actually go even further than any of them had anticipated. turkey and its arab syrian fighting force have managed to capture a key area of what s known as the m4 highway, a strategic highway that cuts east to west. this has not only cut off key kurdish towns from one another, but also poses a risk to the u.s. military given where their bases are located. in all of this, who is actually the big winner? an expert i was talking to says it s russia. they are not only the playmaker here, but also the kingmaker. russia now is able to exert influence over damascus, over ankara and the kurds. and they have managed to get rid of the u.s. military presence inside syria without having to even fire a single shot, alex.
from our own special forces. absolutely. what preceded the turkish operation of course, let s remember that there is not only a turkish army operation, they are also working alongside free syrian army, the syrian national army, a group of around 3,000 local sunni arab fighters that they have trained as well. what we ve also seen, u.s. forces patrolling north of that strategic m4 highway along the border with syria, the commander in chief of all u.s. military officers, once the order given by president trump, those forces moved south of that same zone area where the turkish army was expected to enter. once turkey found that, that was perceived as a green light to move forward with this operatio operation. martha: secretary pompeo says there was no green light given by the united states, but now that we see this attack is