It's a throwaway line just say Trump's betrayal of loyal and fearless allies is wrong. Only when (and if) this betrayal morphs into an ethnic cleansing pogrom will anyone listen again.
I have tracked this corner of the ISIS conflict for years now. I openly support the views of the USSOF and continue to do so. These views are expressed clearly in the field by Brig Gen Braga to NBC.
I won't mince words. This historically disastrous betrayal will end the lives of many thousands of loyal and largely secular US allies. It will provide succour to both Islamist and PKK extremists. It may end what may have been a viable political road map for the region.
Deals have been done between the murderous regimes of Turkey, Iran and Russia which leaves the people of Northern Syria with only one direction in which to turn. That direction is the Assad regime. Assad's forces are weakened by years of conflict and white anted by through the influence of Iran.
Assad has now sent a token force to the town of Azaz in SDF held territory but token it is.
I should say something of General James Mattis.As a professional soldier, Mattis is unable to betray loyal comrades in the field thus his resignation. Mattis and special adviser McGurk both built strength by earning the trust and mutual respect of their allies. Mattis prevented major conflict with Russia in Syria by obviscating previous disastrous decisions by Trump and his daughter while allowing Trump enough room to declare minor victories.
Mattis and Tillerson both worked tirelessly and thanklessly to keep Trump's twitter thumb off the nuclear button on the Korean peninsula.
I'm not sure that Russian interests in Syria will benefit from any of this either. Although the trolls won't say so the US position in North Syria provided Russia with a sort of buffer against ongoing proxy wars of the region. Without a US presence, Russian forces will find themselves in the middle of ongoing proxy wars (and not so proxy wars) involving Turkey, Iran and Israel (in Syria). The holocaust in Yemen that has been largely promoted by Iran and Saudi Arabia deserves another, albeit related thread.
It may be possible for Assad to man all of the Syrian borders with Turkey, allowing the SDF to withdraw a few kilometres from those borders but that could trigger a re-entry by US troops who remain loyal to Trump though Iraq.
Assad will be cautious at this point. On the other hand Turkey has already commenced its attacks on SDF positions as confirmed by the NBC video above.
Assad and the SDF would require Iranian support to face off Turkey and such support may not come. As noted there is an "arrangement" between the Mad Mullahs and the Mad Sultan.
Throwing in the towel from a position of strength, relative stability and relative safety beggars belief. Such a decision can only point to treasonous conflicts of interest at play.
