One of the chief things Washington needs from Ankara is Turkey's ability to work with rebel groups so that the rebels the United States favors can succeed. Getting Jabhat al-Nusra to withdraw is the first demonstrable sign that the buffer zone will be created, though the group's official retreat from the area tells us nothing about which rebels will actually do the fighting.
Still, Monday was an active day in the Syrian civil war. The Jaish al-Fatah rebel group took full control of the northern Sahl al-Ghab plain in Hama province, setting the stage for the battle over Joureen and the middle Sahl al-Ghab plain. The group also continued attacks on the last remaining government forces in Idlib province concentrated in the Shiite towns near Binnish. Islamic State forces remained stalled around al-Qaryatayn, which they took on Aug. 6, but are still poised to threaten loyalist forces in Homs province. Jabhat al-Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliate and arguably the strongest of the Syrian rebel factions, declared it would retreat from northern Aleppo around the Islamic State-free buffer zone that Turkey and the United States intend to create.
Step back from this detailed view and more events come into focus. The morning of Aug. 9, six U.S. F-16s, two support aircraft and 300 U.S. personnel arrived at Incirlik air base. U.S. operations out of Incirlik against the Islamic State will begin soon. Meanwhile, Stratfor believes that the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist organization with deep roots in Turkey's radical leftist circles, was responsible for two attacks in Istanbul on Aug. 10. In the Sultanbeyli district, a car bomb struck a police station, and assailants attacked responders to the scene, killing at least one police officer. Outside the U.S. Consulate, armed assailants reportedly associated with the same Marxist organization attempted an attack but failed to inflict casualties or damage the consulate. In the Kurdish hinterlands of southeastern Turkey, Kurdistan Workers' Party militants conducted two separate attacks, killing four police officers and a soldier.
Still, Monday was an active day in the Syrian civil war. The Jaish al-Fatah rebel group took full control of the northern Sahl al-Ghab plain in Hama province, setting the stage for the battle over Joureen and the middle Sahl al-Ghab plain. The group also continued attacks on the last remaining government forces in Idlib province concentrated in the Shiite towns near Binnish. Islamic State forces remained stalled around al-Qaryatayn, which they took on Aug. 6, but are still poised to threaten loyalist forces in Homs province. Jabhat al-Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliate and arguably the strongest of the Syrian rebel factions, declared it would retreat from northern Aleppo around the Islamic State-free buffer zone that Turkey and the United States intend to create.
Step back from this detailed view and more events come into focus. The morning of Aug. 9, six U.S. F-16s, two support aircraft and 300 U.S. personnel arrived at Incirlik air base. U.S. operations out of Incirlik against the Islamic State will begin soon. Meanwhile, Stratfor believes that the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, a Marxist organization with deep roots in Turkey's radical leftist circles, was responsible for two attacks in Istanbul on Aug. 10. In the Sultanbeyli district, a car bomb struck a police station, and assailants attacked responders to the scene, killing at least one police officer. Outside the U.S. Consulate, armed assailants reportedly associated with the same Marxist organization attempted an attack but failed to inflict casualties or damage the consulate. In the Kurdish hinterlands of southeastern Turkey, Kurdistan Workers' Party militants conducted two separate attacks, killing four police officers and a soldier.