Kurdish governing authorities in Afrin, northeast Syria, condemned the Turkish government on Wednesday for enabling jihadist groups they say are responsible for killing over 40 people in a bomb blast in the city the day before.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed threats on Friday to expand his country’s military operations into northern Syrian territory controlled by the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Turkey intends to completely clear northern Syria of Kurdish militiamen from the U.S.-allied People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), considered by Ankara to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) terrorist group, Turkish officials indicated this week.
Syrian rebels pushed out of the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus by the Russian and Iranian-backed forces loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad are “reorganizing and rearming” to fight regime troops and a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, a Turkey-allied opposition group commander told Reuters this week.
Turkish authorities continue to arrest members of the U.S.-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) for responding to Ankara’s invasion of the predominantly Kurdish city of Afrin in northern Syria.
Turkish-backed paramilitary groups, working with the Syrian rebel Ahrar al-Sham militia, have reportedly taken to attacking and torturing Kurdish civilians in northern Afrin, Syria, witnesses alleged this week.
A report published Thursday alleges that Turkey-backed fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seizing, looting, and destroying property in the predominantly Kurdish region of Afrin, further fueling fears that Ankara is quietly forcing a demographic change along its border with Syria.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag said on Tuesday that it is “completely inconceivable to return Afrin back to the control of the Syrian regime” after Turkey invaded the northern border region in January.
Contents: Turkey tightens grip on Syria’s Afrin, and continues to threaten Manbij; Israel-Iran missile barrages in Syria take a pause on Thursday
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed over the weekend to launch new military operations in Syria similar to its previous offensives that targeted U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters he considers to be terrorists.
Turkey is expected to give an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as the al-Rahman Corps the police command of the Afrin region in Syria along with authority to impose Sharia, or strict Islamic laws, on the residents, which include members of the persecuted Yazidi and Christian minorities, a monitor group revealed over the weekend.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuted remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the world expects Turkey to hand northern Afrin, Syria, to the Assad regime as soon as possible, replying Tuesday that the affairs of the Turkish military are “up to us, not to Mr. Lavrov.”
Russia expects Ankara to hand over the Afrin region Turkey seized from U.S.-allied Kurds in Syria to the Moscow and Iranian-backed regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this weekend.
The Pentagon refused to confirm the accuracy of media reports that the United States military is intensifying its presence in northern Syria’s Manbij region, only indicating that the U.S. is engaged in talks with Turkey to de-escalate the tensions in the area in a statement to Breitbart News Wednesday.
The United States is contemplating boosting its military footprint in northern Syria where America’s NATO partner Turkey is on the brink of seizing more territory from U.S.-allied Kurds.
The United States is reportedly increasing its presence in northern Syria’s Manbij region against the possibility of clashes between American allies Turkey and Kurdish forces.
Contents: Tense Turkey-EU summit in Bulgaria once again ends in failure; Other unresolved issues from the EU-Turkey summit meeting
Turkey insists it has reached an agreement to work with the United States to bring the fight to Manbij, Syria, as part of its post-Afrin efforts to expand its aggressive military operation to other Kurdish-held areas further east and into Iraq if necessary.
Turkey-linked jihadists from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and al-Qaeda are taking advantage of the Ankara offensive in the besieged Afrin region in northwestern Syria to slaughter Christians and Yazidis, caution several activists.
Contents: Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board overwhelmed by migrants crossing border from US; Turkey achieves victory in Afrin, Syria, but Kurds threaten guerilla war
Turkish troops fighting to conquer the Kurdish-held region of Afrin in Syria are committing “war crimes” against Yazidis and Christians that mirror the “ethnic cleansing and genocide” in the region at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), declared a top United Nations envoy.
This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com Concerns grow of humanitarian disaster in Afrin, Syria, as Turkey’s forces enter Silence from North Korea puts Kim-Trump summit in doubt Concerns grow of humanitarian disaster in Afrin, Syria, as Turkey’s forces enter Syrians
The Turkish government entered Afrin city this week, the main population center of the eponymous Syrian Kurdish province, fueling fears of artificially imposed “demographic change” meant to displace local Kurds and replace them with Arabs and Turkmen.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters this weekend that the United States had reached a “common understanding” with Turkey for a plan to expel its allies, the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), from northern Manbij, Syria.
Contents: Socialists and feminists to act as ‘human shields’ protecting Kurds from Turkey in Afrin Syria; US cuts back operations in Incirlik as Turkey-NATO relations sour
An estimated 1,700 Syrian Arabs have abandoned the frontlines against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to assist the Kurds in their fight against Turkey in northern Syria as Ankara claims to have seized “nearly half” of the Afrin region.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claimed on Wednesday that Turkey wants its military operation against Syrian Kurds to end as soon as possible, preferably before May, so that the Afrin region can “quickly embrace stability and civilians can return.”
Kurdish and Arab fighters have abandoned the U.S.-backed fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to help their friends and families repel a Turkish offensive reportedly assisted by Syrian rebels seeking to take revenge on the Kurds.
Contents: US-backed Kurds stop fighting ISIS in order to fight Turkey in Afrin; Reports of Free Syrian Army atrocities on Kurds in Afrin; Mahmoud Abbas may step down as Palestinian Authority president
Contents: Turkey suffers military setback in ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin Syria; Turkey doubles down on Afrin-Manbij operation, despite US opposition
Contents: Russia’s ‘humanitarian pause’ in Syria turns into farce on first day; Report: North Korea is selling chemical weapons supplies to Syria; Areas of control in Syria and Iraq
The U.S. military denies having a “direct relationship” with members of a Kurdish militia under attack from Turkey in Syria’s Afrin region despite acknowledging they have “familial ties” to the very same Kurds who helped the U.S.-led coalition bring the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to its knees in the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding a televised rally for his AKP party on Saturday to build support for his military incursion into Syria when he noticed a girl of about five years old wearing a military uniform in the audience.
The Syrian government’s SANA news outlet reports that unspecified “popular forces” supporting dictator Bashar al-Assad have arrived in the northern province of Afrin, currently under invasion by the Turkish military.
“Hundreds” of Iranian-allied Shiite troops loyal to the Russian-backed dictator Bashar al-Assad joined the U.S.-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin to defend the territorial unity of Syria and its borders, the Kurds in the region reportedly confirmed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday that the Turkish military would invade and “besiege” the heart of Afrin city Syria “in the coming days,” threatening to turn “Operation Olive Branch” into a devastating urban conflict.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has defiantly vowed that the Russian- and Iranian-backed military loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad will fail to stop the ongoing Turkey-led offensive against the Kurdish-held Afrin region in northern Syria.
Contents: Turkey gets bogged down with military ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin, Syria; Syria says it will send its ‘popular forces’ to support the YPG against Turkey in Afrin
Turkey’s foreign minister dismissed allegations the country used chemical weapons against the Kurds in northern Syria’s Afrin region as fake news disseminated by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) organization, arguing that Turkey is taking the utmost precautions to avoid hurting noncombatants.
The government of dictator Bashar al-Assad confirmed on Monday that it would send Syrian military troops into Afrin to fight against the Turkish military, which invaded the northern province last month.
