Destruction of Western Kurdistan by absolutely EVERYONE

[Anthea]

Turkey to resume its
slaughter of Kurds

Turkey will resume its military onslaught against Kurdish fighters tomorrow if they have not left the 'safe zone' in Syria when their five-day ceasefire runs out, the Turkish President has warned

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 'the operation will be continued' if so-called 'terrorists' fail to withdraw from the 20-mile exclusion zone.

Mr Erdogan is pressing ahead despite condemnation from Europe and yesterday he boasted that the campaign had 'shown the entire world Turkey's military abilities' - saying Turkish forces had already 'neutralised' 765 Kurdish fighters.

There are also fears for the security of prisons that are holding captured ISIS fighters in Syria and today Russia warned that the issue needed to be 'urgently resolved'.

Washington brokered a five-day ceasefire last week to allow the besieged Kurdish fighters - longtime foes of Turkey who have helped the U.S. in the fight against ISIS - to evacuate the area, but it expires on Tuesday.

President Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey US to keep their promises

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a speech in Istanbul yesterday where he said Turkey will resume its military onslaught against Kurdish fighters if they have not left the 'safe zone'

A Syrian couple use a motorcycle to flee the the northeastern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain with Turkish troops poised to resume their military operations

Syrians flee the countryside near the Turkish border, raising smoke from burning tyres to impede visibility from warplanes

Mr Erdogan - who has previously hinted at nuclear ambitions - wants a buffer zone along the Turkish border against a group he regards as terrorists.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they had withdrawn from the border town of Ras al Ain on Sunday.

However, a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the withdrawal was not yet complete.

'With Operation Peace Spring, Turkey has dealt a deadly blow to the terror corridor sought to be established along our Syrian border,' Mr Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul on Sunday.

'If terrorists fail to leave the safe zone within the 120 hours given to them, the operation will be continued.

'The operation has also destroyed the imperialist scenarios against our region. Our country has ensured both its own security and Syria's territorial integrity.

'And the agreement we reached with the U.S. last Thursday is just a reflection on the diplomacy table of our success in the field.

'Operation Peace Spring has shown the entire world Turkey's soft and hard power, operational capability and military abilities.'

The Kurdish fighters are dominated by the YPG, a militia which Turkey regards as a terrorist group.

American withdrawal: U.S. military vehicles drive on a road in the town of Tal Tamr in northern Syria on Sunday after pulling out of their base

Protesters blocked the path of US military convoys leaving the region on Sunday, begging them to stay. 'Thanks for US people but Trump betrayed us,' one protester's sign read

Another sign read: 'To the US army who are leaving northeast Syria: Tell your children that the children of the Kurds were killed by the Turks and we did nothing to protect them'

Ankara has accused the YPG of causing 40,000 deaths over recent decades through its links to Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

Since the Turkish offensive began on October 9, at least 114 civilians have been killed and some 300,000 people have been displaced.

Although the truce held for the first two days, Turkey's defence ministry said on Sunday one of its soldiers was killed and another wounded after a YPG attack with anti-tank and light arms hit a reconnaissance and surveillance mission in Tel Abyad.

It said Turkish forces had responded to the attack and said the YPG had committed 22 violations of the deal since it begun.

France and Germany have both criticised the Turkish operation and Berlin's foreign minister Heiko Mass said yesterday that the attack was 'illegitimate'.

'After everything we know and after everything that Turkey itself has cited as a legal basis, we cannot share that view,' he told German television.

French President Emmanuel Macron has described the incursion as 'madness' and a 'serious mistake'.

British PM Boris Johnson spoke to Mr Erdogan on Sunday and raised 'a great deal of concern' about Turkey's operation, Downing Street said.

A map showing the 'safe zone' in northern Syria where the ceasefire has been agreed

Trump announced the withdrawal of the majority of 1,000 troops stationed in northern Syria last week as Turkey advanced on Kurdish-held territory

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday that said the question of protecting prison facilities holding Islamic State militants needed to be 'urgently resolved', according to the RIA news agency.

Speaking on a visit to China he said Russia hopes its coordination with the United States and Turkey in Syria will 'help security and stability in the region'.

Turkey has rejected the concerns, saying its offensive will not hinder the fight against ISIS or jeopardise gains against the jihadists.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that, so far, the SDF have maintained control of the prisons in Syria where they are still present.

The Turks, he said, have indicated they have control of the ISIS prisons in their areas.

Mr Erdogan is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Tuesday.

Turkey launched its offensive after President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing U.S. troops from northeastern Syria.

Syrian Kurds, one of them carrying a Kurdish YPG flag, watch as a US military vehicle drives on a road after US forces pulled out of their base in the Syrian town of Tal Tamr on Sunday

Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters ride atop their armored personnel carrier to cross the border into Syria on Friday

Mr Trump was also heavily ridiculed for his letter sent to Erdogan on October 9, in which he told the Turkish leader 'don't be a tough guy' and 'don't be a fool'.

His move was criticised in Washington and elsewhere as a betrayal of Kurdish allies who had fought for years alongside U.S. troops against Islamic State.

In recent days Kurds in northern Syria have taken to the streets to plead with U.S. soldiers pulling out of the war-torn region.

Videos shared on social media showed protesters attempting to block a 70-strong military convoy through Tal Tamr.

'Thanks for US people but Trump betrayed us,' one protester's sign read.

'To the US army who are leaving northeast Syria: Tell your children that the children of the Kurds were killed by the Turks and we did nothing to protect them,' another read.

The U.S. pullout has also created a vacuum that Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most powerful backer, has looked to fill.

Syrian and Russian forces, invited by Kurdish authorities, last week entered the two border cities of Manbij and Kobani vacated by U.S. troops.

Mr Erdogan also said on Friday that Turkey would set up a dozen observation posts in the 'safe zone' it wants to form.

Turkish forces had already begun establishing two of the posts on Sunday, a witness in the region said.

The Turkish leader has previously said it was 'unacceptable' that Turkey was not allowed nuclear weapons by other nuclear-armed states.

Hinting at nuclear ambitions last month, he said: 'We have Israel nearby, as almost neighbours. They scare other nations by possessing these. No one can touch them.'

Israel is believed to have a sizeable nuclear arsenal, but refuses to confirm or deny its capabilities.

'There is no developed nation in the world that doesn’t have them,' Erdogan said falsely.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... 3XUDgKHDN8

[Anthea]

'Horror and shame': U.S. senators, Kurdish leader call for Turkey sanctions

U.S. lawmakers kept up their push on Monday to impose sanctions on Turkey if it does not end its offensive in northeastern Syria, and a leading Kurdish politician called on President Donald Trump to stop the “ethnic cleansing” of her people

“We need to stop the slaughter. We need to ensure that we don’t enable ISIS (the Islamic State militant group),” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told a news conference. Lawmakers said they were working to sign more co-sponsors of legislation to impose tough economic penalties on Turkey.

Ilham Ahmed, a Kurdish political leader and president of the Syrian Democratic Council Executive Committee, joined the lawmakers. Speaking through a translator, she called Trump to reverse his decision two weeks ago to remove U.S. forces from Syria, which cleared the way for Turkey’s cross-border offensive.

“They want to attack us. They want to kill hundreds of thousands of us,” she said.

Trump said on Monday he did not want to leave any American troops in Syria, aside from a small number to secure oil production.

His position has frustrated members of Congress, including several of his fellow Republicans. They consider the withdrawal of troops a betrayal of Kurdish allies who for years have helped the United States fight against Islamic State.

Hearings on the situation are scheduled in both the Senate and House of Representatives this week and some congressional leaders expect a vote on legislation within the coming weeks.

“Talk about the oil fields is a cruel distraction from the ongoing humanitarian disaster,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who said he felt “horror and shame” about the Kurds.

Lawmakers also worry that renewed fighting in Syria will lead to the release of captured Islamic State fighters.

Van Hollen and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham last Thursday announced legislation that would impose “crippling” sanctions on the government in Ankara and said they would press ahead despite the announcement of a five-day ceasefire.

“I blame Turkey more than anyone. Turkey’s invasion has put at risk the defeat of the caliphate,” Graham said on Monday, referring to territory once held by Islamic State.

Graham said he wanted to see a demilitarized zone between Turkey and Kurdish fighters, monitored by international forces, a continued U.S. partnership with those fighters and an effort to guard and monitor oil fields in southern Syria, but that Ankara needed to back down first.

Turkey’s offensive has displaced some 300,000 people and led to 120 casualties among civilians and 470 among SDF fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday. Turkey says 765 terrorists but no civilians have been killed.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syri ... SKBN1X100W

[Anthea]

Turkey, Russia strike deal to
remove Syrian Kurdish YPG

SOCHI, Russia/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and Russia agreed on Tuesday to remove the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to beyond 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border, after which their troops will jointly patrol a narrower strip of land in a “safe zone” Ankara has long sought in northern Syria

Beginning at noon (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, Russian military police and Syrian border guards will move in to facilitate the removal of YPG members and weapons to beyond the zone in a mission that should take about six days, according to the deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hailed the deal as one that would end the bloodshed in the region, while Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had no designs on Syrian territory as it continued to push the YPG south.

The YPG, the key component in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that have for years fought alongside U.S. troops against Islamic State, will also leave the towns of Tel Rifaat and Manbij under the deal struck between Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

“The main aim of the operation is to take out PKK/YPG terror organisations from the area and to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees,” Erdogan told a joint news conference with Putin.

Ankara regards the YPG as terrorists because of their ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey.

“This operation also guarantees Syria’s territorial integrity and political unity... We never had any interest in Syria’s land and sovereignty,” Erdogan added.

Once the YPG are removed, Turkish and Russian troops will conduct joint patrols in northern Syria within 10 km (6 miles) of the border, according to the deal.

Erdogan added that Ankara would also work with Moscow for the safe return of Syrian refugees now in Turkey.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-syria ... X1259?il=0

[Anthea]

Memorandum of understanding between turkey and the Russian Federation (Sochi, October 22, 2019)

The President of the republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, agreed on the following points:

1. The two sides renew their commitment to maintaining the political unity and unity of the Syrian territory and protecting turkey's National Security.

2. The parties confirm their determination to fight terrorism in all its forms and forms and to disrupt the secessionist attacks in Syrian territory.

3. in this framework, the situation in the current peace spring process area, covering a white hill and the head of the eye, will be maintained with a depth of 32 km.

4. The two sides once again emphasize the importance of the adana convention. The Russian Federation will facilitate the implementation of the adana convention under the current circumstances.

5. From 12:00 pm on October 2019, 23, the Russian military police and the Syrian border guard will enter the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border, outside the area of the peace process, to facilitate the relocation of elements of the people's protection units and 30 km from the Turkish-Syrian border, which must be completed within 150 hours. After that, joint Russian-Turkish patrols west and east of the peace process will begin at a depth of 10 km, except the city of qamishli.

6. All elements of the people's protection units and their weapons will be removed from manbij and tel.

7. The two sides will take the necessary measures to prevent the offside of terrorist elements.

Joint efforts will be made to facilitate the safe and voluntary return of refugees.

9. A joint monitoring and verification mechanism will be established to monitor and coordinate the implementation of this note.

10. The two sides will continue to work towards a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict within the framework of the astana mechanism and will support the activity of the constitutional commission.

[Anthea]

Turkish attacks cut water
supply to Syrian province

Civilians in Hasakah are running out of water more than a week after Turkish forces shelled the province's main pumping station, near Ras al-Ain (Sri Canet). The United Nations is negotiating with Ankara to allow repairs to the Aluk drinking water station, which officials of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Western Kurdistan) said Turkey targeted Oct. 10 with 10 shells. Three of the explosives fell on the station's pumping hall and hit power supply lines, knocking the plant offline.

Hasakah's Directorate of Water has warned that the water supply allocated for emergencies is running low. In addition to Hasakah residents, displaced people fleeing Turkish artillery and aerial bombardment of border areas are also being affected by the lack of water.

“We have been without water for four days,” Ibrahim Sheikho, who fled to Hasakah from Qamishli after the Turkish attack began, told Al-Monitor. “The people have complained and tried to get the attention of international organizations, but to no avail.”

“We are bringing salt water, which is not safe to drink and is harmful to children as well,” Sheikho added,

Suzdar Ahmed, co-director of the water directorate, told Al-Monitor, “We estimate that over 800,000 residents, including displaced people in the camps, benefited from the Aluk station.” She added, “Large numbers of displaced people have arrived in Hasakah, so water needs here have increased.”

The plant serves Tall Tamr, Hasakah, Hawl, Shaddadi, Arisha and Markadah in addition to the displacement camps in Hawl and Arisha. Ahmed said that her directorate has been distributing water from tanks after obtaining it from wells in the Tell Brak area.

Ahmed warned that because the Aluk station is the only significant water source in the area, nearly 1 million civilians might soon lose access to drinkable water. “The plant is fed by 30 wells distributed along 6 kilometers [3.7 miles] along the Syrian-Turkish border,” she explained.

The water directorate has appealed to international humanitarian organizations to provide safe passage for workers to reach the Aluk station to fix the supply lines and re-pump water to Hasakah city and all the other areas the plant feeds. Maintenance teams have managed to make a few repairs at the plant and to deliver some water to the city, but the fighting and shelling persist around the area.

Hasakah resident Mahmoud Khalaf confirmed the situation conveyed to Al-Monitor, stating, “The water has been cut off from most of the city since the Turkish army targeted the plant. Water needs have increased with the arrival of thousands of displaced people from border areas, and so far there is no solution in sight.”

Khalaf added, “We were promised water, but supplies were minimal and slow. The existing water isn't safe to drink.”

Turkey has targeted civilian water and electricity sources in the past. In March 2018, Turkish forces shelled the Aluk station, cutting water to Hasakah city and the surrounding countryside. In another incident, in May that year, Turkish border guards fired shots at workers who were trying to fix the plant at the Hilaliya water station in Qamishli after an electrical failure, injuring several workers.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origin ... l4o7hk6Omk

[Anthea]

Russia warns
YPG to pull back

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned Syrian Kurdish YPG forces on Wednesday they face further armed conflict with Turkey if they fail to comply with a Russian-Turkish accord calling for their withdrawal from the entire length of Syria’s northeastern border with Turkey

Moscow’s warning came shortly before Russian and Syrian security forces were due to start overseeing the removal of YPG fighters and weapons at least 30 km (19 miles) into Syria, under the deal struck by presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan.

A complete pullout of the YPG would mark a victory for Erdogan, who launched a cross-border offensive on Oct. 9 to drive the Kurdish militia from the border and create a “safe zone” for the return of Syrian (Arab) refugees.

The accord, which expands on a U.S.-brokered deal last week, also underlines Putin’s dominant influence in Syria and seals the return of his ally President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to northeast Syria for the first time in years, by endorsing the deployment of Syrian border guards from noon (0900 GMT) on Wednesday.

Six days later, Russian and Turkish forces will jointly start to patrol a 10 km strip of land in northeast Syria where U.S. troops for years were deployed along with their former Kurdish allies.

Those changes reflect the dizzying pace of changes in Syria since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria earlier this month, shaking up the military balance across a quarter of the country after eight years of conflict and prolonged freezes on the frontlines.

Kurdish militia commanders have yet to respond to the deal reached in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, and it was not immediately clear how their withdrawal could be enforced.

RUSSIAN WARNING

A joint Turkish-Russian statement issued after six hours of talks between Putin and Erdogan said they would establish a “joint monitoring and verification mechanism” to oversee implementation of the agreement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was more blunt. If Kurdish forces did not retreat, Syrian border guards and Russian military police would have to fall back. “And remaining Kurdish formations would then fall under the weight of the Turkish army,” he said.

In a swipe at Washington, which has called into question how the deal will be guaranteed, Peskov said the United States had been the closest ally of the Kurdish fighters but had now betrayed them

“Now they (the Americans) prefer to leave the Kurds at the border and almost force them to fight the Turks,” he said in remarks to Russian news agencies.

The Kurdish-led SDF were Washington’s main allies in the fight to dismantle Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria. Trump’s decision to pull troops out was criticized by U.S. lawmakers, including fellow Republicans, as a betrayal.

In a further sign of growing ties between Ankara and Moscow, which have alarmed the U.S. administration, the head of Russia’s defense sales agency was quoted by the Interfax news agency on Wednesday as saying Moscow could deliver more S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey.

Turkey, a NATO member, has already been frozen out of a program to buy and help produce F-35 jets and faces possible U.S. sanctions for buying the S-400 systems, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO’s defenses and threaten the F-35 if operated near the stealth fighter.

Overnight, Turkey’s defense ministry said that the United States had told Ankara the YPG had completed its withdrawal from the area of Turkey’s military offensive.

There was no need to initiate another operation outside the current area of operation at this stage, the ministry said, effectively ending it's military offensive that began two weeks ago, drawing widespread criticism.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syri ... N?rpc=401&

[Anthea]

Turks committed
war crimes in Syria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Syria said on Wednesday that U.S. forces had seen evidence of war crimes by Turkish forces in Syria, during their recent offensive against Kurds

“We haven’t seen widespread evidence of ethnic cleansing” by Turkey, but there had been reports of “several incidents of what we consider war crimes,” said James Jeffrey, special representative for Syria, at a House of Representatives hearing.

He said U.S. officials were looking into those reports and had demanded an explanation from Turkey’s government. He also said U.S. officials were investigating a report that Turkey had used restricted burning white phosphorus during its offensive.

Jeffrey and Matthew Palmer, a deputy assistant secretary of state who handles issues including relations with Turkey, spent a second straight day testifying in the U.S. Congress.

Many lawmakers, including Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, disagree with Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria, which cleared the way for Turkish troops to cross the border to fight against Kurdish forces who for years helped U.S. troops fight against Islamic State militants.

“How could the United States do something so senseless, so disgraceful, so contrary to our values?” Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said as he opened the hearing.

Jeffrey also confirmed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s statement that more than 100 Islamic State fighters had escaped. “We do not know where they are,” Jeffrey told the hearing.

Jeffrey had said in Senate testimony on Tuesday that “dozens” of the militants had escaped prison since the Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria began about two weeks ago.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syri ... H?rpc=401&

[Anthea]

Winners and Losers in Syria

Losers = Kurds

Winners = Everyone else

After deals negotiated with both the United States and Russia which put an end to its offensive in Syria, Turkey has won a key demand: the removal of Kurdish fighters from along its border.

But these deals, and the US's withdrawal from the zone, are also a huge boost for Russia, which is now better placed than ever to force a resolution of the conflict in favour of its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

- What will change on the ground? -

Turkey already controlled swathes of Syrian territory in the north of the country thanks to two previous operations to the west of the Euphrates river.

Now it is expanding its presence to the east of the river with a 120-kilometre (75-mile) long "safe zone" between the towns of Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain, extending 30km deep into Syrian territory.

The Kurdish YPG militia have been cleared from this zone.

The accord says that joint Russian-Turkish patrols will take place up to 10km from the border in the rest of Turkey's proposed safe zone, starting on October 29.

- Who are the winners and losers? -

While Turkey is set to make short-term gains from the deals, analysts say Moscow and the Syrian regime will reap the biggest benefits.

"The Syrian army will retake control of the whole of the north-east, apart from the strip of territory between Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain which is under Turkish occupation," says Fabrice Balanche, Syria expert at Lyon University.

"Assad is getting back a third of Syria's territory without firing a shot," he adds.

Emre Kaya from the Istanbul-based Edam think tank also thinks Assad is the "biggest winner" from the agreements.

"He has regained control of the borders, several key towns and major transport routes," says Kaya.

The Kurdish YPG are undoubtedly the biggest losers after their abandonment by the US, which withdrew the bulk of its troops from the region and left the field clear for the Russians.

Balanche says that along with the Kurds, "who have lost all their power and autonomy in this region," the US has also suffered in "losing credibility among its local and international allies".

After the US withdrawal, it now seems wholly up to Russia, Turkey and Iran to decide the next steps in solving the conflict under the aegis of the Astana peace process launched by those three countries.

- Quid pro quo? -

Turkish officials boast that they have been able to secure all of their demands in regards to the YPG without having made any concessions.

But experts suspect that in return Turkey may have agreed to turn a blind eye to a Syrian regime offensive in Idlib province, the last stronghold of anti-Assad rebels backed by Ankara, along with some jihadist groups.

On Tuesday Assad made a rare visit to the frontline in the region, just as the talks between Erdogan and Putin were getting underway in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

"It's too soon to talk about a quid pro quo," says Kaya.

But nevertheless the timing of Assad's visit made it "an important symbol," he adds.

Kemal emphasises that the Sochi deal will "probably push Ankara towards accepting the capture of Idlib by the regime," adding that the "rebels will be less effective without Turkish support".

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/a ... deals.html

[Anthea]

Russian police deploy in Kobani

MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) - Russian military police started deploying on Syria’s northeast border on Wednesday under a deal with Turkey to drive Kurdish fighters from the region, and U.S. President Donald Trump said Turkey’s offensive against the Kurdish forces was over

Just two weeks after Trump pulled out U.S. special forces, allowing Turkish troops to sweep into northeast Syria and target Washington’s former Kurdish allies, Russia’s police deployment shows how swiftly the balance of power in the area has shifted.

Turkey ‘paused’ its offensive last week under a U.S.-brokered deal which called for Kurdish YPG fighters to withdraw, and then secured Russian support this week for a wider deal requiring the YPG’s removal from the whole northeast border.

In an address from the White House, Trump said Turkey had announced it was making last week’s ceasefire permanent, paving the way for the United States to lift sanctions it had imposed on Turkish imports in response to the cross-border assault.

Turkey’s military operation was widely condemned by its NATO and European Union allies, who said it was causing a fresh humanitarian crisis in Syria’s eight-year conflict and could let Islamic State prisoners held by the YPG escape and regroup.

“Early this morning, the government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria, and making the ceasefire permanent,” Trump said, adding that he had given instructions to lift sanctions on Ankara “unless something happens that we are not happy with”.

The police arrival in Kobani marked the start of a mission by Russian and Syrian security forces to push the YPG at least 30 km (19 miles) into Syria under an accord reached on Tuesday by presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan

It also underlines Putin’s dominant influence in Syria and seals the return of his ally President Bashar al-Assad’s forces along the northeastern border for the first time in years.

A complete pullout of the YPG, which Ankara considers terrorists because of their links to insurgents inside Turkey, would mark a victory for Erdogan who has said he is seeking to create a “safe zone” for the return of Syrian Arab refugees.

Kobani, where the Russian military police deployed, is of special significance to the Kurdish fighters, who fought off Islamic State militants trying to seize the city in 2014-15 in one of the fiercest battles of Syria’s conflict.

Next Tuesday, Russian and Turkish forces will jointly start to patrol a 10 km strip of land in northeast Syria where U.S. troops had long been deployed along with their former Kurdish allies.

Kurdish militia commanders have yet to respond to the deal reached in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, and it was not immediately clear how their withdrawal could be enforced.

RUSSIAN WARNING

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said if Kurdish forces did not retreat, Syrian border guards and Russian military police would have to fall back. “And remaining Kurdish formations would then fall under the weight of the Turkish army,” he said.

In a swipe at Washington, which has called into question how the deal will be guaranteed, Peskov said: “Now they (the Americans) prefer to leave the Kurds at the border and almost force them to fight the Turks.”

The Kurdish-led SDF were Washington’s main allies in the fight to dismantle Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria. Trump’s decision to pull troops out was criticized by U.S. lawmakers, including fellow Republicans, as a betrayal.

SDF commander Mazloum Kobani said on Wednesday Trump had promised to maintain long-term support for the Kurdish-led forces, who have controlled large swathes of northeastern Syria.

In a sign of growing ties between Ankara and Moscow, the head of Russia’s defense sales agency was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying Moscow could deliver more S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey.

Turkey, a NATO member, has already been frozen out of a program to buy and help produce F-35 jets and faces possible U.S. sanctions for buying the S-400 systems, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO’s defenses and threaten the F-35 if operated near the stealth fighter.

In an interview with Reuters, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the disagreements over the F-35 could be overcome. Despite criticism from allies over the Syria incursion and its growing ties with Moscow, Turkey remained at the heart of NATO, he said.

“We are at the center of NATO, and we remain determined to carry out all of our responsibilities fully. We are going nowhere,” he said.

“RECOGNISING ASSAD”

While Tuesday’s deal addresses Turkey’s call for the YPG to be pushed back from the border, it also means Ankara will have to deepen its security coordination with Damascus after years of hostility between Erdogan and Assad.

Turkey may also have to moderate its own military ambitions in the region. Turkish security sources said Ankara was re-evaluating a plan to set up 12 observation posts in northeastern Syria in the wake of the deal. Russia’s Defence Ministry later said the Syrian government would set up 15 posts on the border.

Assad and Putin have both said Turkish forces cannot remain in Syria in the long term.

“The most significant part of the Russian-Turkish agreement is the arrival of the Syrian border guard to the northeast, something both Damascus and Russia sought for a long time,” said Yury Barmin, a Middle East specialist at Moscow Policy Group.

“This also means de facto recognition of Assad by Erdogan.”

Additional reporting by Maxim Rodionov in Moscow and Ezgi Erkoyun, Daren Butler and Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Gareth Jones

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syri ... 9&&rpc=401

[Anthea]

Russian military police in Kobani

KOBANI /AYN AL-ARAB, Syria/, October 24. /TASS/. A Russian military police base on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) is located 2 km away from the border with Turkey, representative for the command of the Russian army in Syria Igor Seritsky told journalists

"According to the reached agreements between President of the Russian Federation [Vladimir Putin] and President of the Republic of Turkey [Recep Tayyip Erdogan], the Russian military police units started patrols along the Syrian-Turkish border from the noon of October 23.

The city of Ayn Al-Arab is located in the patrol zone, in particular, and our military policemen have never gone that far beyond the Euphrates. The base is located on the border crossing checkpoint, several kilometers away from Ayn al-Arab and two kilometers away from Turkish territory. Both the border itself and the city outskirts are well visible," Seritsky said.

He noted that the base is located on dominant terrain. From this place, Russian military policemen and Syrian border guards will control the withdrawal of Kurdish units from the border zone.

Leader of the Kobani Military Council Ismat Sheikh Hassan, who had met a convoy of Russia’s Tigr armored vehicles that had arrived in Kobani, expressed readiness to offer support in all arising issues. "We understand the importance of your presence in this area and, of course, are ready to cooperate," the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) representative affirmed.

The city of Kobani in the east of the Aleppo Governorate came under control of the Syrian government several days ago. The SDF forces used to control the city from January 2015 when Kurdish units and their allies had fought back militants of the terrorist organization Islamic State, that is outlawed in Russia.

The Kurds’ withdrawal is linked to the start of Operation Peace Spring by Turkey in northeastern Syria on October 9, the goal of which is to create a 30-km-wide buffer zone on Syrian territory along the common border. The US, which backs the SDF, and Turkey agreed on October 17 to suspend the operation for 150 hours to make it possible for the Kurdish forces that constitute the majority of the Syrian Democratic Forces to leave the 30-km zone.

On the evening of October 23, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a conversation with Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces Mazloum Abdi that civil residents in this zone do not need to leave their houses, as Russian and Syrian servicemen will guarantee their security. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Abdi thanked Russia and Putin for ensuring the Kurds’ security and "the steps that were taken for a ceasefire."

https://tass.com/defense/1084951

[Anthea]

Displaced Kurds see no way home

Since fleeing a Turkish assault in northeastern Syria, Anwar has been living in constant anxiety -- unable to return home or to tolerate life in a room with 20 others



The 35-year-old is one of hundreds of thousands displaced by a Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in Western Kurdistan, Syria launched on October 9.

Tens of thousands of them have sought refuge in and around the predominantly Kurdish city of Hasakeh, sleeping in schools, shelters and elsewhere.

"We are staying here on top of each other, this is not life," said Anwar, a Kurdish nurse who is sleeping in a repurposed school.

He and his family fled their home in a village close to the town of Tel Abyad nearly 200 kilometres (120 miles) away after the Turkish assault began.

In the school, each classroom has been transformed into sleeping spaces for families, up to 24 people per room.

The wails of children echo everywhere.

In the days after the family fled, looters raided their home, an Arab neighbour who stayed behind told Anwar.

"Nothing is left in the house, they even took the (electrical) cables on the roof," he said.

"How can we go back?" he asked. "If we go back, we'll have to sit in our homes, take up arms and guard them."

Displaced residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, accuse Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups of abuses, theft and looting in the areas they have seized.

A witness in the battleground town of Ras al-Ain, which Turkish forces captured last week, said he saw fighters stealing abandoned motorcycles and pickup trucks.

- 'Ruined' -

The Turkish assault, which followed a surprise US announcement that it would withdraw its forces, saw Ankara seize more than 100 kilometres of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Around 300,000 Kurdish people have been displaced, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

Ankara has agreed ceasefire deals with the United States and Russia that will see the Kurds withdrew from much of the territory they held in Western Kurdistan, Syria, their traditional stronghold.

Anwar, a father of six children between 12 and six months, sees no way home and wants to leave Syria for good.

"We want to go to Iraq, there is no other solution in front of us," he said.

Around 9,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into the Kurdish region of Iraq since the Turkish assault began, according to the United Nations.

But the route isn't easy, and smugglers charge around 250 dollars a person, Anwar says -- money he simply doesn't have.



In the school, the names of the displaced families are stuck on the doors.

The rooms are sparse, with only a few blankets.

In the outdoor schoolyard, women wash dishes and clothes, while children play in the school's colourful hallways.

Abu Helene, 50, who fled from Ras al-Ain, said he was worried about the future of his 16-year-old daughter, who was forced to drop out of school.

"All the houses are open and there is a lot of looting," was the news he heard from home.

Amnesty International has said that Turkish forces showed a "shameful disregard for civilian life" during the assault.

- 'No difference' -

While Ankara was targeting the Kurds, whom they accuse of supporting outlawed separatists inside Turkey, thousands of Arabs also fled the violence.

"When the planes bomb, they don't differentiate between Arabs and Kurds," said Ali Abdullah, a 30-year-old Arab who fought alongside the Kurdish-led forces.

At another school transformed into a shelter for the displaced, Najme Ahmed, 43, said she just wants to return, regardless of the looting.

"They can take everything, just leave us the walls to return to," she said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/a ... -home.html

[Anthea]

US troop enter Syrian
oil field region

The U.S. troops began arriving in Deir al-Zour province in a convoy from northern Iraq. The defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the forces will reinforce American troops in coordination with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who have teamed with the Pentagon on operations against the Islamic State for years

The additional forces will help "prevent the oil fields from falling back into the hands of ISIS or other destabilizing actors," one U.S. defense official said.

"We will not discuss details or timelines of those forces for security reasons," the official added.

News photographers in the region captured photographs that show a convoy of about a dozen vehicles rolling through the Syrian city of Qamishli, many with American flags flying on them. The majority of the vehicles were mine-resistant armored vehicles, with a few civilian trucks seemingly mixed in.

The move is the latest in a whirlwind month for the Pentagon in Syria that began with Turkey telling the United States that it would launch an offensive against Kurdish parts of northern Syria. The White House announced Oct. 6 that it would not stand in the way despite years of the Pentagon partnering with Syrian Kurds on operations against the Islamic State.

Trump decided late Oct. 13 to withdraw virtually all 1,000 troops from northern Syria, but he later was convinced by other senior U.S. officials to move some back into Syria, but farther from the Syrian border with Turkey.

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-eas ... y-1.604797

[Anthea]

UN opens second
camp in Iraq

Turkish offensive in Syria prompts exodus of tens of thousands in latest humanitarian crisis of Syria's eight-year civil war

The United Nations on Saturday opened a new section of a camp for the displaced in Iraqi Kurdistan to host refugees fleeing Turkish troops in northeast Syria.

"Around 11,000 refugees are now living in Bardarach, which is at capacity," Rashid Hussein Rashid, spokesman for the UN's refugee agency in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, told AFP. "So we opened a new section of the Gawilan camp to host 310 refugees who arrived today from Syria."

Fleeing Turkish bombs and Damascus' conscription, Syrian Kurds head to Iraq

Gawilan camp has been housing 1,850 families who fled to Iraq when conflict first erupted in neighbouring Syria in 2011. The Kurdistan region hosts more than a million displaced people, including Syrians and Iraqis, according to the UN.

Ankara and its Syrian rebel allies launched an operation on 9 October against the Kurdish People's Protection Units, which Turkey sees as a "terrorist" group for its links to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party.

The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mainly on the Kurdish side, and prompted an exodus of tens of thousands, in the latest humanitarian crisis of Syria's eight-year civil war.

Rashid said fewer than the normal number of refugees had crossed into Iraq on Saturday as Syrian government troops had moved into the area, blocking the refugees' passage.

Tom Peyre-Costa, spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Iraq, recently told MEE: “Kurdish authorities in Iraq expect to receive, on average, 1,000 refugees per week… But the humanitarian community expects much larger numbers if the escalation of violence does not stop immediately.”

The NRC has said the number of cross-border refugees may swell to as many as 50,000.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-o ... urd-influx

[Anthea]

Clashes leave 15 dead

Clashes in Western Kurdistan, Syria between pro-Ankara fighters and a force led by Syrian Kurds left 15 dead on Saturday, a monitor said, as a former UN prosecutor said Turkish leader Erdogan should be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that nine pro-Turkish fighters and six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed in a zone between the towns of Tal Tamer and Ras al-Ain.

State news agency SANA said earlier that Syrian government forces had entered the provincial borders of Ras al-Ain near Turkey's border on Saturday, an area that was taken by Turkish forces in their weeks-long offensive against Syria's Kurds. The Observatory said the Syrian government's deployment there was its largest in years.

Turkey and its Syrian proxies on 9 October launched a cross-border attack against Kurdish-held areas, grabbing a 120 km-long swathe of Syrian land along the frontier.

Erdogan and Putin agree to create 'safe zone' along Turkish border in Syria

If Erdogan wants a safe zone it should be within Turkish borders. He has NO right to invade Kurdish land

The incursion has left hundreds dead and driven 300,000 people to flee their homes in the latest humanitarian crisis in Syria's brutal eight-year war.

Turkey and Russia earlier this week struck a deal in Sochi for more Kurdish forces to withdraw from the frontier on both sides of the Turkish-held area under the supervision of Russian and Syrian forces.

On Saturday, the Britain-based Observatory said about 2,000 Syrian troops and hundreds of military vehicles were deploying around what Turkey calls its "safe zone". Government forces were accompanied by Russian military police, it said.

Moscow said earlier that 300 Russian military police had arrived in Syria to help ensure that Kurdish forces withdraw to a line 30km from the border, in keeping with the agreement.

Under the Sochi deal, Kurdish forces have until late Tuesday to withdraw from the border at either end of the Turkish-held area, before joint Turkish-Russian patrols start in a narrower 10km strip there.

Ankara eventually wants to set up a “safe zone” on Syrian soil along the entire length of its 440 km-long border, and to resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.

The SDF has objected to some provisions of the Sochi agreement and has so far maintained several of its border posts.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Saturday that Ankara would "clear terrorists" along its border if the Kurdish forces, which his country views as an offshoot of its own banned insurgency, did not withdraw by the deadline.

Meanwhile, former prosecutor and UN investigator Carla del Ponte said in an interview published on Saturday that Erdogan should be investigated and indicted for war crimes over the incursion, Reuters reported.

"For Erdogan to be able to invade Syrian territory to destroy the Kurds is unbelievable," said del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

"An investigation should be opened into him and he should be charged with war crimes," she told the Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende in an interview.

Ankara has long accused its Western allies of turning a blind eye to what it says is the serious security threat it faces from Kurdish fighters based both inside Turkey and in Syria.

Is Erdogan referring to the artificial border, used to divide traditional homeland and against the consent of the local Kurdish inhabitants

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syri ... ad-monitor

[Anthea]

Turkey is illegally deporting
Syrians into war zones

Turkey spent the months leading up to its military incursion into Western Kurdistan, Syria forcibly deporting refugees to the war-torn country, in advance of attempting to create a so-called “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border, a new Amnesty International report ‘Sent to a War Zone: Turkey’s Illegal Deportations Of Syrian Refugees’ has revealed

The organization met or spoke with refugees who said Turkish police had beaten or threatened them into signing documents stating they were asking to return to Syria, when in reality Turkey was forcing them back to a war zone and putting their lives in grave danger.

“Turkey’s claim that refugees from Syria are choosing to walk straight back into the conflict is dangerous and dishonest. Rather, our research shows that people are being tricked or forced into returning,” said Anna Shea, Researcher on Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International.

“Turkey deserves recognition for hosting more than 3.6 million women, men and children from Syria for over eight years, but it cannot use this generosity as an excuse to flout international and domestic law by deporting people to an active conflict zone.”

Without official statistics, estimating the number of forced deportations is difficult. But based on dozens of interviews conducted between July and October 2019 for the report, ‘Sent to a war zone: Turkey’s illegal deportations of Syrian refugees’, Amnesty International estimates that over the past few months the figure is likely in the hundreds. The Turkish authorities claim that a total of 315,000 people have left for Syria on an entirely voluntary basis.

It is illegal to deport people to Syria as it exposes them to a real risk of serious human rights violations

“It is chilling that Turkey’s deal with Russia this week agrees to the ‘safe and voluntary return’ of refugees to a yet to-be-established ‘safe zone.’ Returns until now have been anything but safe and voluntary – and now millions more refugees from Syria are at risk,” said Anna Shea.

Forced returns disguised as “voluntary”

The Turkish government claims that all those who return to Syria do so voluntarily, but Amnesty International’s research showed that many had been coerced or misled when signing so-called “voluntary return” documents.

Some said they were beaten or threatened with violence to force them to sign. Others were told they were signing a registration document, that it was a confirmation of having received a blanket from a detention centre, or a form that expressed their desire to remain in Turkey.

Amnesty International documented 20 verified cases of forced deportations, each of which involved people being sent across the border on buses filled with dozens of other people who were handcuffed with plastic ties and were also seemingly being forcibly deported.

Qasim*, a 39-year-old father from Aleppo, said he was detained in a Konya police station for six days, where the officers reportedly told him: “You have a choice: one or two months, or a year, in prison – or you go to Syria.”

John, a Syrian Christian, said Turkish migration officials told him: “If you ask for a lawyer we will keep you six or seven months and we will hurt you.”

He was deported after being caught by the Turkish coastguard trying to get to Greece, and said that after arriving in Syria he was detained for a week in Idlib by Jabhat al Nusra, an Islamist group linked to Al Qaeda.

“It was a miracle I got out alive,” he said.

Any interaction with Turkish police or migration officials appears to put refugees from Syria at risk of detention and deportation, such as attending an interview to renew valid documents, or being asked for identification on the street.

The most common explanation given to people for their deportation is that they are unregistered or outside their province of registration. However, even people with valid IDs for their province of residence have been deported.

The overwhelming majority of deportees appear to be adult men transported together on buses through Turkey’s Hatay province to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing in the Syrian province of Idlib.

However Kareem, a 23-year-old man from Aleppo, said he was deported from Istanbul with two children aged 15 and 16, who were unregistered. Their mothers pleaded with the authorities outside the bus while their children were inside, but military police reportedly said the boys were breaking the law because they had no IDs, and that they would therefore be deported.

Nabil, a young man with a wife and two-year-old son, told Amnesty International that he and his family were detained in Ankara in June 2019, alongside more than 100 other people. All the detainees were families except for three single men. Nabil said that after three days, they were told they were being taken to a camp in Hatay province, but instead they were all deported by bus to Idlib.

“The Turkish authorities must stop forcibly returning people to Syria and ensure that anyone who has been deported is able to re-enter Turkey safely and re-access essential services,” said Anna Shea.

“The European Union and the rest of the international community, instead of devoting their energies to keeping people seeking asylum from their territories, should dramatically increase resettlement commitments for Syrian refugees from Turkey.”

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/ ... safe-zone/