As mentioned in class, here are some shortish articles that provide some background and explanation for making sense of what is going on in Northern Syria. The first, from today's New York Times; and a FAQ from the New York Times published last week, on why Turkey is fighting the Kurds. And an older backgrounder from the CFR that tries to unravel all the parties involved in the Syria conflict.
And, on a related note, and very much relevant to our discussion just last class about universal jurisdiction, here is a blog post from Just Security on the exercise of universal jurisdiction to prosecute Turkish forces for war crimes committed in Northern Syria.
I believe this is a serious problem. Instead of leaving two allies to fight, we should consider mediating some sort of agreement between them. From what I've seen on the news, civilians are suffering at the hands of Turkish troops and all the while ISIS is able to take this time to lick their wounds.
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