Thread by @TimInHonolulu

1. Busy days in the Mideast.
Cause of #SaudiAramco Oil fires still are not confirmed
Rouhani, Erdogan & Putin meet in Ankara
Assad Regime makes threats against the #SDF in UN.

I think they are trying to scare @POTUS Trump into running from Syria again. Saudi attack if that is

2. what happened is likely coordinated with the other two things. They know Trump does not want a war because he and Bolton split. So what do you do when you know your enemy won't fight? You attack. This time the Saudi's were the most logical target. Then the Assad regime makes

3. some threats likely thinking that if Iran can attack the Saudis, they can threaten the SDF especially with Turkey itching to attack. So what should @WhiteHouse @WHNSC do? A smart president would do the exact opposite of what the adversaries want so as to not encourage more.

4. First, the SDF are not terrorists but we have listed the PKK and, as Kurds seeking to be free of Islamist terror that has plague Kurds for many years, they are seen as affiliated with a group US lists. Second, we know Turkey has allied with both ISIS & Al-Qaeda. Turkey can

5. never be trusted under Erdogan's rule. So to end the constant threats towards the SDF in Syria the only logical step is to deList the PKK. Create a hybrid listing that recognizes Turkey is an ally and that they have had a 40 year war inside their borders that we wish to end.

6. But IMO listing of groups as international terrorists should actually be a threat to the US and not just a favor for a dictatorship like Turkey under Erdogan. So call them a armed hostile domestic group or something like that, but don't call them terrorist.

7. Erdogan's allies ISIS and Al-Qaeda are terrorist. Ocalon and anyone advancing his political theories do not threaten the US and do not fit the statutory definition of an FTO. Once PKK is de-Listed US can apply to UN to begin to address the war in Kurdistan. But in interim the

8. SDF, who we need to continue to keep ISIS from threatening us, will be able to conduct affairs as a full ally. In that regard, and because Assad has allied with Iran, if the SDF wishes, we should recognize it as an autonomous political entity and establish modest diplomatic

9. relations. Our goal, and I think the SDF's goal, is a democratic unified Syria. But that will never happen without free elections and Assad will never win a free election.

The murder and mayhem that Turkey and its terrorist army is causing in north and west Syria must stop.

10. Erdogan has allied himself with Iran and he has to pay a price. Being forced out of Syria is a proper response to Erdogan's disloyalty. And as for Iran, creating diplomatic relations with a free AA of NES will be revenge for attack on our Saudi partners.

11. Things will move fast in the region with the Israeli elections coming. @SecPompeo @StateDept @USEmbassyTurkey @USEmbassySyria need to act with deliberate haste. This is not a deal. This is the brink of war.