Turkey pounds Syrian border towns, sparking exodus

Agence France-Presse

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Turkey pounds Syrian border towns, sparking exodus

AFP

(UPDATED) 'There is heavy fighting between the [Syrian Democratic Forces] and the Turks on different fronts, mostly from Tal Abyad to Ras al-Ain,' the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says

RAS AL-AIN, Syria (UPDATED) – Turkey pressed its deadly offensive against Kurdish targets in Syria on Friday, October 11, as it battled to seize key border towns on the third day of an operation that has forced thousands of civilians to flee.

President Donald Trump, whose order to pull back US troops from the border this week effectively triggered the intervention, said Washington would now seek to broker a truce.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper for his part “strongly encouraged Turkey to discontinue actions in northeastern Syria” as a prelude to negotiations, a Pentagon statement said.

The third such Turkish operation since the start of the war in Syria, was met with fierce international condemnation over what many saw as the blatant betrayal of a faithful ally.

The Kurdish forces targeted by Turkey were the US-led coalition’s main ground partner in years of battle against the Islamic State group and its now-defunct “caliphate.”

In Al-Hol, a camp holding relatives of ISIS suspects which lies outside the area targeted by Turkey, women started riots Friday that Kurdish forces swiftly put down.

The risk that thousands of the jihadists they still hold could break free on the back of the Turkish assault could yet spur the international community into action.

But as the offensive went into its third day, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were fending for themselves, trying to repulse multiple ground attacks along a roughly 120 kilometer (75 mile) long segment of the border. (READ:  Civilians flee as Syria Kurds battle Turkish invasion)

“There is heavy fighting between the SDF and the Turks on different fronts, mostly from Tal Abyad to Ras al-Ain,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based war monitor said the Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies – mostly Sunni Arab ex-rebels – were deploying air strikes, heavy artillery and rocket fire.

Exodus

The monitor said 4 civilians were killed in Tal Abyad when an air strike hit the car in which they were fleeing the fighting, while another 3 were shot dead by snipers around the border town.

That brings the civilian death toll to 17 on the Syrian side, while 7 have also been killed in Turkey.

According to the Observatory, 41 SDF fighters have also been killed while Turkey has reported the death of only one soldier.

Outgunned Kurdish forces were putting up stiff resistance but experts predict they will not hold out very long without outside assistance.

The Observatory and a Kurdish military source said several Arab families in the border area had sided with Turkey, raising sleeper cells to attack from behind SDF lines.

An Agence France-Presse correspondent in the Ras al-Ain area said new units of Syrian former rebels were being brought in to break Kurdish resistance.

Ras al-Ain, Tal Abyad and other border towns between them have been almost emptied of their population in a huge wave of displacement.

Most of the 70,000 people the United Nations confirmed had been displaced travelled east towards the city of Hasakeh, which has not been targeted by Turkey.

“What does Erdogan want from us?” asked one woman, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as she and her family settled in a school the local authorities had turned into an emergency shelter.

“Is it all simply because we are Kurds?”

Erdogan wants to create a buffer between the border and territory controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces, who have links with Turkey’s own Kurdish rebels.

He also plans to use the strip, which he envisions will be about 30 kilometers deep and is mostly Arab, as an area in which to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees who live on Turkish soil.

Ceasefire?

The violence was wreaking havoc across northeast Syria.

One charity closed down a hospital it supported in Tal Abyad because the staff had fled and shelling led the Kurdish authorities to transfer an entire camp of people who had been displaced earlier in the Syrian war.

Aid groups have warned of yet another humanitarian disaster in Syria’s eight-year-old war if the offensive was not stopped.

France, which was the United States’ top partner in the anti-ISIS coalition, has threatened sanctions against NATO member Turkey.

Turkey is still far from having reached the goals of its military invasion but the risk appears to be growing that detained ISIS fighters could break free.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he doubted Turkey would be able to ensure ISISIS prisoners stay behind bars.

“I’m not sure whether the Turkish army will be able to take this under control – and how soon,” he said. “This is a real threat to us.”

A car bomb went off Friday in Qamishli, one of the main towns in the Kurdish region, killing at least three civilians and wounding 9 people, officials said.

The attack targeted a restaurant in the town center, the security services said. An official blamed the attack on ISIS although the group did not immediately claim responsibility.

France called for a meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition to discuss growing fears that the jihadist organization could regroup if Turkey’s invasion creates a security vacuum.

According to the Kurdish administration, some 12,000 men are held in 7 detention centers across Kurdish-controlled areas.

The US already plucked two of the most high-profile ISIS jihadists to have been captured alive and spirited them out of Syria. – Rappler.com

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