Iraqi forces were blocked trying to enter:
Along the border with northern Syria, several thousand Kurdish militia (including some from Iraq) blocked Iraqi soldiers from crossing the border. The Kurds feared that the Iraqi troops were sent at the request of Iran, which backs the Assad dictatorship in Syria (which is run by the Shia minority). U.S. advisers are negotiating a deal between the Kurds and Iraqis to prevent fighting from breaking out.
So Iraqi Kurdish militia, Iraqi forces, and US advisers are near northeastern Syria. Supposedly in a stand-off of some sorts.
The Turks are looking south at northeastern Syria:
Turkey launched a military drill Wednesday just across the border from a Syrian town it claims is controlled by Kurdish rebels — a show of muscle aimed at Kurdish separatists pushing for autonomy within Turkey's borders.
And the Turks are talking to the Iraqi Kurds--about Syria:
As Turkey moved heavy weapons to its border with Syria, its foreign minister was expected to urge the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region not to support a Syrian Kurdish party that is allegedly collaborating with Iraq-based Turkish Kurdish rebels, NTV television said Wednesday.
And we have contacts inside Syria now and are working with allies:
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Could there be unfinished business from the Iraq War that is drawing our interest along with our allies? If I recall, that involved Syria's Kurdish region.
That's not many dots and quite the picture I've imagined. But something is of great interest in northeastern Syria, it seems. And I'm not the only one thinking of this angle.
