Is Incirlik Air Base and Its Nukes Being Moved to Syria?

Is Incirlik Air Base and its nukes being moved to Syria?

(VERO BEACH, FLA) On April 8th DEBKA file, a website suspected to maintain close ties with Israeli intelligence, reported that the Pentagon was preparing to move U.S. assets currently stationed at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey to five separate locations in Syria.

“Several US engineering teams are working round the clock to build a big new air base in northern Syria after completing the expansion of another four,” DEBKA reported. “They are all situated in the Syrian borderland with Iraq”

DEBKA claimed that Tabqa, which is 40km west of ISIS-held Raqqa and has accommodations for the 2,500 US military personnel currently housed at Incirlik, will serve as the hub. The other four locations mentioned are Hajar airport in vicinity of Rmelan; two small airfields in Qamishli which currently service farm transport traffic but have been converted to military use; and the last in the Kurdish controlled region of Kobani, north of Aleppo near the Syrian-Turkish border.

“The site of the Tabqa air field was captured as recently as late March by the Syrian Democratic Force (Kurdish-Arab fighters) which were flown in and dropped there by the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command,” DEKBA reported. “It was quickly dubbed ‘Incirlik 2’ or ‘Qayyarah-2’ after the US command center running the Iraqi military offensive against ISIS in Mosul.”

NBC News reported separately on March 27th that regional Kurdish fighters affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) were recently ferried by U.S. Aircraft behind ISIS lines in the area for a major ground assault on Tabqa. The SDF claimed in a statement on Sunday March 26th that they had seized a military airport in the area from ISIS, without identifying Tabqa air base by name.

According to NBC News, Tabqa air base was captured by ISIS from the Syrian government in August 2014, and was the site shortly afterward of a massacre of 200 pro-Assad soldiers, which was subsequently recorded and distributed by jihadists on social media. 

DEBKA ended their report by claiming that the creation of the five US air bases in Syria is part of a three-pronged strategy from the Trump administration, which aims to 1) fight Islamist terror; 2) block Iran’s land and air access to Syria; 3) and provide the enclaves of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), with a military shield against the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

U.S. European Command (EUCOM) spokesman Lt. Col. David Faggard, told Turkey’s Daily Sabah when asked about Incirlik AB’s reported move that the U.S. “intends to continue to cooperate closely with Turkey.” 

“Turkey remains a NATO ally and a strong partner in the U.S.-led coalition against Daesh,” Lt. Col. Faggard said. “Coalition counter-Daesh operations being conducted from Incirlik and other Turkish facilities are closely coordinated with, and have the full support of, our Turkish partners.” 

“The Turkish air force base at Incirlik continues to fulfill an important role in providing support for NATO and coalition efforts, Lt. Col. Faggard said. “The U.S. presence there, with the permission of the government of Turkey, has been a symbol of our commitment to work with and help defend our ally and strategic partner for decades.” 

In July 2016 TRUNEWS correspondent Edward Szall reported that the Turkish government was intentionally withholding power from Incirlik AB and blockading the entrances following a failed military coup which utilized aircraft deployed from the joint-NATO air field.

On the July 19th edition of TRUNEWS, host Rick Wiles interviewed Hans Kristensen, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, regarding the approximate 200 nuclear armaments being housed at Incirlik AB. 

During the interview Mr. Kristensen noted that the B-61 warheads would take at a minimum three weeks to transfer from the underground bunkers in the event of an emergency, even with a full military contingency facilitating the move.

During that same program retired 4-Star U.S. Navy Admiral James “Ace” Lyons told Rick Wiles that Turkey — as a NATO partner — has had their military personnel trained by U.S. counterparts on the procedures for transferring, loading, and using the nuclear warheads located under Incirlik Air Base. 

On the April 11th edition of TRUNEWS Rick speculated that if the reports that Incirlik AB is being moved to Syria are correct, then the approximate 200 B-61 nuclear warheads stored at the NATO base could be transferred with the US personal to Syria.

“I don’t think Russia is going to stand back and allow the U.S. to put 1 or five bases in Syria,” Rick said. “You really think Putin is going to allow 200 hydrogen bombs to be moved to Syria?”

Following TRUNEWS’ coverage of the stand off at Incirlik AB in July, reports serviced that the B61 nuclear armaments previously housed at Incirlik AB may have already been transferred out of Turkey. 

In August 2016 EurActiv.com, a Belgian news site which receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, claimed from two unnamed sources that the US had started to transfer the nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania.

Following the EurActiv report Romania’s Minister of Defense Mihnea Motoc refused to confirm thatUS nuclear weapons were being transferred to his nation from Turkey.

“There is no thinking, no plans in this direction, Motoc said. “We can only call this information a speculation.”

http://www.trunews.com/article/is-incirlik-air-base-and-its-nukes-being-moved-to-syria