Author: Gavriel Dan

Gavriel Dan spent a number of years covering social movements in Israel, the wider middle east and Europe. He is considered an expert in embedding himself with various groups and causes in order to get accurate and rich information.
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Turkish Tanks Roll into Al-Rai Expanding Operation Euphrates Shield

On Saturday more Turkish tanks crossed the Syrian border into the Syrian rebel-controlled town of al-Rai in order to support the new operation Euphrates Shield

Al-Rai is about 55 kilometers west of Jarablus, and part of a 90-kilometer strip near the Turkish border that Erdogan’s government says it is clearing of jihadis while making sure the YPG or Syrian Kurdish Army keeps away.

The Turkish backed rebels buoyed by the Turkish tanks spread out and then seized villages to the east and the south of al-Rai.

“They took several villages, about eight villages. At first they took two and withdrew from them, but then reinforcements came and there was an advance,” Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim group said.

While Ankara claims the The Turkish-backed operation’s goal is to put pressure on ISIS, most observers believe that Turkey’s real goal is to block the YPG from expanding and forming a formidable Kurdish state.

While Turkey views the Kurdish Army as a terrorist organization, NATO as a whole sees the group as the vanguard of their anti-ISIS strategy.  This conflict of interest has caused stress between NATO and Turkey.

At the G20 summit Erdogan  spelled out his view of the YPG to China’s CCTV:

“There is no good terrorist. All terrorists are bad. All organizations involved in terrorism are cursed. This is how we see things and how we put up our struggle.”

For Erdogan, the label of terrorist is a ruse to allow for a non-measured response to his Kurdish foes. Loosely applied, the Turkish military can be unleashed to finish them off.

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BREAKING NEWS: Turkey Driving Hard Against Kurds West of the Euphrates

If it is possible to believe Erdogan, his foray into Syria was for the purpose of driving ISIS from Jarablus, the only piece of land the Syrian Kurds did not control. Erdogan’s forces were of such mass that Turkey was accused of invading Syria.  ISIS quickly melted away and the Turkish military set its sights on the true “nemesis” to the Turkish homeland YPG or the Kurdish army in Syria.  

One thing has become clear.  Erdogan’s actions have put NATO in a very uncomfortable spot.  On one hand they have backed the Syrian Kurds as their vanguard attack force against ISIS and on the other they have the second largest NATO force in Turkey openly trying to wipe them out through a fake anti-ISIS operation.

Turkey has long maintained that a contiguous Kurdish state along its border running from the Mediterranean to Iran was an existential threat.  In pushing the Kurds back over the Euphrates they are risking the NATO coalition’s strategy against ISIS.  The Euphrates must be Washington’s red line.  If Turkey is allowed to press on, the Kurds will be forced to pivot elsewhere and not only NATO will lose a valuable indigenous ally, Israel will have squandered years of covert training and arms deals.

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WAR DRUMS: Putin Places 40,000 Troops on Ukrainian Border, As Obama Moves Nukes Closer

In a move that risks pushing the region into all out war, Rissian President Putin positions 40,000 troops and armored vehicles on the border with Ukraine. The US took staleite photos of the troop movemements, witnessing new staging grounds being created with an array of units including combat troops. tanks, and fighters being deployed.

Navy Captain Danny Hernandez told the Washington Free Beacon that the exercises were being closely monitored.

Hernandez said: “We are extremely concerned about the increasing tensions near the administrative boundary between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine.

Crimea is  a disputed Russian province who voted in 2014 to leave the Ukraine and join the Russian Federation as an autnomous district.

Why is Obama Moving Nukes Closer?

Multiple sources have shared that the US is moving its 50 nukes from Turkey to Romania. The reason for the move is do the deterorating relations between USA and Turkey.The fact that the move also coincides with Russian expansion both in the Middle East and Eastern Europe has not been lost on experts.  The question remains as to why Obama is doing this in such a fashion with the end result essentially handing the Middle East over to Putin?

The answer lies in how Obama and his administration has viewed the situation in the Middle East from the very beginning of his Presidency and that is an unwinnable theatre that is far best left to others.  The challenge is, “the others” Obama thought would take over was not Russia, but rather organic political and religious forces already on the ground.  It remains to be seen if and when Obama will put his foot down with Russia.  The assumption is that the real redline for Obama is Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

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BREAKING NEWS: Arabs Riot on the Temple Mount Because Jews Tried to Pray

Temple Mount Riot

Tisha B’Av is the collective day of morning for the Jewish people worldwide in which they remember the destruction of both Temples that stood on the spot where the Muslims built the Dome of th Rock. In commemoration of today’s tragedy Jews ascended the Temple Mount as they always do, but when they tried praying quietly they set off a riot that terminated Jewish prayer for the rest of the day on the site.

Watch below:

#فيديو توتر واشتباكات بالايدي بين قوات الاحتلال والمصلين في المسجد الأقصى

تصوير : رامي الخطيب

Posted by ‎مركز إعلام القدس‎ on Sunday, August 14, 2016

The video depicts the mayhem that ensued as the soldiers and police trie to calm the raging Arabs who violently oppose any Jewish presence on the site. Centuries past, when the Dome of the Rock was first built by the Umayyad Caliphate, the Jews of Jerusalem were actually invited up to pray on the Temple Mount and the Jewish priests were in charge of lighting the building’s lights. When the Umayyad Caliphate fell, the practice ended and Jews were restricted from going up.

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Erdogan’s Visit to Russia Calls Into Question Israel’s Strategic Neutrality

What we have learned over the last year is that just when you think you’ve figured out the geopolitical machinations of the Middle East you’ve got it all wrong.

While the USA under Obama has tried to find a way to gracefully retreat from the Middle East, Russia has been see as stepping into fill the void.  Turkey on the other hand has been playing up the chaos card to try exert some control of its own on the region.  As of two months ago, Russia and Turkey were nearly set to go to war, but all of that has changed.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is choosing to go to Russia as the first country he visits post the failed coup.  As of a few weeks ago Turley decided it can no longer afford to have the Russian bear breathing down its neck. That, together with the need to be part of any growing gas consortium brought it to finalize rapprochement with both Israel and Russia.

Most assumed the rapprochement between Russia and Turkey was superficial.  Now we are learning that is not the case. In a post USA Middle East anything is possible.  Turkey believed it would be the power to beat in the region. Erdogan gambled one time too many and has found himself in the enviable position of making peace with the Russians instead boxing them out.

This fast-moving strategic maneuver has thrown Israel’s defense strategy into disarray. Throughout the middle east’s chaotic shift, Israel has been trying to remain neutral except for instances of self-defense.  With Russia and Turkey teaming up to carve out areas of the Middle East for themselves Israel can remain neutral no longer. It must pick a side to be on.  Does it want to be part of the dying West or join with Turkey and Russia and have a say in the new Middle East.