Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing Moscow has had a number of disappointments in the Middle East over the years. During the Cold War it backed Arab states against Israel and its western backers and even goaded them into starting wars. The disastrous results were showcases of second-rate Soviet hardware and corrupt, inept Read More …
Brian M Downing Turkey has moved troops into Syria in recent years. It has done so mainly to intimidate Syrian Kurds, though Erdogan wins power prestige along the way. Most recently, he occupied a stretch of land in the northeast, after the US obligingly pulled back. Syria wants the US Read More …
Brian M Downing The US is pulling out of Syria. Damascus, backed by Moscow, welcomed the vacuum and moved troops into Kurdish areas to counter the Turkish incursion. The view here has long been that the US presence in eastern Syria was poorly thought out and bound to end badly. Read More …
Brian M Downing President Erdogan sent troops across the border into the Kurdish region of northeast Syria. He plans to settle a strip of land with Syrian Arab refugees. This, in addition to land in the northwest, would constitute another Turkish statelet in Syrian territory, if he gets away with Read More …
Brian M Downing Turkish President Erdogan has attacked the Kurds in Syria. The US position is confused. President Trump, noting his opposition to US efforts in the region, pulled US troops from the Syria-Turkey border. Turkish troops attacked shortly later – accompanied by the Free Syrian Army which was once Read More …
Brian M Downing President Trump unexpectedly announced a pullback of US troops from the Turkish border in the Kurdish region of Syria. The US in recent years patched together an effective fighting force comprising Kurdish and Arab militias which defeated ISIL. The US will, for now, remain with Kurdish-Arab forces Read More …
Brian M Downing The US has officially recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, the narrow strip of elevated land overlooking western Syria. Israel took control of it in the Six-Day War of 1967 and battled for it again six years later in the Yom Kippur War. The US has Read More …
Brian M Downing When the Arab Spring came to Syria in 2011, popular protest was put down by government violence and terror. Civil war erupted. Sunni powers stepped in and armed rebel groups – lots of them. Government forces abandoned key border crossings and fell back into a redoubt in Read More …
Brian M Downing President Trump announced a complete pullout from Syria late last year. Not long thereafter, generals and allies talked him out of it. His most recent “position” is to withdraw the bulk of the 2,000 troops but keep a force of 200 in eastern Syria. The pullout hasn’t Read More …
Brian M Downing President Trump enjoys being unpredictable. Consistent with that penchant, he’s ordered a withdrawal of the 2,000 US troops in Syria. They’ve been there several years in support of Kurdish and Sunni forces that pushed ISIL out of most of its holdings. Reactions have begun. James Mattis is Read More …