Chaotic battlefield in Idlib...non-combatants say they have nowhere to go and Turkey has closed its borders...

via Voice of America.

With no letup in a weeks-long government offensive, aid workers warn the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Idlib is on a par with what was seen last year in neighboring Aleppo, where an unrelenting ground and air offensive by Russian warplanes and Syrian government ground forces prompted an international outcry.

U.N. officials and aid workers say many civilians in Idlib, desperate to escape pummeling airstrikes, are refugees from other parts of the war-torn country, many, like Alhamdo from Aleppo, who are now scurrying from town to town, moving as best they can as bombardments reach them.

They have no place to go and are trapped in what was meant to have been a “de-escalation zone” as Syrian government forces expand an offensive on rebels, a mix of jihadist and more moderate insurgents, in what appears to be a determined bid to finish off opposition in Idlib.

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 Turkey, much as it did last year during the siege of Aleppo, has refused to open its borders to more Syrian refugees. And complicating the situation for fleeing civilians, Turkey appears to be gearing up to launch an offensive on the nearby Kurdish enclave of Afrin. Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an operation against the Kurdish-held enclave was imminent.

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 President Bashar al-Assad’s elite Tiger Forces have seized more than 40 towns in the southern Idlib countryside since December, and according to Syrian military officials more units are being dispatched, a prelude to an attack on an air base at Abu Dhuhour under the control of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, rebranded as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Story here. 

Is it just me or has the UN, deescalation zones and caring about the plight of others caused this war to go on longer than it should have?

Regardless the only real news here is that Turkey is about to make a move against the Kurds.

Trump and the Neo-Cons are about to get a real test.  Will they support them or leave them on that limb alone?

Don't know if it matters.

One way or another we're heading toward the end game.  This mythical Border Security Force is a last gasp attempt to save a failed strategy.