YPG

The Manbij Military Council (MMC) will not be withdrawing its forces from the city of Manbij anytime soon according to its representatives. Presently,  the MMC are standing shoulder to shoulder with U.S. led coalition troops as the Turkish military continues to threaten an advance. However, the U.S. and Turkey are also pursuing a diplomatic solution […]

The Manbij Military Council (MMC) announced that they have captured several “sleeper cells” composed of pro-Turkish militants this week. The captured men were supposedly part of the Turkish military’s Operation Euphrates Shield and were attempting to “destabilize” the region. The MMC’s commander, Mohammed Abu Adel told local media that, “The Euphrates Shield forces wanted to […]

As the Turkish military, under the guise of Operation Olive Branch, continues to push against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) affiliated Kurds in northern Syria, peace talks do not appear to be an option for Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims he will not entertain the notion of reopening peace […]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has just finished meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London, the two discussed current events, including the situation in Syria. Prime Minister May urged President Erdogan to “not lose sight of values” as Turkey continued to combat “Kurdish terrorism” in Syria and at home. During a press conference, […]

The activist organization Yazda is claiming that “11 Yezidi civilians” were abducted by unknown armed men in Afrin this week. In a statement released by Yazda last week they said, “Ten vehicles carrying masked gunmen stormed houses and arrested people. The group later released a man named Hanan Prem after torturing him and demanding a ransom of […]

United States led coalition forces were put on an operational pause after Syrian Democratic Forces reallocated nearly 1,300 fighters to combating Turkey’s military aggression in northern Syria. Now operations have continued with a deployment of French Special Forces being sent to reinforce the SDF combating the remaining pockets of Islamic State resistance. U.S. Secretary of […]

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a United Kingdom based conflict zone monitor that has documented the current situation in Afrin, Syria. They have focused heavily on the Turkish occupation that has resulted from their military incursion into Syria under Operation Olive Branch. On Wednesday they released the statement that, “Demographic change is being carried out, […]

It has been almost one month since Turkish military forces and their proxy militia the Free Syrian Army seized control of the previously Kurdish occupied city of Afrin. Now, residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) say that chaos and anarchy have taken hold of the once peaceful city. Looting, torture and killing have […]

Bekir Bozdag, Deputy Prime Minister for Turkey, has suggested that Turkey still intends to move on from Afrin and reclaim Manbij while eliminating the YPG presence there and eventually moving on to the PKK in Sinjar. Bozdag told Turkish media, “Just as Afrin was cleared of the YPG/PYD terror organization, now Tal Rifaat will be cleared. Manbij […]

Despite the PKK’s departure from Sinjar, the Turkish military is continuing to advance on the northern Iraqi-Kurdistan border and the airstrikes and artillery bombardment has only intensified. Now soldiers have set-up forward operations outposts atop of eight separate mountains in the region this past week just north of Erbil. The Turkish army is roughly 20 kilometers […]

Two members of Iraqi Kurdistan’s secret police, the Asayesh a organizations tasked with national security, were wounded by a Turkish airstrike in Semalka. Semalka is a Syria/Kurdistan border crossing outside of Duhok that has now been closed in the aftermath of the strike. Heavy bombardments from artillery and Turkish war planes have been experienced with […]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has now begun threatening to conquer the Kurdish city of Manbij in northern Syria. Manbij is the staging area for a large portion of the Syrian Democratic Forces as well as the United States military. Two coalition service members (a Delta Force and SAS soldier) were recently killed there by […]