U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will seek an update to Saudi Arabia’s investigation into the October killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he visits Riyadh during a trip to the  Middle East next week, the State Department said on Friday.

Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Washington Post journalist from Saudi Arabia who had become a critic of the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the crown prince ordered an operation to kill Khashoggi, whose body was dismembered and removed from the building to a location still publicly unknown. Top Turkish officials have also tied his death to the highest levels of Saudi leadership. Saudi officials have denied accusations that the prince ordered the murder.

A Saudi court on Thursday held its first hearing on Khashoggi’s case in which Saudi Arabian prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects in the case. The United Nations human rights office on Friday called the trial “not sufficient.”

Pompeo will also visit Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait as part of his Jan. 8 to Jan. 15 trip, the State Department said in a statement.

As part of his talks with Middle Eastern leaders, Pompeo will also discuss the war in Yemen as well as Iran, Syria and other regional issues, the department said.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have held telephone consultations centering on Syria.

In the Friday call, Putin and Netanyahu “focused on developments in Syria, including in light of the United States’ stated intention to withdraw its troops from that country. They pointed to the need for the final defeat of terrorism and speedy achievement of a political settlement in Syria,” a Kremlin statement said.

Netanyahu also offered condolences following an apartment building collapse in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk this week that killed 39 people, the statement said.
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A decorated Navy SEAL is facing charges of premediated murder and numerous other offenses in connection with the fatal stabbing of a teenage Islamic State prisoner under his care in Iraq in 2017, along with the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher plans to plead not guilty to all the charges Friday during an arraignment hearing at Naval Base San Diego, his attorney Phil Stackhouse said.

The case stands out because of the seriousness of the allegations against an elite special warfare operator and the fact that the prosecution’s case includes the accounts of fellow Navy SEALs, an extremely tight-knit group even by military standards.

Stackhouse said his client is being falsely accused by disgruntled SEALs who wanted to get rid of a demanding platoon leader.

Gallagher was awarded the Bronze Star twice.

Navy prosecutors have painted a picture of a highly trained fighter and medic going off the rails on his eighth deployment — indiscriminately shooting at Iraqi civilians — and stabbing to death a captured Islamic State fighter estimated to be 15 years old, and then posing with the corpse at his re-enlistment ceremony.

If convicted, the 19-year Navy veteran faces life in prison.

At a two-day preliminary hearing at the Navy base in November, investigators said Gallagher stabbed the teen in the neck and body with a knife after he was handed over to the SEALs in the Iraqi city of Mosul to be treated for wounds sustained by the Iraqi Army and its prisoners during an airstrike in May 2017.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Joe Warpinski told the court that a SEAL medic told him he believed he had just stabilized the teen when Gallagher “walked up without saying anything at all” and started stabbing him. Afterward, prosecutors say he took photos of himself with the corpse, holding up his knife in one hand and the teen’s head in the other. He also posed with the body during his re-enlistment ceremony captured in the footage, Warpinski said.

Warpinski said when another SEAL questioned Gallagher, the chief replied that “I was working on him, and he just died.” His defense attorney also indicated to the court the teen died from injuries from the airstrike.

SEAL accounts

Warpinski, who spoke to nine members of SEAL Team 7, said he was told Gallagher would fire into crowds of Iraqis. He is accused of shooting an elderly man carting a water jug in Mosul in June 2017, and a month later shooting a girl walking along a riverbank in the same area. Investigators told the court that he had threatened to publicly name fellow SEALs if they reported his actions.

According to Warpinski, some SEALs were so concerned about his actions that they did not tell him his sniper rifle settings were off so his shooting would be less accurate and they would fire warning shots to clear areas of civilians.

There has been speculation that the case may widen to implicate others for not reporting what they witnessed. Prosecutors have already accused Gallagher’s platoon commander, Navy Lt. Jacob Portier, of not acting on the allegations. His attorney Jeremiah Sullivan said Portier was the first to report them to superiors and did so as soon as he learned of them. His arraignment hearing has not been scheduled yet.

But Navy spokesman Brian O’rourke said the case for now is focusing solely on Gallagher and Portier. “There is zero interest in taking action against any witnesses at this time,” O’rourke said.

Online fundraiser

Gallagher’s attorney Stackhouse said his client looks forward to the trial to clear his name. “He’s never run from a fight, and he’s not going to run from this one,” he said.

Stackhouse plans to ask the judge Friday to allow Gallagher to be released from the brig, where he has been held since his arrest Sept. 11.

The Navy SEALs Fund has raised more than $200,000 through an online fundraiser for his defense. According to the foundation’s posting online: “Eddie’s record and reputation as an elite warrior is rivaled only by a few men who have served by his side as special warfare operators and heroes who have gone before him.”
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Tensions between the U.S. and Turkey are threatening to resurface following President Donald Trump’s apparent walking back of his commitment to immediately withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and end support for a Syrian Kurdish militia. 

 

Washington’s backing of the YPG Kurdish militia in its war against the Islamic State group pushed U.S.-Turkish relations to a breaking point. Ankara links the militia to the Kurdish rebel group PKK, which has been fighting a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey. 

 

Trump’s declaration of victory over IS and vow to quickly withdraw about 2,000 American forces based mainly with the YPG ushered in hopes of a breakthrough in strained ties with Ankara. Trump on Wednesday, though, said, “I never said fast or slow. Somebody said four months, but I did not say that either.”

Adding to Ankara’s nervousness, Trump said, “We want to protect the Kurds [in Syria].” The U.S. president is facing growing national and international pressure over the decision to leave Syria and abandon the YPG. Turkish military forces continue to mass ahead of an expected strike against the YPG. 

 

“In Ankara, the strategic thinking is a threat to Turkish national security emanating from Syria,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen. “It’s an extension of PKK controlling the Syrian border, and Ankara has repeatedly said this will not be allowed.” 

​Green light

 

Trump’s initial statements of an unconditional quick pullout from Syria were widely interpreted in Turkey as a green light for a Turkish military operation against the YPG. However, Trump’s latest comments of a more gradual withdrawal and protection of the Kurds are seen as putting Ankara’s plans in question. 

 

“There was euphoria by the [Turkish] government. It was a historic decision for Ankara by Trump to leave Syria immediately,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci, of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. 

 

“But now Trump is also classically acting again, trying not to leave without giving protection to Kurds. And Turkey in this respect cannot do anything about this; Turkey will have to accept Kurds are under American protection,” Bagci added.  

Analysts suggest Ankara also is likely to be alarmed by growing calls for the creation of a buffer zone between Turkish and YPG forces along the Syrian border. South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, speaking to reporters after meeting with Trump, said the president was considering such a move. 

 

Roderich Kiesewetter, chair of the German parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, is backing a similar initiative. “We need a sanctuary, and the United Nations could do that for the Kurds of northern Syria, under U.N. influence,” Kiesewetter said Wednesday to German radio. 

 

“The creation of buffer zone is to protect the Kurds. In this respect, it’s not good for Turkey. Turkey will lose the opportunity to fight the YPG troops there,” said Bagci. “Turkey will oppose, but at the end of the day they will have to accept.”  

Pre-emptive strike

  

Analysts suggest Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be tempted to thwart any buffer zone by launching a pre-emptive military operation in Syria, east of the Euphrates River, where most of the YPG forces are based. Key March local elections could also enter into Erdogan’s calculations, given growing voter dissatisfaction over a slowing economy. 

 

“The timing of an operation east of the Euphrates may be an attempt to solidify the voter base,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of GlobalSource Partners, an investment analysis service. “But these attempts are futile at the end. People care whether they can bring bread home, and if they can’t, a very clear victory in some remote location doesn’t mean much to them.”  

Whether Ankara launches a Syrian operation is likely to depend on Moscow’s cooperation. Russian missiles control much of Syrian airspace. Turkey’s last cross-border operation against the YPG in Syria’s Afrin province relied on the use of air support.  

  

The Turkish defense and foreign ministers, along with the intelligence chief, reportedly failed recently to secure permission to use Syrian airspace during a visit to Moscow. Analysts suggest Moscow is balancing conflicting interests of seeking to court Ankara in a bid to draw it away from its NATO partners, while knowing Damascus will be opposed to Turkish seizure of more Syrian territory. 

 

Ankara also has conflicting interests. A U.S. delegation of judiciary and security officials Thursday began a two-day visit to Ankara to discuss Turkey’s bid to extradite U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen for his alleged role in masterminding the 2016 failed coup. Ankara in the past has accused Washington of foot-dragging over its extradition calls. 

 

Holding Gulen to account and reining in his network of followers remains a strategic priority of Ankara’s. Analysts suggest concessions by Washington to Ankara over Gulen’s extradition could well help to assuage Turkish concerns over Syria.
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