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7/23/2019 Article helping know about America n Russia status

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FINALLY: Obama Tells Turkey to

Seal Syria Border

The US is demanding that Turkey close a 60-mile stretch of its border with

Syria which is the sole remaining crossing point for Isis militants, including

some of those involved in the massacre in Paris and other terrorist plots.

The complete closure of the 550-mile-long border would be a serious blow to

Isis, which has brought tens of thousands of Islamist volunteers across the

frontier over the past three years.

In the wake of the Isis attacks in Paris, Washington is making clear to Ankara

that it will no longer accept Turkish claims that it is unable to cordon off the

remaining short section of the border still used by Isis.

The game has changed. Enough is enough. The border needs to be sealed, a

senior official in President Barack Obamas administration told The Wall Street

Journal, describing the tough message that Washington has sent to the

Turkish government.

This is an international threat, and its coming out of Syria and its coming

through Turkish territory.

The US estimates some 30,000 Turkish troops would be needed to close the

border between Jarabulus on the Euphrates and the town of Kilis, further west

in Turkey, according to the paper.

US intelligence agencies say that the stretch of frontier most commonly used by

Isis is between Jarabulus, where the official border crossing has been closed,

and the town of Cobanbey.

It has become of crucial importance ever since the Syrian Kurdish forces

known as the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) captured the border crossing at

Tal Abyad, 60 miles north of Isiss capital of Raqqa in June.


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Seal Syria Border

Turkey had kept that border crossing open while Isis was in control on the

southern side, but immediately closed it when the YPG seized the crossing

point. The Turkish authorities are refusing to allow even the bodies of YPG

fighters, who are Turkish citizens and were killed fighting Isis, to be taken back

across the border into Turkey.

The US move follows increasing international criticism of Turkey for what is

seen as its long-term tolerance of, and possible complicity with, Isis and other

extreme jihadi groups such as al-Qaedas branch in Syria, Jabhat al-NusraFront, and Ahrar al-Sham.

Not only have thousands of foreign fighters passed through Turkey on their way

to join Isis, but crude oil from oilfields seized by Isis in north-east Syria has

been transported to Turkey for sale, providing much of revenue of the self-

declared Islamic State.

Last week a Turkish court jailed two prominent journalists for publishing

pictures of a Turkish truck delivering ammunition to opposition fighters

in Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the weapons were destined for

Turkmen paramilitaries allied to Turkey fighting in Syria, but this was denied

by Turkish political leaders close to the Turkmen.


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Seal Syria Border

Turkey is now under heavy pressure from the US and Russia, with President

Vladimir Putin directly accusing Ankara of aiding Isis and al-Qaeda.

In the wake of the shooting down of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish jet, Russia

is launching heavy air strikes in support of the Syrian armys advance to

control the western end of the Syrian Turkish border.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Russian air

strike on the town of Ariha yesterday killed 18 people and wounded

dozens more.

Meanwhile Turkey said it had now received the body of the pilot killed when the

plane was shot down and would repatriate it to Moscow.

The US demand that Turkey finally close the border west of Jarabulus could, if

Turkey complies, prove more damaging to Isis than increased air strikes by the

US, France and, possibly Britain.


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Seal Syria Border

The YPG has closed half the Syrian frontier over the last year and defeated an

Isis assault aimed at taking another border crossing at Kobani. Syrian Kurdish

leaders say they want to advance further west from their front line on the

Euphrates and link up with a Kurdish enclave at Afrin.

But Turkey insists that it will resist a further YPG advance with military force.

Instead, it had proposed a protected zone on the southern side of the border

from which Isis would be driven by moderate Syrian opposition fighters.

The US has opposed this proposal, suspecting that the Turkish definition of

moderates includes those the US is targeting as terrorists. It also appears to be

a ploy to stop the YPG, heavily supported by US air power, expanding its de

facto state along Turkeys southern flank.

US officials are quoted as saying that there could be significant blowback

against Turkey by European states if it allows Isis militants to cross from Syria

into Turkey and then carry out terrorist outrages in Europe.

Meanwhile in Iraq, officials said three more mass graves had been found in the

northern town of Sinjar, which Kurdish forces backed by US-led air strikes

recaptured from Isis earlier this month.

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