Very Brief: Live Combat Between US And Turkey

This is a series of events over the last few days that hasn’t received much coverage in the MSM. It stems from a Kurdish terror bombing in Istanbul. Turkey retaliated against Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria:

Turkey attacks Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq after Istanbul street bombing

Turkey launched airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Sunday, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bomb attack in Istanbul.

Warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units (YPG), the ministry said in a statement. It was accompanied by images of F-16 jets taking off and footage of a strike from an aerial drone.

The airstrikes occurred a week after a bomb rocked a bustling avenue in the heart of Istanbul, killing six people and wounding over 80 others.

Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the PKK and its Syrian affiliate the YPG. The Kurdish militant groups have, however, denied involvement.

Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terror group, but disagree on the status of the YPG. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG has been allied with the US in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

This led to actual combat between the US and Turkey—NATO allies:

301 Military

@301military

Oct 5

F-35A fighter jet of USAF from 421st EFS shot-down a Turkish Air Force's Anka-S armed drone over Hasakah. The Turkish drone had bombed positions of SDF which are the US allies in North East of Syria.

That led to Turkish retaliation:

301 Military

@301military

2h

US-controlled oilfields are attacked by Turkey.

A video shows the results of Turkey's retaliatory strike on US-controlled Syrian oil fields.

Recall that yesterday the US Air Force shot down a Turkish UAV that bombed Kurdish infrastructure

Complicated enough?

This is simply a reminder that Erdogan’s Turkey considers that it has non-negotiable interests and ambitions, and that they sometimes conflict with those of the US. Despite the two countries being NATO “allies” and despite the major US air base at Incirlik in Turkey. It’s a fact worth keeping in mind as events continue to unfold in the Caucasus. It’s doubtful that Turkey would welcome a NATO presence in Armenia, but it’s a difficult balancing act that Erdogan is pursuing between Russia and the West.