"Turkey, Russia, and Iran: Filling the Vacuum" - A Must Read In Depth Article By The Intrepid Erick Stakelbeck

Turkey, Russia, Iran: Filling the Vacuum

by Erick Stakelbeck  •  October 16th 

• The U.S. Congress is looking to push back against Erdogan's brazen foray into northeastern Syria. For months, there has been a bi-partisan effort on Capitol Hill to convince the Trump administration to implement sanctions on Turkey in the wake of its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system. The events of this past week will likely only escalate pressure by Congress against the Erdogan regime.
• "We defeated ISIS," a Peshmerga general said, "only to see Iran and its Shia militias become stronger. They are filling the vacuum."
• Islamist-led Turkey has now joined those same Iranian-led forces in filling that vacuum — with the full acquiescence of the United States.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's longstanding threat to invade northeastern Syria — under the pretext of targeting terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) — has become a reality. Pictured: Smoke from battle explosions rises over the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, near the Turkish border, on October 15, 2019. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)

On the Iran-Iraq border a few weeks ago, I found myself just a few hundred meters from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), standard bearers of a regime that has practically copyrighted the phrases, "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."

At the Kurdish Peshmerga military base stood a series of small, white structures spread out across the mountaintops on the Iranian side of the border.

"IRGC observation posts," said one of my Kurdish hosts, eying the mountains warily.

The Pershmerga generals interviewed in Iraqi Kurdistan seemed eager to talk about the threat posed by the IRGC and the Iranian regime—not only to the Kurds, Israel and the broader Middle East, but also to the United States.

They were understandably more reticent, however, in discussing the other looming threat in their immediate neighborhood — an increasingly aggressive Turkey, led by Islamist strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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