IS strikes as Turkey attacks northeast Syria
As the Turkish attack on north-eastern Syria began on the afternoon of 9 October 2019, with air strikes in and around the city of Ras al-Ayn, another enemy reminded the Kurdish-Arab forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that it has not been fully defeated: the day before Turkey launched its offensive, the Islamic State (IS) carried out an attack in Raqqa, the caliphate’s former capital.
What anybody familiar with the region has known all along, namely that a Turkish attack would trigger disaster in assorted ways, started to become reality when US President Donald Trump announced that US troops will no longer stand in Turkey’s way.