Killing Field - Chapter 20 - These Wars, They Can’t Be Won
Deja vu hits fast. Nothing changes here, sand and rock and desolation. Danger in the air. Getting in is the easy part. The border is heavily policed, but bribes open all doors, including into the killing field that nearly the entirety of Syria has become. Fresh offensive is underway. The idea of a safe zone across northern Syria has surfaced again, despite the many disagreements that remain for both allied Turkey and US. Both Archangel and UN sources confirm new incoming resolutions between Turkey and Russia, following negotiations behind closed doors. If they are serious about getting Wrex’s family out of Syria, a better moment is unlikely. Despite the fact that Turkey happily uses Syrian Free Army forces to push into the country’s northern areas, fighting both Assad and Islamic State forces, it also wants People’s Protection Units to move east of Euphrates once the area has been occupied. And though Idlib is far outside of the stretch of land being disputed, the future looks bleak for Syrian Kurds like Wrex and his family. Bleaker; it was never rosy to begin with.
From the small NATO-run observation post in southern Idlib where they land, Jane and Garrus take about six hours to reach the meeting point with the other two squad members. They take several detours and slow down to a crawl to ensure they’re not followed, especially since the particulars of how Arterius found out about Archangel remain another damn knot to untangle. Being in Syria has never felt like a walk in the park. These latest political and military developments, on the trail of years of open conflict, are the lit matchbox thrown into a stack of gunpowder barrels. The countryside is a literal minefield, explosives planted by retreating ISIL fighters to stop aid incoming as one more fuck you to the communities they shredded to pieces. Not even the Red Cross insignia on their battered Toyota pick up truck can save them if they run into trouble, though there’s a healthy arsenal of weapons Garrus insisted they bring along, stashed neatly between the front and back seats.
(Read rest on AO3.)
