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General News    H3'ed 5/10/15

The Countdown in Syria

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Deena Stryker
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The US has announced that it will train 'moderate' fighters in Turkey. Here is some disturbing background on Turkey's involvement in the Syrian conflict.

"I live in Lakatia, a port city with thousands of boats all around here and the coast in general, so anyone can take a boat and leave. I don't plan on leaving, however, if ISIS where to break into the city, everyone would try to leave. Turkey has already closed the boarder to all civilians, they only allow terrorists to use the boarder between Turkey and Syria. There are no official international border crossings open in Turkey on the Syrian border, which is huge. Lebanon has already closed its border with Syria. If you show up and show an airline ticket leaving Beirut airport they will allow you in to catch your flight. If you do not have a plane ticket, you cannot come in. This means that should the worst happen here on the coast, people will have to take to the sea. Cyprus is within swimming distance, literally. There is a family here who swam the distance several times in competition. Even in row boats and inflatables you could get to Cyprus as long as the boat doesn't sink.[tag]
Sy-map
Sy-map
(Image by (From Wikimedia) CIA, Author: CIA)
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Still, there are ways to cross over the border to Turkey and Lebanon illegally, just like the Mexicans come to Texas and Arizona. Not all doors are really closed, for those who are determined.

I have family and friends in US, but I would not go there. I would try to get to Cyprus and wait and see what happens in the short term. In the long term, if Syria does fall, and the US establishes a radical Islamic state here, I would never consider returning, and my life in Syria would be over. My husband and sons would have to come up with a plan for a new beginning, maybe immigrate to Africa, or South America, start a small business and then get our sons started. We would probably all have to keep working forever.

Less than 2% of the Syrian population would accept and cheer an Islamic state. Syria would end up like Libya today: failed, fractured, full of death and destruction, with no government and no policies. All the normal, educated, productive Syrians would be dead, or migrated to new lives. The ones who would stay would be the ultra-poor, who have no choice but to remain. Maybe the US will allow Turkey to annex Syria and re-form the old Ottoman Empire again?

When a country is on a war footing, I understand that the government finds it necessary to restrict certain details and information for national and military security and I respect that, however, the situation here is terrible. In Latakia we have had peace and security since late summer 2011. We have had long range missile attacks from the Turkish border that they have killed many, but mostly they were inaccurate strikes by GRAD missiles, which have no targeting capability, so we were lucky to not have lost more people. Not one of the attacks ever hit an army, police or government target. In every case it was a residential street, or a cafe, or the vegetable market, or just empty land with no real damages.

On March 21, 2014 a Christian village an hour north of Latakia was attacked by Turkish military helicopters and invaded by FSA, Al Qaeda and Jibhat al Nusra. They killed 88 unarmed civilians in their own homes that morning, and of that number 13 were beheaded. They occupied and destroyed the entire village from March 21 to June 15, 2014. They also kidnapped 24 elderly, took them to Turkey and mistreated them for 3 months. On the first day of captivity in Turkey, the US Ambassador came to visit them and asked if any of them were US citizens. When they said no, they were just Syrian citizens, he left them to rot in captivity in Turkey for three months. Their average age was 88, and all of them were Armenian Christians from Kassab.

Several years ago Aleppo, the second city of Syria, was invaded by FSA. Later, Jibhat al Nusra and Al Qaeda flooded in from Turkey. They tortured civilians and occupied homes, forcing residents flee to either Turkey or Latakia. Last summer they shut off the water, and hundreds were near death from kidney failure due to dehydration, others were hospitalized for drinking filthy water in streams and canals.

Then came June 2014, and the famous attack and occupation of Kobani, which is near Aleppo, This Syrian village on the Turkish border was totally destroyed by ISIS. This was done with the direct and full military support of the Turkish government of Erdogan, who is the head of AKP party, which has a Radical Islamic ideology, and is aligned with ISIS, FSA and the Muslim Brotherhood, who have offices all across USA. Erdogan received a 10 billion dollar donation from the King of Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the attack on Syria.

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Born in Phila, I spent most of my adolescent and adult years in Europe, resulting over time in several unique books, my latest being Russia's Americans.

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