Kurds fearing US betrayal as Turkey pushing toward Afrin

Civilians flee Afrin after Turkey said its army and allied rebels surrounded the Kurdish city in northern Syria, on March 13, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

These are the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line:

Kurds fearing US betrayal as Turkey pushing toward Afrin

In an effort to mend ties, the Trump administration has told Turkey it will move Kurdish fighters from the Syrian town of Manjib. The town, near Turkey’s border, has become a symbol of competition for territory and influence among the United States, Turkey, and some regional powers. The American pledge, if kept, would satisfy Turkey's long-standing demand to keep the Kurdish forces east of the Euphrates; if kept, on the other hand, the Kurds would feel a great sense of betrayal. They helped take Manjib from Daesh in 2016 and have been there since.

Stakes high as Iraq prepares for elections

Iraq’s political scene has seen a rare development which could be called unprecedented in some ways. The country’s Sadr movement has formed an alliance with the Communists for the upcoming Parliamentary elections. This has not been without a price though. Supporters of the Shia Muslim cleric are seeing red in the run-up to Iraq's May elections thanks to the alliance with the Iraqi communist party. He has also drawn fire from his clerical rivals for choosing to campaign for the May 12 vote alongside Marxists who demand a secular state and are former enemies of Sadr’s movement. The reason for this deep anger is obvious: Sadr’s movement, as a shia Muslim faction whose ideology is religious, and the communist party, which essentially believes in atheism, are poles apart.


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