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A daily brief about the world's most dangerous places from international war correspondent Chuck Holton
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Tuesday Dec 18, 2018
Tuesday Dec 18, 2018
Coming up on Today's podcast: The end is near for ISIS - again? We're going to take a deep dive into what's going on in Syria today, and more! It's Tuesday, December 18. And you're in the Hot Zone.
Hi there. I'm Chuck Holton. Sometimes it feels like deja vu all over again. We've been hearing that ISIS was on the ropes for years now, as it seems like every military in the world has been engaged in defeating the brutal terror organization. I was there in early 2016 when ISIS was pushed out of the Northern Iraqi city of Sinjar. I want to show you what that was like because this story will help you understand what we've been up against.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-1oRnCHHNM] 6 minutes.
Now, the US-trained and equipped SDF forces are close to defeating the last ISIS stronghold in Syria, having just captured the town of Hajin, which is basically the last urban area that was controlled by the terrorists. ISIS is reported to have several hundred fighters left, but these are the absolute die-hards, many of them chechens and other foreigners who have nowhere else to go. And they are going to fight to the last man.
The march of ISIS into Iraq and Syria has brought untold suffering for millions of people. I'd say they are the Nazis of our generation. And so I think it's an easy case to make that the blood and treasure we've expended to rid the world of them has been worth it. But once they are gone, there is still more to do, which I'll talk about in a minute.
Today, we have about 2,000 US forces on the ground in Syria, mostly special operations and some Marines. Now our guys aren't really supposed to be engaging the enemy directly, but are there supporting what is called the Syrian Defense Forces, which are made up of Kurdish fighters from the YPG.
Now the media hasn't done a very good job of explaining the very complicated relationships in that region. So let me try to make it as simple as possible.
Everyone hates ISIS, right? And since they took over large swaths of Syria and Iraq in 2014, pretty much all the players in the region have come in to fight them. You have the Syrian government, which has also been at war with rebel groups in that country since 2012, before ISIS got a foothold. Then there are the Americans, who say we are there just to fight ISIS and nothing more. But that's not the whole truth. See, Once ISIS is completely routed, and that may happen in the next couple of months, there are a lot of players who have designs on that part of the world - Iran, Iraq, the Kurds, Syria, Russia, and Turkey.
So Russia supports Syria. Turkey supports the Syrian rebels, who are Arab Muslims. The US supports the Kurds, who are our only real friends in that region.
But the Turks hate the Kurds, and are threatening to invade the area where the US and Kurdish fighters are if the US does not make the Kurdish forces lay down their arms. The Russians have quietly been supporting the Iranians, who would love to get some bases closer to the border with Israel. For their part, the Israelis drop in once in awhile and obliterate Iranian attempts at building bases, and the Russians have tried to use mercenaries in the past to attack US forces and perhaps get us to leave. That didn't work out so well and resulted in hundreds of dead mercenaries.
Turkey wants the US to leave so they can have free reign to pound on the Kurds. And if all that wasn't complicated enough, the Kurdish fighters include some elements of the Kurdish Workers Party, known as the PKK, which has been designated a terrorist group by the United States Government. So there's that.
As you can see, this whole region is a powder keg, and it's likely the violence won't end with the final demise of ISIS. And speaking of ISIS, just because we rout them out of their last remaining stronghold doesn't mean the terror group is gone for good. They are still waging an insurgent campaign inside Iraq, with car bombings and assassinations happening on an almost weekly basis.
Add to all this the deep-seated animosities which have been nurtured for centuries between Sunni and Shia muslims, Yezidis, Druze, Turkmen, and others in that region, and you'd be safe to say that on some level, everyone hates everyone over there. Not exactly a road map for peace and tranquility.
The US needs to keep troops in the region at the moment for the same reason we still have more than 23,000 troops in South Korea. They are there to deter powerful bad actors from going after our allies in the region.
The Kurds are the most reasonable of all the players in that area, and the United States would probably have a permanent base in Erbil if it weren't for the fact that putting one there would make Iraq mad, and we still need to be friends with them even though they are pretty much controlled by Iran now.
Yes, it's a mess. Welcome to the middle east. And as always, it's the innocents in the area who suffer the most. Estimates are that over 400,000 civilians have died in Syria alone over the past 8 years, and tens of thousands more in Iraq. More than 12 million Syrians have been driven from their homes. It's hard to imagine the scale of human misery that has affected that many people. How do you even begin to help?
Millions have fled to other countries, but that's not a viable long term solution. Like many evil dictatorships, the government of Syrian president Bashaar Al Assad will have to eventually collapse under the weight of it's own evil, and the Trump administration's policy should probably be aimed mostly at making sure that happens.
Now, let's talk about something a little more uplifting. I want to brag a little on my oldest son, Mason. Back in February he joined the Army with the idea of becoming a door gunner on a black hawk helicopter. he's spent most of this year in basic training and advanced individual training, and then in September he headed off to his first duty station at Fort Bliss, Texas in a medevac unit. He was so fortunate to get that assignment, because my wife's cousin, Spencer, happens to be a sergeant first class in that same unit. So cousin Spencer has worked super hard to help stack the deck in Mason's favor.
Mason got lucky again when on Spencer's recommendation, he was selected to attend Air Assault school. for those of you who don't know, Air assault is a coveted school that qualifies soldiers to do sling load and other helicopter operations like rappelling and fast roping, and it's affectionately known as the ten toughest days in the US Army. It has a dropout rate of over 50 percent. So Mason had a lot to prove as a young private given a chance to earn his Air Assault wings.
Well, Monday morning was the final test - a twelve mile road march in full kit, and it had to be completed in under three hours. Sergeant Spencer got up early to join mason for the second half of the ruck run, and to cheer him on at the end.
Needless to say I'm super proud of my boy, and very grateful for Cousin Spencer being there to motivate Mason on to victory.
They are slated to deploy to Afghanistan early next year, so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep them and their unit in your prayers.
And Mason, "Air Assault!" Hooah.
That's all for today folks. Please give us a like and a share wherever you are watching or listening. I'm really grateful for the positive response we've received after our first week of the podcast. And I'm going to keep doing my best to bring you great content. So stick around!
I'm Chuck Holton, thanks for listening.
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