I want to summarize the events in Syria from a Turkish perspective and from a closer distance than others.
The decision to overthrow Assad was made years ago, during the time when Israel attacked Lebanon, and when it supported Lebanon. Before taking action against Assad; Russia, Iran, and Turkey tried to persuade him to negotiate, but Assad used Turkey’s withdrawal from Syria as a precondition. This is unacceptable because the number of Syrians living in Turkey is comparable to the number of Syrians living in Syria, and Turkey’s influence over Syria was greater than Assad’s.
It seems certain that Russia has sold Assad in exchange for Ukraine. Moreover, due to the negative developments regarding Iran and Hezbollah, they also thought it wouldn't be worth fighting for..
The terrorist organization known as HTS (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham) is a continuation of Al-Nusra and ISIS, and is listed as a terrorist organization by both the United States and Turkey. The leader of the terrorist group, named Golani, is on the U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists, with a $10 million reward on his head. CNN, a major American channel, conducted an interview with him, and this was generally accepted worldwide as normal.
The U.S. stated that it must maintain its military presence in eastern Syria due to the ISIS threat, but the reality is that the U.S. is the very one that created and supported ISIS. (Recall Trump’s statements). Currently, Trump’s foreign policy views are being applied, and according to them, the U.S. stays in the region to support another terrorist group in order to eliminate the threat posed by the terrorist group they themselves created.
Turkey does not want a Kurdish state in eastern Syria, but it doesn’t seem to strongly oppose Trump’s stance. The Syrian Free Army (supported by Turkey and considered moderate compared to HTS/Al-Qaeda) tried to enter the Kurdish region from the north and made some progress, but they cannot advance further due to the American presence. The initiative supporting the Kurdish groups comes from the U.S. Pentagon, while the CIA supports the formation known as the Syrian Free Army (ÖSO) along with Turkey.
The U.S. wanted to fight against the U.S., but the U.S. prevented this. I am very curious about what American taxpayers think about this situation. The number of Kurds in Turkey is comparable to the number of Syrians in Turkey, and Turkey belongs to the Turkish people.
The events have turned in favor of Israel, and we can see progress in the Golan Heights. Strangely, Erdogan and his media are wildly applauding these developments. I believe this is an attempt to smooth things over with Trump, as you may recall, Trump had previously sent a letter to Erdogan during his previous term, saying “don’t be a fool.”
I think the next target will be Turkey. The general expectation is that the next target will be Iran or Lebanon. I do not count Lebanon as a real country. Turkey will be targeted before Iran because if Iran is targeted and divided, the 20 million Turks in northern Iran will cause this region to be annexed by Turkey. This would make Turkey so strong that globalists would be unable to destroy it. Therefore, they will target Turkey first.
Currently, almost all commentators say that Iran is the target. I am one of the rare commentators who say the first target is Turkey. A development that supports my view is Trump’s strange comments about “we might leave NATO.” These were perceived as strange remarks that Trump sometimes makes, but in fact, they make a lot of sense. If the next target is Turkey, the U.S. cannot do this while being in the same alliance with Turkey.
Recently, Erdogan’s government has been trying to get closer to the PKK terrorist organization. They probably see what is about to happen. I do not think Trump and the globalists will care about this situation. If one of the targets is to divide Turkey as they did with Syria and Iraq, they will do it, and if necessary, Erdogan will be forcibly removed from power by these forces. I don’t think his politeness will help him in this regard.