Turkish special forces opened a ‘sniper cafe’ on the front line against ISIS

Blake Stilwell
Feb 5, 2020 7:03 PM PST
1 minute read
Turkish special forces opened a ‘sniper cafe’ on the front line against ISIS

SUMMARY

An old Turkish proverb notes that “coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.” One possible interpretation for this is that you should enjoy your coffee under any circumstance. Even fighting the Islamic Stat…

An old Turkish proverb notes that "coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love." One possible interpretation for this is that you should enjoy your coffee under any circumstance.


Even fighting the Islamic State.

Turkish special forces troops are said to be taking this to the extreme, opening a sort of coffee house on a rooftop overlooking the Syrian city of Al-Bab. The Turks sent their special operators into the area in December, and now the city is said to be surrounded by Turkish forces.

The livemap of the Syrian War near Al-Bab as of Feb. 15, 2017. The red represents the Free Syrian Army, ISIS is the black area, and Turkish-controlled territory is in dark green.

Reddit user "bopollo" posted a few photos of Turkish troops near a sniper overwatch position. While there's no concrete evidence the photo was taken in Al-Bab, the writing is on the wall.

Literally.

Bopollo is a frequent commenter and contributor on operations and developments of the Syrian Civil War. The photo above shows directions to both Al-Bab and Kabbasin, both towns in Syria still held by ISIS.

The road between the two cities is also held by the terror organization. It's fairly common for troops to write graffiti on the walls of buildings they captured and held. It turns out Turkish special operators are no different.

Related: This collection of graffiti tells the real story of what modern war is like

While it's entirely unlikely that special forces troops opened an actual functioning business, the building is more likely just an area secured by the Su Altı Taarruz, Turkey's Navy SEALs (you can see the flag with the SAT logo on it above).

But because Turkish people are funny and there are at least 106 Starbucks locations in Istanbul, it's likely some troops are living it up as best they can on the front lines against ISIS.

The U.S. Army won war after war fueled by coffee – turns out Turkey does too. They just don't have a Green Beans...yet.

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