US air war on Islamic State creates 500% increase in Syrian refugees

According to this story at the Council on Foreign Relations website, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of refugees entering the EU from the Middle East compared to last year. Most of the refugees are Syrians.

So what is it these Syrians are fleeing? Assad's barrel bombs? Islamic State head-choppers? Or America's war on Islamic State in Syria?

What's changed in Syria in the past year? Assad's been dropping barrel bombs for four years. Islamic State has been lopping noggins for at least two. Why the sudden uptick in refugees?

The only significant change is that last August the US and a tiny consortium of half-hearted allies began bombing Syria. According to the US Department of Defense website, the US has bombed Syria about 2400 times since then. America's six coalition partners, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi, UAE, Canada, and Australia, have added a further 120 air strikes between them.

My question is this; could adding seven or eight US/coalition air strikes per day lead to a 500% increase in refugees fleeing the hell hole that is Syria? Even allowing for the fact that a USAF Paveway 500 pounder or a Hellfire missile is likely to cause a lot more carnage than a "barrel bomb," this seems a bit of a stretch.

So what else could account for the exponential rise in the number of Syrian refugees?

Could it be possible that our erstwhile NATO ally Turkey has been quietly opening the gates of the refugee camps and encouraging their inhabitants to seek greener pastures in the EU?

"Go west, young man! Take your wives and children too!"

And why might the wily Erdogan pursue such a strategy?

Here's why.



Not that long ago Assad and Erdogan were pals. Then that odious "uprising" came outta the blue, and Erdogan allowed his NATO overlords to convince him that if he just stabbed Assad in the back, the Syrian regime would crumble, and Erdogan would be a hero, not to mention the man of the day among his NATO peers.

That was four and a half years ago. Erdogan did his part. He stabbed Assad in the back.

Since then, pretty much everything has gone wrong. Instead of being heralded as a hero, Erdogan is stuck with billions of dollars in expenses for the millions of Syrian refugees that his misguided adventure has created.

Flooding Europe with Syrian refugees is Erdogan's way of paying back his NATO betters who have hung him out to dry.