded and Syria remains a major point of dispute between the two. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recognizes that current diplomatic relations are “difficult with the Turks,” but hopes future agreements of the Syrian city of […]

Turkey is ramping up their anti-PKK and YPG operations in the Kurdistan region. Presently they are pursuing the PKK headquarters located in Qandil, a mountainous region in northern Iraq. According to reports, the Turkish military has setup 11 combat outposts on the northern Iraq/Turkish border and is using the forward operations points to launch patrols […]

Turkish Minister of Foreign affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has declared that the Turkish military is not looking for support from Iraq or Iran in their anti-PKK operations in Qandil, Iraqi-Kurdistan. Çavuşoğlu told press that, “Iraq and Iran currently do not have any role. Iran made one or two comments but the bottom line is that what is happening […]

According to recent reports by coalition sources, the Turkish military “will not” advance into the Manbij territories in Syria. Manbij is presently under the protection of United States led coalition forces as well as the Manbij Military Council that manages the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stationed in the region. Coalition spokesman, United States Army Colonel […]

Representatives from the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) are predicting intense clashes with Turkish military forces in the near future. PKK official Bahoz “The Doctor” Erdal told local media that, “Of course, we are in a state of war against the Turkish army. The escalation is in the upcoming days. We can say we are expecting […]