Syrian Military Closes In On U.S. Positions In Al-Tanf, Syria; What Will Be The American Response?

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
August 18, 2017

Recently, the Syrian Arab Army and its allies Hashd al-Sha’abi (Iraqi paramilitary forces) and Liwaa Fatemiyoun (Iranian-Afghani paramilitary forces) captured several points from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army in al-Sweida.

The Syrian military is, according to a military source cited by al-Masdar News, making a major push toward the al-Tanf Crossing.

The recent military gains puts the SAA within striking distances of al-Tanf and the al-Tanf Airbase in the Homs Governate.

This new development now raises tensions between Russia and Syria and the American forces illegally occupying Syria. The U.S. has not yet attacked the Syrian forces but it has openly stated that it intends to do so in the future if it fears that illegal U.S. forces are “under threat.”

On May 18, al-Qaeda’s Air Force struck when the United States launched an aerial assault on an SAA military convoy. According to CBS News,

The U.S. sent aircraft to strike Syrian regime vehicles on Thursday that violated a deconfliction zone set up around al-Tanf, an army base where special forces are training Syrian militias, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. 

The Syrian regime has violated the zone two times in the past few days, Martin reports.
In one incident, 27 regime vehicles drove within 18 miles of al-Tanf, which breached the 34 mile radius of the army convoy. U.S. aircraft attempted to buzz the regime, but when the convoy didn't turn around, they conducted a strike against some of the vehicles. 

In the second incident, an unarmed Syrian SU-22 fighter-bomber entered the deconfliction zone and was intercepted by a pair of F-22 fighter aircraft. 

More specifically, according to al-Masdar News, the positions of the SAA were attacked near the Rasi’i Well, after the SAA had advanced 35km into terrorist-held territory near the border with Jordan.

Interestingly enough, the U.S. may have misplayed its hand at al -Tanf in term of strategic positioning. As Sharmine Narwani writes,

When Syrians and Iraqis bypassed the al-Tanaf area and headed northward to establish border contact, another important set of facts was created on the ground. U.S. coalition forces are now cut off – at least from the south of Syria – from fighting ISIS in the northeast. This is a real setback for Washington’s plans to block direct Syrian-Iraqi border flows and score its own dazzling victory against ISIS. As Syrian forces head toward Deir ez-Zor, U.S.-backed forces’ participation in the battle to liberate that strategic area will now be limited to the Kurd-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the north, while Syrian forces have established safe passage from the north, south, west – and potentially from the east, with the aid of allied Iraqi forces.

We now await the response of the United States as the SAA recaptures more of its territory near al-Tanf. If the U.S. has any desire to avoid a third world war, it would be wise to simply vacate al-Tanf and allow it to be returned to its rightful owners.

Brandon Turbeville – article archive here – is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 andvolume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President, and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome. Turbeville has published over 1000 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST atUCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

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