Turkey faces balancing act amid border offensive in Syria

The U.S military doesn't have any presence in Afrin,

so how do they get US weapons to sell to IS and al Nuda then? Contractors?

Turkish Government must understand about crossing into other country border and slaughtering native Kurdish peoples is committing war crime.

Where's the UN and the UN Human Rights' Commissioner?

Are they sleeping in the rat-hole?

Moscow's green light is necessary for a Turkish operation into Afrin, where Russian military observers have deployed since last year to prevent such a confrontation.

Syria has been relatively quiet lately - lets see how well they do

The U.S military doesn't have any presence in Afrin

Afrin is at the very northwest tip of Syria, surrounded by Turkey in the north and west, Turkey-backed rebels in the east, and other Syrian rebels in the south - and Russia controls that air space

It doesn't make sense for the US to send military in there, where they won't have any protection or backup

"Turkey remains a loyal and trusted friend and ally of the U.S. and the West," Ilnur Cevik, an Erdogan presidential adviser, wrote in the Turkish daily Sabah.

Anybody buying that? Anyone? Anyone?

Meanwhile, Turkey has maneuvered to curtail a wide Russian-backed Syrian government military operation in Idlib — the largest remaining insurgent-held area in Syria. The offensive has already caused tens of thousands to flee and has threatened to undermine Erdogan's clout in the region.

Driving the Kurdish militia out of Afrin would also allow Turkey-backed Syrian fighters supporting its offensive to link Idlib to Syria's largest city, Aleppo.

Bingo. Assad would very much like that

As Chop chop says, this could well be a war crime. Afrin is an enclave with a large native Syrian Kurdish population. Even Assad must be afraid to attack the Kurds inside Syria.

What gives the Turks any special right to step in? Ethnic cleansing, anyone?

The bombing has begun. Turkey is calling it "Operation Olive Branch". You can't make this sh@t up unless you're a comedian.