A convoy carrying wounded and fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces left the Turkish-besieged Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain on Sunday, an AFP reporter and a war monitor said.

The reporter saw at least 50 vehicles including ambulances leaving the town hospital and flames erupt from the medical facility shortly after their departure.

Dozens of fighters in military attire left on pickups, passing by checkpoints manned by Ankara-allied Syrian fighters, the reporter said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor with sources inside Syria, said the ambulances were transporting wounded civilians and fighters.

Ankara launched a cross-border attack against Syria's Kurds on October 9 after the United States announced a military pullout from the north of the war-torn country.

A US-brokered ceasefire was announced late Thursday, giving Kurdish forces until Tuesday evening to withdraw from a long "safe zone" Ankara wants to create along its southern frontier including Ras al-Ain.

There was no immediate official confirmation of any full SDF withdrawal from the border town, which is surrounded by Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies.

But a Kurdish source&nbsp;said there was "plan to withdraw" from the border town.

Near the hospital, a pro-Turkey commander said he had received information about a full withdrawal of SDF fighters and the wounded.

"It will happen in several waves," he said, adding "a large number" of SDF combattants remained inside the town.

A convoy carrying wounded and fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces left the Turkish-besieged Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain on Sunday, an AFP reporter and a war monitor said.

A convoy carrying wounded and fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces left the Turkish-besieged Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain on Sunday, an AFP reporter and a war monitor said. The reporter saw at least 50 vehicles including ambulances leaving the town hospital and flames erupt from the medical facility shortly after their departure. Dozens of fighters in military attire left on pickups, passing by checkpoints manned by Ankara-allied Syrian fighters, the reporter said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor with sources inside Syria, said the ambulances were transporting wounded civilians and fighters. Ankara launched a cross-border attack against Syria's Kurds on October 9 after the United States announced a military pullout from the north of the war-torn country. A US-brokered ceasefire was announced late Thursday, giving Kurdish forces until Tuesday evening to withdraw from a long "safe zone" Ankara wants to create along its southern frontier including Ras al-Ain. There was no immediate official confirmation of any full SDF withdrawal from the border town, which is surrounded by Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies. But a Kurdish source said there was "plan to withdraw" from the border town. Near the hospital, a pro-Turkey commander said he had received information about a full withdrawal of SDF fighters and the wounded. "It will happen in several waves," he said, adding "a large number" of SDF combattants remained inside the town.

Kurdish fighters, wounded leave besieged Syrian town Ras al-Ain

Turkey is sabotaging a United States-brokered ceasefire deal by preventing Kurdish forces from evacuating a flashpoint border town in northeastern Syria, the top Kurdish commander told AFP Saturday.

"The Turks are preventing the withdrawal from the Ras al-Ain area, preventing the exit of our forces, the wounded and civilians," Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in a phone interview.

Kurdish forces have resumed military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria, their commander told AFP on Saturday, three days after a Turkish invasion prompted them to announce their suspension.

"We have restarted military action against IS cells in Deir Ezzor. Our forces are working there with the coalition forces," Mazloum Abdi said in a phone interview.

Recently,&nbsp;President&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-plans-presence-across-northeast-syria-says-erdogan-256798">Recep Tayyip Erdogan</a>&nbsp;on Saturday warned that Turkey would "crush the heads" of Kurdish forces if they did not withdraw from a proposed safe zone along the border under a US-brokered deal.

If the pullout does not happen by Tuesday evening, "we will start where we left off and continue to crush the terrorists' heads," Erdogan said in a televised speech in central Anatolian city of Kayseri.

Turkey has agreed to suspend its Syria offensive for five days and to end the assault if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from the proposed safe zone away from the border, after talks with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara.

Additionally, Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/terrorists-carried-out-14-attacks-in-last-36-hours-turkey-accuses-syrian-kurd-forces-of-violating-ceasefire-256875">&nbsp;United States-brokered truce in northeastern Syria</a>&nbsp;even as it appeared to be taking hold on its second day Saturday.

The deal announced late Thursday is intended to halt a Turkish-led offensive against Kurdish forces launched on October 9, on condition they pull out of a "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkey is sabotaging a United States-brokered ceasefire deal by preventing Kurdish forces from evacuating a flashpoint border town in northeastern Syria, the top Kurdish commander told AFP Saturday.

Turkey is sabotaging a United States-brokered ceasefire deal by preventing Kurdish forces from evacuating a flashpoint border town in northeastern Syria, the top Kurdish commander told AFP Saturday. "The Turks are preventing the withdrawal from the Ras al-Ain area, preventing the exit of our forces, the wounded and civilians," Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in a phone interview. Kurdish forces have resumed military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria, their commander told AFP on Saturday, three days after a Turkish invasion prompted them to announce their suspension. "We have restarted military action against IS cells in Deir Ezzor. Our forces are working there with the coalition forces," Mazloum Abdi said in a phone interview. Recently, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned that Turkey would "crush the heads" of Kurdish forces if they did not withdraw from a proposed safe zone along the border under a US-brokered deal. If the pullout does not happen by Tuesday evening, "we will start where we left off and continue to crush the terrorists' heads," Erdogan said in a televised speech in central Anatolian city of Kayseri. Turkey has agreed to suspend its Syria offensive for five days and to end the assault if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from the proposed safe zone away from the border, after talks with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara. Additionally, Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a United States-brokered truce in northeastern Syria even as it appeared to be taking hold on its second day Saturday. The deal announced late Thursday is intended to halt a Turkish-led offensive against Kurdish forces launched on October 9, on condition they pull out of a "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkey is blocking border evacuation; Kurdish forces have begun anti-Islamic State action: Commander

Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/terrorists-carried-out-14-attacks-in-last-36-hours-turkey-accuses-syrian-kurd-forces-of-violating-ceasefire-256875"> United States-brokered truce in northeastern Syria</a> even as it appeared to be taking hold on its second day Saturday.

The deal announced late Thursday is intended to halt a Turkish-led offensive against Kurdish forces launched on October 9, on condition they pull out of a "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mainly on the Kurdish side, and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in the latest humanitarian crisis of Syria's eight-year civil war.

On Saturday, Turkey accused Kurdish forces of violating the truce.

"The Turkish armed forces fully abide by the agreement" reached on Thursday with the United States, the defence ministry said in a statement.

"Despite this, terrorists... carried out a total of 14 attacks in the last 36 hours," it said, using its usual term for Kurdish fighters.

The ministry said 12 of the attacks came in&nbsp;the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain, one in Tal Abyad and another in the Tal Tamr area.

Heavy weapons fell silent in Ras al-Ain after sporadic clashes on Friday evening, an AFP correspondent reported.

Turkish troops and its Syrian rebel proxies seized part of the town on Thursday, hitting a hospital.

Turkey wants to push Kurdish fighters away from its southern border by establishing a 30 kilometre&nbsp;deep "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the frontier.

A Britain-based war monitor said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had yet to start pulling back on Saturday.

"The SDF has not withdrawn until now from any point," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

'Evacuate the wounded'

SDF commander Redur Khalil said deadly bombardments by Turkey's forces on Friday were a major breach of the truce and called on Washington to ensure Ankara honoured its side of the deal.

On Friday, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-plans-presence-across-northeast-syria-says-erdogan-256798">Turkish airstrikes and mortar fire by allied Syrian fighters killed 14 civilians</a>&nbsp;in and around the village of Bab al-Kheir, the Observatory said.

"The Turkish side is not committing to the ceasefire and is not allowing the opening of a security corridor to evacuate the wounded and besieged civilians from Ras al-Ain," Khalil told AFP.

"The US side bears responsibility for the non-compliance as it is the guarantor and mediator of the ceasefire."

The Observatory said at least 32 wounded people&nbsp;in Ras al-Ain, mostly fighters, were in need of immediate treatment Saturday but an evacuation convoy could not reach them.

Six SDF fighters had died of their wounds during the morning, the monitor added.

The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies, mostly Arab and Turkmen former rebels used as a ground force, have so far seized around 120 kilometres&nbsp;of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Syria's Kurds had been a key partner in the US-backed battle against the Islamic State group in Syria, overrunning the last remnant of their self-proclaimed "caliphate" in March.

But earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw US troops from northern Syria, in a move that was seen as green-lighting a Turkish attack.

The move has come under widespread criticism, even from within Trump's own Republican party.

It has sparked concerns that thousands of IS suspects and their family members in Kurdish custody could break out and bring about a resurgence of the extremist group.

'Strategic nightmare'

US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called Trump's decision "a strategic nightmare".

"Withdrawing US forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake," McConnell wrote in The Washington Post.

"It will leave the American people and homeland less safe, embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances."

US Vice President Mike Pence brokered the ceasefire deal on a visit to Turkey this week.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who accompanied Pence to Ankara, said in an interview with Politico he was "confident" the ceasefire would take hold.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/deadly-turkey-air-strikes-shatter-north-east-syria-truce-256721">The suspension of hostilities looked designed to help Turkey</a> achieve its main territorial goals without fighting.

But Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the same day that he would resume a full-out offensive if Kurdish forces did not pull back.

Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a United States-brokered truce in northeastern Syria even as it appeared to be taking hold on its second day Saturday.

Turkish and Kurdish leaders accused each other of violating a United States-brokered truce in northeastern Syria even as it appeared to be taking hold on its second day Saturday. The deal announced late Thursday is intended to halt a Turkish-led offensive against Kurdish forces launched on October 9, on condition they pull out of a "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border. The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mainly on the Kurdish side, and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in the latest humanitarian crisis of Syria's eight-year civil war. On Saturday, Turkey accused Kurdish forces of violating the truce. "The Turkish armed forces fully abide by the agreement" reached on Thursday with the United States, the defence ministry said in a statement. "Despite this, terrorists... carried out a total of 14 attacks in the last 36 hours," it said, using its usual term for Kurdish fighters. The ministry said 12 of the attacks came in the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain, one in Tal Abyad and another in the Tal Tamr area. Heavy weapons fell silent in Ras al-Ain after sporadic clashes on Friday evening, an AFP correspondent reported. Turkish troops and its Syrian rebel proxies seized part of the town on Thursday, hitting a hospital. Turkey wants to push Kurdish fighters away from its southern border by establishing a 30 kilometre deep "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the frontier. A Britain-based war monitor said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had yet to start pulling back on Saturday. "The SDF has not withdrawn until now from any point," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 'Evacuate the wounded' SDF commander Redur Khalil said deadly bombardments by Turkey's forces on Friday were a major breach of the truce and called on Washington to ensure Ankara honoured its side of the deal. On Friday, Turkish airstrikes and mortar fire by allied Syrian fighters killed 14 civilians in and around the village of Bab al-Kheir, the Observatory said. "The Turkish side is not committing to the ceasefire and is not allowing the opening of a security corridor to evacuate the wounded and besieged civilians from Ras al-Ain," Khalil told AFP. "The US side bears responsibility for the non-compliance as it is the guarantor and mediator of the ceasefire." The Observatory said at least 32 wounded people in Ras al-Ain, mostly fighters, were in need of immediate treatment Saturday but an evacuation convoy could not reach them. Six SDF fighters had died of their wounds during the morning, the monitor added. The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies, mostly Arab and Turkmen former rebels used as a ground force, have so far seized around 120 kilometres of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border. Syria's Kurds had been a key partner in the US-backed battle against the Islamic State group in Syria, overrunning the last remnant of their self-proclaimed "caliphate" in March. But earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw US troops from northern Syria, in a move that was seen as green-lighting a Turkish attack. The move has come under widespread criticism, even from within Trump's own Republican party. It has sparked concerns that thousands of IS suspects and their family members in Kurdish custody could break out and bring about a resurgence of the extremist group. 'Strategic nightmare' US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called Trump's decision "a strategic nightmare". "Withdrawing US forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake," McConnell wrote in The Washington Post. "It will leave the American people and homeland less safe, embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances." US Vice President Mike Pence brokered the ceasefire deal on a visit to Turkey this week. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who accompanied Pence to Ankara, said in an interview with Politico he was "confident" the ceasefire would take hold. The suspension of hostilities looked designed to help Turkey achieve its main territorial goals without fighting. But Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the same day that he would resume a full-out offensive if Kurdish forces did not pull back.

Turkey, Kurds trade accusations even as Syria truce takes hold

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he allowed<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-agrees-with-us-to-pause-syria-assault-while-kurds-withdraw-256571"> Turkish and Kurdish forces to clash</a> in deadly battle because the two sides were like children who needed to fight each other.

"It was unconventional what I did. I said they're going to have to fight a little while," Trump told a rally of supporters in Texas.

"Like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then you pull them apart.

"They fought for a few days and it was pretty vicious."

Trump triggered the week-long Turkish offensive against the Kurds by withdrawing US troops from northeast Syria.

More than 500 people have been killed including dozens of civilians, mostly on the Kurdish side, and 300,000 civilians have been displaced within Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

Trump stressed that "not one drop of American blood" was shed.

On Thursday, Turkey -- after talks with US Vice President Mike Pence -- agreed to suspend its offensive and to end the assault if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from a safe zone along the border.

"We went there and we said we want a pause, and the Kurds have been terrific. They're going to move back a little bit," Trump said.

"We are going to keep ISIS (the Islamic State group) nice and locked up. We are going to find more of them, and Turkey is all set."

Trump has faced accusations even from usually loyal supporters that his withdrawal of 1,000 US troops betrayed Kurdish militants who bore the brunt of the fight against Islamic State in recent years.

Brett McGurk, former presidential special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, described Trump's remarks about "two kids" fighting as "obscene and ignorant."

"200k innocent people displaced. Hundreds dead. Credible reports of war crimes. ISIS prisoners escaping. US evacuating and bombing its own positions or handing them to Russia. Two kids in a lot?" he said on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he allowed Turkish and Kurdish forces to clash in deadly battle because the two sides were like children who needed to fight each other.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he allowed Turkish and Kurdish forces to clash in deadly battle because the two sides were like children who needed to fight each other. "It was unconventional what I did. I said they're going to have to fight a little while," Trump told a rally of supporters in Texas. "Like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then you pull them apart. "They fought for a few days and it was pretty vicious." Trump triggered the week-long Turkish offensive against the Kurds by withdrawing US troops from northeast Syria. More than 500 people have been killed including dozens of civilians, mostly on the Kurdish side, and 300,000 civilians have been displaced within Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. Trump stressed that "not one drop of American blood" was shed. On Thursday, Turkey -- after talks with US Vice President Mike Pence -- agreed to suspend its offensive and to end the assault if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from a safe zone along the border. "We went there and we said we want a pause, and the Kurds have been terrific. They're going to move back a little bit," Trump said. "We are going to keep ISIS (the Islamic State group) nice and locked up. We are going to find more of them, and Turkey is all set." Trump has faced accusations even from usually loyal supporters that his withdrawal of 1,000 US troops betrayed Kurdish militants who bore the brunt of the fight against Islamic State in recent years. Brett McGurk, former presidential special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, described Trump's remarks about "two kids" fighting as "obscene and ignorant." "200k innocent people displaced. Hundreds dead. Credible reports of war crimes. ISIS prisoners escaping. US evacuating and bombing its own positions or handing them to Russia. Two kids in a lot?" he said on Twitter.

Trump says Turkey and Kurds needed to fight 'like two kids'

Turkey agreed with the United States to suspend its deadly offensive in northern Syria, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promising to end the assault if Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone" along the border.

From Ankara's point of view, this would allow Erdogan to kill two birds with one stone -- easing its refugee burden and pushing Kurdish militants away from Turkey's southern border.

Thursday's agreement on a 120-hour suspension came just over week after Ankara launched its cross-border operation against the Kurdish YPG militia on October 9.

Experts say Turkey still wants a "safe zone" on the same terms proposed before, while others argue it is difficult for Ankara to physically establish the area.

- What is the 'safe zone'? -

Before launching the operation, the Turkish government said it wanted a zone that would be 30 kilometres deep and run over 400 kilometres (300 miles) along northern Syria.

Erdogan has previously said this zone would then allow two to three million Syrian refugees to return to their country.&nbsp;

The issue has become a priority for the Turkish leader, who has faced a growing popular backlash over the presence of 3.6 million Syrian refugees in the country -- the highest number in the world.

The new zone would also be a buffer area against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a Western-allied fighting force which has played a key role in the battle against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.

Ankara sees the YPG as a dangerous offshoot of what it considers Kurdish "terrorists" in Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) behind a decades-long insurgency against the state.

The "safe zone" was first publicly mooted earlier this year by President Donald Trump in a subsequently failed bid to stop Erdogan launching his operation.

US Vice President Mike Pence said after talks with Erdogan on Thursday that the YPG would withdraw "outside the 20-mile mark" but did not give further details.

- What has changed? -

James Jeffrey, the US special representative on Syria, said the status on the ground had now changed since Turkish forces entered Syria with their Syrian proxies.

"What we have now is a different situation where the Turks have pushed down to that 30 kilometre level in a central part of the northeast and they're still fighting in there," he said on board Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's plane on Thursday.

"The YPG elements in these areas that the Turks control will withdraw south of that area. That's basically the 30-kilometre area which is also the roads M4, M10," he said.

Turkish media have reported that Ankara aims to take control of a swathe of territory 120 kilometres (75 miles) long and 30 kilometres deep into Syria, up to the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain.&nbsp;

Tal Abyad was captured last week by Turkey and its proxy forces but clashes continue in Ras al-Ain.

Turkey still wanted any final "safe zone" to be 444 kilometres long, Erdogan told reporters on Friday.

Hasan Unal, foreign policy analyst at Istanbul's Maltepe University, said the zone first proposed by Turkey remained Ankara's goal which includes the northern Syrian city of Manbij, the town of Kobane and the area up to the Iraq border to the east.

But this might prove difficult since Syrian regime forces have entered Manbij and Kobane after a deal with the Kurds, who sought protection from the Turkish assault.

Unal said it was likely the United States would "keep coming with different interpretations of the compromise", pointing to previous US-Turkey agreements in northern Syria.

In August, American and Turkish officials agreed to set up a buffer zone on the Turkey-Syria border but Ankara was unhappy with the lack of concrete developments.

However, Unal said future developments in Syria involving Turkey depended on the outcome of the meeting between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin next Tuesday.

"What might happen with regards to Turkish action in northeast Syria, Turkish-Syrian relations, with regard to Turkish attitudes towards a new Syria seems to largely depend on that (meeting)," he said, adding that no "miracle" should be expected.

- Can it really be set up? -

According to Anthony Skinner, director at the risk assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft, too many unanswered questions remained over Ankara's ability to control the zone.

"Turkey has not been able to secure the funding it wants to be able to develop the infrastructure for this resettlement programme to succeed," he told AFP.

And, Skinner added, "it is unclear how a sufficiently robust non-Turkish force could be sustained on the ground in the longer term to keep the peace at a local level".

Syria expert Fabrice Balanche said last month that it would not be possible to send three million people to the proposed region because the liveable area was "limited". 
&nbsp;

Turkey agreed with the United States to suspend its deadly offensive in northern Syria, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promising to end the assault if Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone" along the border.

Turkey agreed with the United States to suspend its deadly offensive in northern Syria, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promising to end the assault if Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone" along the border. From Ankara's point of view, this would allow Erdogan to kill two birds with one stone -- easing its refugee burden and pushing Kurdish militants away from Turkey's southern border. Thursday's agreement on a 120-hour suspension came just over week after Ankara launched its cross-border operation against the Kurdish YPG militia on October 9. Experts say Turkey still wants a "safe zone" on the same terms proposed before, while others argue it is difficult for Ankara to physically establish the area. - What is the 'safe zone'? - Before launching the operation, the Turkish government said it wanted a zone that would be 30 kilometres deep and run over 400 kilometres (300 miles) along northern Syria. Erdogan has previously said this zone would then allow two to three million Syrian refugees to return to their country. The issue has become a priority for the Turkish leader, who has faced a growing popular backlash over the presence of 3.6 million Syrian refugees in the country -- the highest number in the world. The new zone would also be a buffer area against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a Western-allied fighting force which has played a key role in the battle against the Islamic State group and other jihadists. Ankara sees the YPG as a dangerous offshoot of what it considers Kurdish "terrorists" in Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) behind a decades-long insurgency against the state. The "safe zone" was first publicly mooted earlier this year by President Donald Trump in a subsequently failed bid to stop Erdogan launching his operation. US Vice President Mike Pence said after talks with Erdogan on Thursday that the YPG would withdraw "outside the 20-mile mark" but did not give further details. - What has changed? - James Jeffrey, the US special representative on Syria, said the status on the ground had now changed since Turkish forces entered Syria with their Syrian proxies. "What we have now is a different situation where the Turks have pushed down to that 30 kilometre level in a central part of the northeast and they're still fighting in there," he said on board Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's plane on Thursday. "The YPG elements in these areas that the Turks control will withdraw south of that area. That's basically the 30-kilometre area which is also the roads M4, M10," he said. Turkish media have reported that Ankara aims to take control of a swathe of territory 120 kilometres (75 miles) long and 30 kilometres deep into Syria, up to the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain. Tal Abyad was captured last week by Turkey and its proxy forces but clashes continue in Ras al-Ain. Turkey still wanted any final "safe zone" to be 444 kilometres long, Erdogan told reporters on Friday. Hasan Unal, foreign policy analyst at Istanbul's Maltepe University, said the zone first proposed by Turkey remained Ankara's goal which includes the northern Syrian city of Manbij, the town of Kobane and the area up to the Iraq border to the east. But this might prove difficult since Syrian regime forces have entered Manbij and Kobane after a deal with the Kurds, who sought protection from the Turkish assault. Unal said it was likely the United States would "keep coming with different interpretations of the compromise", pointing to previous US-Turkey agreements in northern Syria. In August, American and Turkish officials agreed to set up a buffer zone on the Turkey-Syria border but Ankara was unhappy with the lack of concrete developments. However, Unal said future developments in Syria involving Turkey depended on the outcome of the meeting between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin next Tuesday. "What might happen with regards to Turkish action in northeast Syria, Turkish-Syrian relations, with regard to Turkish attitudes towards a new Syria seems to largely depend on that (meeting)," he said, adding that no "miracle" should be expected. - Can it really be set up? - According to Anthony Skinner, director at the risk assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft, too many unanswered questions remained over Ankara's ability to control the zone. "Turkey has not been able to secure the funding it wants to be able to develop the infrastructure for this resettlement programme to succeed," he told AFP. And, Skinner added, "it is unclear how a sufficiently robust non-Turkish force could be sustained on the ground in the longer term to keep the peace at a local level". Syria expert Fabrice Balanche said last month that it would not be possible to send three million people to the proposed region because the liveable area was "limited".

What is the 'safe zone' Turkey wants in Syria?

Airstrikes by Turkey and mortar fire by its proxies killed nine more civilians near a flashpoint town in northeastern Syria, bringing Friday's civilian death toll to 14, a monitor said.

"Air strikes and mortar rounds Friday killed 14 civilians... in Bab el-Kheir and nearby villages," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/shelling-heard-around-syrian-town-after-turkish-us-ceasefire-deal-256640">Deadly Turkish airstrikes </a>shattered an hours-old US-brokered deal to stop Ankara's military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.

The <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-agrees-with-us-to-pause-syria-assault-while-kurds-withdraw-256571">ceasefire announced late Thursday</a> was meant to provide a pause for the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain and other areas Turkey wants to control along its border with Syria.

The five-day suspension looked designed to help Turkey achieve its main territorial goals without fighting but its Syrian proxies continued to clash with Kurdish fighters Friday.

The Britain-based war monitor said four fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces -- the de facto army of the embattled Kurdish autonomous region -- were killed in the strike.

The incident took place even as a 200-vehicle convoy headed towards Ras al-Ain to evacuate civilians who have been virtually besieged there since the start of Turkey's cross-border assault on October 9.

Mustefa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, said Turkey was clearly violating the terms of the agreement reached during a Thursday visit to Ankara by US Vice President Mike Pence.

- Violation -

"Despite the agreement to halt the fighting, air and artillery attacks continue to target the positions of fighters, civilian settlements and the hospital" in Ras al-Ain, he said.

Under the deal, Kurdish forces are required to withdraw from a border strip 32 kilometres (20 miles) deep, clearing the way for a "safe zone" sought by Turkey.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had said they were ready to abide by the ceasefire in border territory between Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad to its west.

The Turkish offensive was sparked by US President Donald Trump's announcement of an American withdrawal from northern Syria, leading critics to accuse him of betraying Washington's Kurdish allies.

On Thursday evening, Trump said he allowed the two sides to fight for a few days before brokering a truce as they were like "kids in a lot".

The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies -- mostly Arab and Turkmen former rebels used as a ground force -- have so far seized around 120 kilometres (70 miles) of territory along the border.

More than 500 people have been killed on the two sides, including nearly 100 civilians, while around 300,000 have been displaced, according to the Observatory.

- Hospital surrounded -

Kurdish forces have put up fierce resistance in Ras al-Ain, with a network of tunnels, berms and trenches that held off the Turkish onslaught for a week.

Ankara considers the Kurdish forces to be "terrorists" linked to Kurdish rebels inside Turkey.

Turkish forces and their allies had taken control of half of Ras al-Ain on Thursday when its hospital was hit, trapping patients and staff inside, Abdel Rahman said.&nbsp;

Kurdish authorities sent a medical team to rescue the wounded but it was prevented from entering the town, said Hassan Amin, a director of the hospital in nearby Tal Tamr.

"The situation of the wounded is critical and the number is high," he said, adding that seven wounded people from around Ras al-Ain were however evacuated to Tal Tamr.

- 'War crimes' -

Trump has come under sustained criticism in Washington over his handling of the crisis, not only from Democrats but from within his own Republican Party.&nbsp;

The SDF fought alongside US forces to defeat the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq, but Trump argued it was no longer the US role to ensure calm in the region.

Thousands of IS fighters and their families are held in Kurdish-run jails across northern Syria.

The prospect of thousands of the world's most radical jihadists breaking out in the chaos caused by Turkey's invasion is causing widespread alarm.

The Turkish offensive has also been widely criticised, with videos surfacing online allegedly showing captured fighters and civilians being executed.

On Friday, Amnesty International accused Ankara's forces and their proxies of "serious violations and war crimes, summary killings and unlawful attacks".

There was no immediate response from Ankara, which says all possible measures have been taken to avoid civilian casualties.

Trump welcomed the temporary ceasefire Thursday, but later compared the warring parties to children.

"Like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then you pull them apart," Trump told a rally in Dallas, Texas.

Brett McGurk, former presidential special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, described Trump's remarks as "obscene and ignorant".

Airstrikes by Turkey and mortar fire by its proxies killed nine more civilians near a flashpoint town in northeastern Syria, bringing Friday's civilian death toll to 14, a monitor said.

Airstrikes by Turkey and mortar fire by its proxies killed nine more civilians near a flashpoint town in northeastern Syria, bringing Friday's civilian death toll to 14, a monitor said. "Air strikes and mortar rounds Friday killed 14 civilians... in Bab el-Kheir and nearby villages," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Deadly Turkish airstrikes shattered an hours-old US-brokered deal to stop Ankara's military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. The ceasefire announced late Thursday was meant to provide a pause for the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain and other areas Turkey wants to control along its border with Syria. The five-day suspension looked designed to help Turkey achieve its main territorial goals without fighting but its Syrian proxies continued to clash with Kurdish fighters Friday. The Britain-based war monitor said four fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces -- the de facto army of the embattled Kurdish autonomous region -- were killed in the strike. The incident took place even as a 200-vehicle convoy headed towards Ras al-Ain to evacuate civilians who have been virtually besieged there since the start of Turkey's cross-border assault on October 9. Mustefa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, said Turkey was clearly violating the terms of the agreement reached during a Thursday visit to Ankara by US Vice President Mike Pence. - Violation - "Despite the agreement to halt the fighting, air and artillery attacks continue to target the positions of fighters, civilian settlements and the hospital" in Ras al-Ain, he said. Under the deal, Kurdish forces are required to withdraw from a border strip 32 kilometres (20 miles) deep, clearing the way for a "safe zone" sought by Turkey. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had said they were ready to abide by the ceasefire in border territory between Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad to its west. The Turkish offensive was sparked by US President Donald Trump's announcement of an American withdrawal from northern Syria, leading critics to accuse him of betraying Washington's Kurdish allies. On Thursday evening, Trump said he allowed the two sides to fight for a few days before brokering a truce as they were like "kids in a lot". The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies -- mostly Arab and Turkmen former rebels used as a ground force -- have so far seized around 120 kilometres (70 miles) of territory along the border. More than 500 people have been killed on the two sides, including nearly 100 civilians, while around 300,000 have been displaced, according to the Observatory. - Hospital surrounded - Kurdish forces have put up fierce resistance in Ras al-Ain, with a network of tunnels, berms and trenches that held off the Turkish onslaught for a week. Ankara considers the Kurdish forces to be "terrorists" linked to Kurdish rebels inside Turkey. Turkish forces and their allies had taken control of half of Ras al-Ain on Thursday when its hospital was hit, trapping patients and staff inside, Abdel Rahman said. Kurdish authorities sent a medical team to rescue the wounded but it was prevented from entering the town, said Hassan Amin, a director of the hospital in nearby Tal Tamr. "The situation of the wounded is critical and the number is high," he said, adding that seven wounded people from around Ras al-Ain were however evacuated to Tal Tamr. - 'War crimes' - Trump has come under sustained criticism in Washington over his handling of the crisis, not only from Democrats but from within his own Republican Party. The SDF fought alongside US forces to defeat the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq, but Trump argued it was no longer the US role to ensure calm in the region. Thousands of IS fighters and their families are held in Kurdish-run jails across northern Syria. The prospect of thousands of the world's most radical jihadists breaking out in the chaos caused by Turkey's invasion is causing widespread alarm. The Turkish offensive has also been widely criticised, with videos surfacing online allegedly showing captured fighters and civilians being executed. On Friday, Amnesty International accused Ankara's forces and their proxies of "serious violations and war crimes, summary killings and unlawful attacks". There was no immediate response from Ankara, which says all possible measures have been taken to avoid civilian casualties. Trump welcomed the temporary ceasefire Thursday, but later compared the warring parties to children. "Like two kids in a lot, you have got to let them fight and then you pull them apart," Trump told a rally in Dallas, Texas. Brett McGurk, former presidential special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, described Trump's remarks as "obscene and ignorant".

Civilian toll rises to 14 in Turkey bombardment on Syria: Monitor

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trumps-letter-to-recep-tayyip-erdogan-dont-be-a-fool-256456">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan</a> Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on Tuesday evening if they do not withdraw from a "safe zone".

After <a href="http://cms.wionews.com/photos/ceasefire-hails-us-turkey-calls-it-a-pause-what-happened-when-washington-ankara-met-over-syria-offensive-256688">US Vice President Mike Pence came to Ankara for talks</a> with Erdogan on Thursday, the NATO allies agreed Turkey would suspend its offensive for five days in northern Syria while Kurdish fighters withdraw from the area.

"If the promises are kept until Tuesday evening, the safe zone issue will be resolved. If it fails, the operation... will start the minute 120 hours are over," Erdogan told reporters during a briefing in Istanbul.

He said Turkish armed forces would remain in the region "because the security there requires this", adding that there had been no issues so far.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday there were Turkish air strikes on the village of Bab al-Kheir, east of Ras al-Ain on the border. The war monitor said <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/deadly-turkey-air-strikes-shatter-north-east-syria-truce-256721">five civilians were killed</a>.

Turkey launched the cross-border incursion on October 9 after repeatedly threatening to clear the border area from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

While US President Donald Trump appeared to initially green light the offensive, he made repeated threats against Turkey, often in tweets, following international outrage.

He then sent Pence and the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with other US officials to Ankara to thrash out a deal, which was announced on Thursday after hours of talks.

Erdogan said the "safe zone" would be 32 kilometres (20 miles) deep, and 444 kilometres in length, "not between Kobane and Tal Abyad".

He added that the region between the border towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain had been cleared, "but this is not over. The process is ongoing."

Just hours before the US-Turkey talks, a bizarre letter appeared in the US media from Trump to Erdogan, in which the US leader urged Erdogan not to be a "fool" and warned his Turkish counterpart that history risked branding him a "devil."

Turkish media reported that Erdogan had "binned" the letter.&nbsp;

Erdogan said Friday the letter was not in line with "political and diplomatic courtesy... but our mutual love and respect does not allow us to keep it on the agenda."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on Tuesday evening if they do not withdraw from a "safe zone".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on Tuesday evening if they do not withdraw from a "safe zone". After US Vice President Mike Pence came to Ankara for talks with Erdogan on Thursday, the NATO allies agreed Turkey would suspend its offensive for five days in northern Syria while Kurdish fighters withdraw from the area. "If the promises are kept until Tuesday evening, the safe zone issue will be resolved. If it fails, the operation... will start the minute 120 hours are over," Erdogan told reporters during a briefing in Istanbul. He said Turkish armed forces would remain in the region "because the security there requires this", adding that there had been no issues so far. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday there were Turkish air strikes on the village of Bab al-Kheir, east of Ras al-Ain on the border. The war monitor said five civilians were killed. Turkey launched the cross-border incursion on October 9 after repeatedly threatening to clear the border area from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia. While US President Donald Trump appeared to initially green light the offensive, he made repeated threats against Turkey, often in tweets, following international outrage. He then sent Pence and the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with other US officials to Ankara to thrash out a deal, which was announced on Thursday after hours of talks. Erdogan said the "safe zone" would be 32 kilometres (20 miles) deep, and 444 kilometres in length, "not between Kobane and Tal Abyad". He added that the region between the border towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain had been cleared, "but this is not over. The process is ongoing." Just hours before the US-Turkey talks, a bizarre letter appeared in the US media from Trump to Erdogan, in which the US leader urged Erdogan not to be a "fool" and warned his Turkish counterpart that history risked branding him a "devil." Turkish media reported that Erdogan had "binned" the letter. Erdogan said Friday the letter was not in line with "political and diplomatic courtesy... but our mutual love and respect does not allow us to keep it on the agenda."

Erdogan threatens to restart Syria operation Tuesday if deal not respected

The Islamic State group said Thursday it had "freed" women held by Syria's Kurds, the latest in a series of reported breakouts since Turkey launched a cross-border offensive last week.

In a statement released on the Telegram messaging application, IS said it had stormed a security headquarters west of its former stronghold of Raqa on Wednesday, "freeing Muslim women kidnapped" by Kurdish forces.

It did not give a number or say if the women were IS members or wives of jihadists.

Separately three former IS fighters originally from the Gaza Strip escaped a Kurdish detention centre near Tal Abyad close to the Syrian-Turkish border, a source in a political faction in Gaza said.

The three, two of whom were members of the military wing of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas before joining the more militant IS, called their families Wednesday following their escape but said they did not intend to return home, the source said.

The prospect that thousands of the world's most fanatic jihadists could break out in the chaos caused by Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria is causing widespread alarm.

European governments fear it could lead to a resurgence of the group that has wreaked havoc through attacks in the West and formerly controlled parts of Syria and Iraq.

According to the Kurds hundreds of IS relatives have already tried to escape since Ankara launched its offensive on October 9.

On Sunday, Kurdish authorities said nearly 800 relatives of foreign jihadists had escaped from a Kurdish-run displacement camp in the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa.&nbsp;

At least three French women who had left the camp have since joined up with IS, according to messages they sent to their lawyer, seen by AFP.

Five IS jihadists escaped from a prison near the northeastern city of Qamishli last week, according to Kurdish forces.

On Tuesday, a breakout attempt was foiled in the infamous Al-Hol camp, which is so overcrowded that wardens are struggling to control riot.

According to the Kurdish administration, there are around 12,000 suspected IS fighters in the custody of Kurdish security forces across prisons in northeastern Syria.

At least 2,500 of them are non-Iraqi foreigners of more than 50 different nationalities. Tunisia is thought to have the biggest contingent.

The detained fighters have thousands of relatives -- mostly women and children -- held in displacement camps.

Al-Hol alone holds 68,000 prisoners, mostly relatives of current or former IS members, according to the United Nations.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Wednesday they were suspending operations against IS.

"We have frozen all our actions against Daesh," SDF head Mazloum Abdi told Kurdish television channel Ronahi, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadists.

The SDF, which helped defeat IS with the support of the US-led coalition, said it would only carry out defensive operations. 
&nbsp;

The Islamic State group said Thursday it had "freed" women held by Syria's Kurds, the latest in a series of reported breakouts since Turkey launched a cross-border offensive last week.

The Islamic State group said Thursday it had "freed" women held by Syria's Kurds, the latest in a series of reported breakouts since Turkey launched a cross-border offensive last week. In a statement released on the Telegram messaging application, IS said it had stormed a security headquarters west of its former stronghold of Raqa on Wednesday, "freeing Muslim women kidnapped" by Kurdish forces. It did not give a number or say if the women were IS members or wives of jihadists. Separately three former IS fighters originally from the Gaza Strip escaped a Kurdish detention centre near Tal Abyad close to the Syrian-Turkish border, a source in a political faction in Gaza said. The three, two of whom were members of the military wing of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas before joining the more militant IS, called their families Wednesday following their escape but said they did not intend to return home, the source said. The prospect that thousands of the world's most fanatic jihadists could break out in the chaos caused by Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria is causing widespread alarm. European governments fear it could lead to a resurgence of the group that has wreaked havoc through attacks in the West and formerly controlled parts of Syria and Iraq. According to the Kurds hundreds of IS relatives have already tried to escape since Ankara launched its offensive on October 9. On Sunday, Kurdish authorities said nearly 800 relatives of foreign jihadists had escaped from a Kurdish-run displacement camp in the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa. At least three French women who had left the camp have since joined up with IS, according to messages they sent to their lawyer, seen by AFP. Five IS jihadists escaped from a prison near the northeastern city of Qamishli last week, according to Kurdish forces. On Tuesday, a breakout attempt was foiled in the infamous Al-Hol camp, which is so overcrowded that wardens are struggling to control riot. According to the Kurdish administration, there are around 12,000 suspected IS fighters in the custody of Kurdish security forces across prisons in northeastern Syria. At least 2,500 of them are non-Iraqi foreigners of more than 50 different nationalities. Tunisia is thought to have the biggest contingent. The detained fighters have thousands of relatives -- mostly women and children -- held in displacement camps. Al-Hol alone holds 68,000 prisoners, mostly relatives of current or former IS members, according to the United Nations. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Wednesday they were suspending operations against IS. "We have frozen all our actions against Daesh," SDF head Mazloum Abdi told Kurdish television channel Ronahi, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadists. The SDF, which helped defeat IS with the support of the US-led coalition, said it would only carry out defensive operations.

IS says 'freed' women held by Syrian Kurds

By Kerstin Carlson

For more than a year, European powers have dallied over the question of what to do with the tens of thousands of Islamic State (IS) fighters and adherents captured following the fall of the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

Now the US decision to withdraw troops and Turkey’s subsequent invasion of northern Syria on October 9 means the West has lost the luxury of inaction.

Since IS’s territorial defeat in March 2019, camps housing “IS families” and other displaced persons have swollen far in excess of their capacity. In Syria, the largest camp, Al-Hawl, exceeds 70,000 people.

The Turkish offensive has drawn the resources of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces away from guarding the camps. Predictably, detainees have been escaping. On October 14, more than 700 IS adherents (men, women, and children, although reportedly no fighters) escaped the Ain Issa camp in Syria. The US had attempted to move 60 “high value” IS prisoners before its troops withdrew, but failed. Expect more escapes, including of IS fighters, in the days and weeks to come.

Repatriation

Prior to the Turkish invasion, European nations had been wringing their hands, but doing little else, regarding the problem of foreign and other citizens in detention in Syria and Iraq. It’s estimated that 40,000 foreign fighters, including 6,000 western Europeans, travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the group.

The two options most hotly debated regarding European citizens were repatriation and trials on site, where the detainees are being held. What to do with Iraqi and Syrian citizens was to be left to Iraq and Syria.

Of the two options, repatriation of nationals is the right choice. European countries, however, have equivocated. Europe does not want these citizens, understood as traitorous at best, dangerous at worst. The notion of danger includes even very small children, who some argue should be understood as “radicalised” or “cubs of the caliphate,” irreparably marked by the violence and indoctrination they have experienced.

This narrative has taken precedence over the reports regarding the inhumane conditions in the camps in Syria: overflowing sewage leaking into tents, worms in the water, extreme weather conditions resulting in death, particularly for babies and young children. The case of Shamima Begum, who left the UK as a 15-year-old to join IS and whose citizenship was later revoked by the British government, is a stark example of this. Her baby died a few weeks after he was born in the al-Roj camp in March 2019.

Britain is not alone: Most European countries refuse to repatriate citizens picked up in Syria and Iraq, or even, in fact, to count or identify them. Only a few exceptional repatriation instances exist, including a handful of French and Dutch orphans and a large mixed group of people including children to Germany. Kosovo and Kazakstan have been open to repatriation and Turkey and Russia have taken some orphans. In June, the Kurds released 800 detainees back to their families in Syria.

Repatriated IS fighters and adherents would stand trial in their home countries under domestic criminal law.

IS tribunals

A second option, trials on site for IS adherents regardless of citizenship, was gaining momentum prior to the Turkish invasion, with several countries promoting the idea of an international tribunal. The idea of constructing an ad hoc tribunal in the region promised to solve the detainee impasse for Western countries and the SDF.

But there are several problems with such an option. First, because the SDF is not an official government but rather provisionally in charge of territory in Syria, an ad hoc court with international support could not be set up in the Kurdish area of northern Syria. This leaves Iraq as the likely site. Constructing such an international tribunal in Iraq for IS adherents was the topic of a meeting held between Britain, France, Germany and three other countries in Copenhagen on October 11. On the table is a hybrid structure, involving both international and Iraqi judges.

But an ad hoc tribunal in Iraq would need to contend with Iraqi law, which allows the death penalty, as well as the deeply problematic Iraqi trials already underway of IS affiliates. For the past several years, the Iraqi government has been subjecting IS fighters and affiliates to what can only be called sham trials. Trials average ten minutes, and many defendants will not have met their defence attorney – who is paid $25 per case – before the trial.

Punishment for IS affiliation includes life in prison when judges are lenient, but can also bring death by hanging. Iraqi courts have issued hundreds of death sentences, including against foreign nationals, although it’s not clear if any have yet been carried out.

What kind of justice? 
 
Internationally financed courts will not hand out death sentences – even life imprisonment is a sentence rarely pronounced by international or hybrid criminal courts. Gross violations of procedural rights are also unpalatable for Western-run institutions. But the numbers of detainees in prison prior to the Turkish offensive as well as the dearth of information regarding what crimes they have committed beyond affiliation with IS mean that rights-respecting court processes will take huge resources and could be inconclusive.

Any just tribunal would release most of the convicted prisoners within, at most, a few years if jail terms are to conform to widely accepted humanitarian standards. This would simply defer by a few years the question of what in fact should be done with IS affiliates – where should they live and where do they belong?

In early 2019, the Kurds set up trials for IS adherents in Kurdish-administered areas of Iraq and Syria, as an antidote to flawed Iraqi justice. Defence counsel was provided and sentences were capped at 20 years: rehabilitation, not revenge, was the goal, one judge told a journalist for NPR. This promising development may be one more casualty of the changed circumstances on the ground.

The first, still best, option – repatriation of foreign nationals – is arguably a quickly closing window. Even then, questions would remain about what should happen to Iraqi and Syrian nationals, and what role the West should play in resolving their situation. But European powers must avoid taking the third option they’d been exercising by default – doing nothing, and waiting for circumstances to change.

(Kerstin Carlson is Associate Professor International Law, University of Southern Denmark) 
 
(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/western-states-must-repatriate-is-fighters-and-their-families-before-more-break-free-from-syrian-camps-125168">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) &nbsp; 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

By Kerstin Carlson For more than a year, European powers have dallied over the question of what to do with the tens of thousands of Islamic State (IS) fighters and adherents captured following the fall of the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

By Kerstin Carlson For more than a year, European powers have dallied over the question of what to do with the tens of thousands of Islamic State (IS) fighters and adherents captured following the fall of the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Now the US decision to withdraw troops and Turkey’s subsequent invasion of northern Syria on October 9 means the West has lost the luxury of inaction. Since IS’s territorial defeat in March 2019, camps housing “IS families” and other displaced persons have swollen far in excess of their capacity. In Syria, the largest camp, Al-Hawl, exceeds 70,000 people. The Turkish offensive has drawn the resources of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces away from guarding the camps. Predictably, detainees have been escaping. On October 14, more than 700 IS adherents (men, women, and children, although reportedly no fighters) escaped the Ain Issa camp in Syria. The US had attempted to move 60 “high value” IS prisoners before its troops withdrew, but failed. Expect more escapes, including of IS fighters, in the days and weeks to come. Repatriation Prior to the Turkish invasion, European nations had been wringing their hands, but doing little else, regarding the problem of foreign and other citizens in detention in Syria and Iraq. It’s estimated that 40,000 foreign fighters, including 6,000 western Europeans, travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the group. The two options most hotly debated regarding European citizens were repatriation and trials on site, where the detainees are being held. What to do with Iraqi and Syrian citizens was to be left to Iraq and Syria. Of the two options, repatriation of nationals is the right choice. European countries, however, have equivocated. Europe does not want these citizens, understood as traitorous at best, dangerous at worst. The notion of danger includes even very small children, who some argue should be understood as “radicalised” or “cubs of the caliphate,” irreparably marked by the violence and indoctrination they have experienced. This narrative has taken precedence over the reports regarding the inhumane conditions in the camps in Syria: overflowing sewage leaking into tents, worms in the water, extreme weather conditions resulting in death, particularly for babies and young children. The case of Shamima Begum, who left the UK as a 15-year-old to join IS and whose citizenship was later revoked by the British government, is a stark example of this. Her baby died a few weeks after he was born in the al-Roj camp in March 2019. Britain is not alone: Most European countries refuse to repatriate citizens picked up in Syria and Iraq, or even, in fact, to count or identify them. Only a few exceptional repatriation instances exist, including a handful of French and Dutch orphans and a large mixed group of people including children to Germany. Kosovo and Kazakstan have been open to repatriation and Turkey and Russia have taken some orphans. In June, the Kurds released 800 detainees back to their families in Syria. Repatriated IS fighters and adherents would stand trial in their home countries under domestic criminal law. IS tribunals A second option, trials on site for IS adherents regardless of citizenship, was gaining momentum prior to the Turkish invasion, with several countries promoting the idea of an international tribunal. The idea of constructing an ad hoc tribunal in the region promised to solve the detainee impasse for Western countries and the SDF. But there are several problems with such an option. First, because the SDF is not an official government but rather provisionally in charge of territory in Syria, an ad hoc court with international support could not be set up in the Kurdish area of northern Syria. This leaves Iraq as the likely site. Constructing such an international tribunal in Iraq for IS adherents was the topic of a meeting held between Britain, France, Germany and three other countries in Copenhagen on October 11. On the table is a hybrid structure, involving both international and Iraqi judges. But an ad hoc tribunal in Iraq would need to contend with Iraqi law, which allows the death penalty, as well as the deeply problematic Iraqi trials already underway of IS affiliates. For the past several years, the Iraqi government has been subjecting IS fighters and affiliates to what can only be called sham trials. Trials average ten minutes, and many defendants will not have met their defence attorney – who is paid $25 per case – before the trial. Punishment for IS affiliation includes life in prison when judges are lenient, but can also bring death by hanging. Iraqi courts have issued hundreds of death sentences, including against foreign nationals, although it’s not clear if any have yet been carried out. What kind of justice? Internationally financed courts will not hand out death sentences – even life imprisonment is a sentence rarely pronounced by international or hybrid criminal courts. Gross violations of procedural rights are also unpalatable for Western-run institutions. But the numbers of detainees in prison prior to the Turkish offensive as well as the dearth of information regarding what crimes they have committed beyond affiliation with IS mean that rights-respecting court processes will take huge resources and could be inconclusive. Any just tribunal would release most of the convicted prisoners within, at most, a few years if jail terms are to conform to widely accepted humanitarian standards. This would simply defer by a few years the question of what in fact should be done with IS affiliates – where should they live and where do they belong? In early 2019, the Kurds set up trials for IS adherents in Kurdish-administered areas of Iraq and Syria, as an antidote to flawed Iraqi justice. Defence counsel was provided and sentences were capped at 20 years: rehabilitation, not revenge, was the goal, one judge told a journalist for NPR. This promising development may be one more casualty of the changed circumstances on the ground. The first, still best, option – repatriation of foreign nationals – is arguably a quickly closing window. Even then, questions would remain about what should happen to Iraqi and Syrian nationals, and what role the West should play in resolving their situation. But European powers must avoid taking the third option they’d been exercising by default – doing nothing, and waiting for circumstances to change. (Kerstin Carlson is Associate Professor International Law, University of Southern Denmark) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Western states must repatriate IS fighters before more break free from Syrian camps

Understanding China's Strategy In West Asia Amidst the ongoing conflict between Turkey and Kurds who have now sided with Syrian government forces, China is slowly and steadily making deep inroads in West Asia.

Gravitas: China Quietly Makes Inroads In West Asia

Turkey, like much of the Middle East, is discovering that what goes around comes around.

Not only because President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to have miscalculated the fallout of what may prove to be a foolhardy intervention in Syria and neglected alternative options that could have strengthened Turkey’s position without sparking the ire of much of the international community.&nbsp;

But also because what could prove to be a strategic error is rooted in a policy of decades of denial of Kurdish identity and suppression of Kurdish cultural and political rights that was more likely than not to fuel conflict rather than encourage societal cohesion.

The policy midwife the birth in the 1970s to militant groups like the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which only dropped its demand for Kurdish independence in recent years.

The group that has waged a low-intensity insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives has been declared a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkish refusal to acknowledge the rights of the Kurds, who are believed to account for up to 20 per cent of the country’s population, traces its roots to the carving of modern Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire by its visionary founder, Mustafa Kemal, widely known as Ataturk, Father of the Turks.

It is entrenched in Kemal’s declaration in a speech in 1923 to celebrate Turkish independence of “How happy is the one who calls himself a Turk,” an effort to forge a national identity for the country that was an ethnic mosaic.

The phrase was incorporated half a century later in Turkey’s student oath and ultimately removed from it in 2013 at a time of peace talks between Turkey and the PKK by then prime minister, now president Erdogan.

It took the influx of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as the 1991 declaration by the United States, Britain and France of a no-fly zone in northern Iraq that enabled the emergence of an autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region to spark debate in Turkey about the Kurdish question and prompt the government to refer to Kurds as Kurds rather than mountain Turks.

Ironically, Turkey’s enduring refusal to acknowledge Kurdish rights and its long neglect of the development of the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country fuelled demands for greater rights rather than majority support for Kurdish secession largely despite the emergence of the PKK.

Most Turkish Kurds, who could rise to the highest offices in the lands long as they are identified as Turks rather than Kurds, resembled Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, whose options were more limited even if they endorsed the notion of a Jewish state.

Nonetheless, both minorities favoured an independent state for their brethren on the other side of the border but did not want to surrender the opportunities that either Turkey or Israel offered them.

The existence for close to three decades of a Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq and a 2017 referendum in which an overwhelming majority voted for Iraqi Kurdish independence, bitterly rejected and ultimately nullified by Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian opposition, did little to fundamentally change Turkish Kurdish attitudes.

If the referendum briefly soured Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish relations, it failed to undermine the basic understanding underlying a relationship that could have guided Turkey’s approach towards the Kurds in Syria even if dealing with Iraqi Kurds may have been easier because, unlike Turkish Kurds, they had not engaged in political violence against Turkey.

The notion that there was no alternative to the Turkish intervention in Syria is further countered by the fact that Turkish PKK negotiations that started in 2012 led a year later to a ceasefire and a boosting of efforts to secure a peaceful resolution.

The talks prompted imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to publish a letter endorsing the ceasefire, the disarmament and withdrawal from Turkey of PKK fighters, and a call for an end to the insurgency. Ocalan predicted that 2013 would be the year in which the Turkish Kurdish issues would be resolved peacefully.

The PKK's military leader, Cemil Bayik, told the BBC three years later that "We don't want to separate from Turkey and set up a state. We want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely.”

The talks broke down in 2015 against the backdrop of the Syrian war and the rise as a US ally of the United States in the fight against the Islamic State of the PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Bitterly opposed to the US-YPG alliance, Turkey demanded that the PKK halt its resumption of attacks on Turkish targets and disarm prior to further negotiations.

Turkey responded to the breakdown and resumption of violence with a brutal crackdown in the southeast of the country and on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Nonetheless, in a statement issued from prison earlier this year that envisioned an understanding between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces believed to be aligned with the PKK, Ocalan declared that “We believe, with regard to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the problems in Syria should be resolved within the framework of the unity of Syria, based on constitutional guarantees and local democratic perspectives. In this regard, it should be sensitive to Turkey’s concerns.”

Turkey’s emergence as one of Iraqi Kurdistan’s foremost investors and trading partners in exchange for Iraqi Kurdish acquiescence in Turkish countering the PKK’s presence in the region could have provided inspiration for a US-sponsored safe zone in northern Syria that Washington and Ankara had contemplated.

The Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish understanding enabled Turkey to allow an armed Iraqi Kurdish force to transit Turkish territory in 2014 to help prevent the Islamic State from conquering the Syrian city of Kobani.

A safe zone would have helped “realign the relationship between Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian offshoot.

The safe-zone arrangements…envision(ed) drawing down the YPG presence along the border—a good starting point for reining in the PKK, improving US ties with Ankara, and avoiding a potentially destructive Turkish intervention in Syria,” Turkey scholar Sonar Cagaptay suggested in August.

The opportunity that could have created the beginnings of a sustainable solution that would have benefitted Turkey, as well as the Kurds, fell by the wayside with Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria.

In many ways, Erdogan’s decision to opt for a military solution fits the mould of a critical mass of world leaders who look at the world through a civilisational prism and often view national borders in relative terms.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin pointed the way with his 2008 intervention in Georgia and the annexation in 2014 of Crimea as well as Russia’s stirring of pro-Russian insurgencies in two regions of Ukraine.

Erdogan appears to believe that if Putin can pull it off, so can he. 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;

Turkey, like much of the Middle East, is discovering that what goes around comes around. Not only because President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to have miscalculated the fallout of what may prove to be a foolhardy intervention in Syria and neglected alternative options that could have strengthened Turkey’s position without sparking the ire of much of the international community.

Turkey, like much of the Middle East, is discovering that what goes around comes around. Not only because President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to have miscalculated the fallout of what may prove to be a foolhardy intervention in Syria and neglected alternative options that could have strengthened Turkey’s position without sparking the ire of much of the international community. But also because what could prove to be a strategic error is rooted in a policy of decades of denial of Kurdish identity and suppression of Kurdish cultural and political rights that was more likely than not to fuel conflict rather than encourage societal cohesion. The policy midwife the birth in the 1970s to militant groups like the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which only dropped its demand for Kurdish independence in recent years. The group that has waged a low-intensity insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives has been declared a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Turkish refusal to acknowledge the rights of the Kurds, who are believed to account for up to 20 per cent of the country’s population, traces its roots to the carving of modern Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire by its visionary founder, Mustafa Kemal, widely known as Ataturk, Father of the Turks. It is entrenched in Kemal’s declaration in a speech in 1923 to celebrate Turkish independence of “How happy is the one who calls himself a Turk,” an effort to forge a national identity for the country that was an ethnic mosaic. The phrase was incorporated half a century later in Turkey’s student oath and ultimately removed from it in 2013 at a time of peace talks between Turkey and the PKK by then prime minister, now president Erdogan. It took the influx of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as the 1991 declaration by the United States, Britain and France of a no-fly zone in northern Iraq that enabled the emergence of an autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region to spark debate in Turkey about the Kurdish question and prompt the government to refer to Kurds as Kurds rather than mountain Turks. Ironically, Turkey’s enduring refusal to acknowledge Kurdish rights and its long neglect of the development of the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country fuelled demands for greater rights rather than majority support for Kurdish secession largely despite the emergence of the PKK. Most Turkish Kurds, who could rise to the highest offices in the lands long as they are identified as Turks rather than Kurds, resembled Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, whose options were more limited even if they endorsed the notion of a Jewish state. Nonetheless, both minorities favoured an independent state for their brethren on the other side of the border but did not want to surrender the opportunities that either Turkey or Israel offered them. The existence for close to three decades of a Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq and a 2017 referendum in which an overwhelming majority voted for Iraqi Kurdish independence, bitterly rejected and ultimately nullified by Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian opposition, did little to fundamentally change Turkish Kurdish attitudes. If the referendum briefly soured Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish relations, it failed to undermine the basic understanding underlying a relationship that could have guided Turkey’s approach towards the Kurds in Syria even if dealing with Iraqi Kurds may have been easier because, unlike Turkish Kurds, they had not engaged in political violence against Turkey. The notion that there was no alternative to the Turkish intervention in Syria is further countered by the fact that Turkish PKK negotiations that started in 2012 led a year later to a ceasefire and a boosting of efforts to secure a peaceful resolution. The talks prompted imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to publish a letter endorsing the ceasefire, the disarmament and withdrawal from Turkey of PKK fighters, and a call for an end to the insurgency. Ocalan predicted that 2013 would be the year in which the Turkish Kurdish issues would be resolved peacefully. The PKK's military leader, Cemil Bayik, told the BBC three years later that "We don't want to separate from Turkey and set up a state. We want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely.” The talks broke down in 2015 against the backdrop of the Syrian war and the rise as a US ally of the United States in the fight against the Islamic State of the PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG). Bitterly opposed to the US-YPG alliance, Turkey demanded that the PKK halt its resumption of attacks on Turkish targets and disarm prior to further negotiations. Turkey responded to the breakdown and resumption of violence with a brutal crackdown in the southeast of the country and on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Nonetheless, in a statement issued from prison earlier this year that envisioned an understanding between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces believed to be aligned with the PKK, Ocalan declared that “We believe, with regard to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the problems in Syria should be resolved within the framework of the unity of Syria, based on constitutional guarantees and local democratic perspectives. In this regard, it should be sensitive to Turkey’s concerns.” Turkey’s emergence as one of Iraqi Kurdistan’s foremost investors and trading partners in exchange for Iraqi Kurdish acquiescence in Turkish countering the PKK’s presence in the region could have provided inspiration for a US-sponsored safe zone in northern Syria that Washington and Ankara had contemplated. The Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish understanding enabled Turkey to allow an armed Iraqi Kurdish force to transit Turkish territory in 2014 to help prevent the Islamic State from conquering the Syrian city of Kobani. A safe zone would have helped “realign the relationship between Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian offshoot. The safe-zone arrangements…envision(ed) drawing down the YPG presence along the border—a good starting point for reining in the PKK, improving US ties with Ankara, and avoiding a potentially destructive Turkish intervention in Syria,” Turkey scholar Sonar Cagaptay suggested in August. The opportunity that could have created the beginnings of a sustainable solution that would have benefitted Turkey, as well as the Kurds, fell by the wayside with Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria. In many ways, Erdogan’s decision to opt for a military solution fits the mould of a critical mass of world leaders who look at the world through a civilisational prism and often view national borders in relative terms. Russian leader Vladimir Putin pointed the way with his 2008 intervention in Georgia and the annexation in 2014 of Crimea as well as Russia’s stirring of pro-Russian insurgencies in two regions of Ukraine. Erdogan appears to believe that if Putin can pull it off, so can he. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Explained: Turkey's decision to opt for military action in Syria

Some 500 Syrian Kurds have entered neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan over the past four days fleeing a <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-pushes-offensive-in-syria-despite-sanctions-and-calls-to-stop-256184">Turkish invasion</a> now entering its second week, officials said on Wednesday.

The refugees were taken to camps in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, an official in the border province of Dohuk told AFP.

Iraqi Kurdistan previously hosted more than one million Iraqis who fled fighting with the jihadists of the Islamic State group between 2014 and 2017.

NGOs operating in the region said they had been on alert since Ankara launched its invasion of northern Syria on October 9.

On Saturday evening, 182 Syrian Kurds started crossing the border into Iraqi Kurdistan "to escape bombardments in northeastern Syria", the International Organization for Migration said.

Dohuk province humanitarian affairs chief Ismail Ahmed said they were "Syrian Kurds already living in Iraqi Kurdistan, who went to visit relatives in Syria before returning because of the bombardments."

On Wednesday, fresh fighting was reported in northern Syria pitting <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-pushes-offensive-in-syria-despite-sanctions-and-calls-to-stop-256184">Turkey's Syrian proxies against Kurdish forces</a> backed by the Syrian army.&nbsp;

Damascus deployed troops to Kurdish-held areas that had been outside its control since 2012 under an accord with Kurdish authorities announced on Sunday.

Some 500 Syrian Kurds have entered neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan over the past four days fleeing a Turkish invasion now entering its second week, officials said on Wednesday.

Some 500 Syrian Kurds have entered neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan over the past four days fleeing a Turkish invasion now entering its second week, officials said on Wednesday. The refugees were taken to camps in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, an official in the border province of Dohuk told AFP. Iraqi Kurdistan previously hosted more than one million Iraqis who fled fighting with the jihadists of the Islamic State group between 2014 and 2017. NGOs operating in the region said they had been on alert since Ankara launched its invasion of northern Syria on October 9. On Saturday evening, 182 Syrian Kurds started crossing the border into Iraqi Kurdistan "to escape bombardments in northeastern Syria", the International Organization for Migration said. Dohuk province humanitarian affairs chief Ismail Ahmed said they were "Syrian Kurds already living in Iraqi Kurdistan, who went to visit relatives in Syria before returning because of the bombardments." On Wednesday, fresh fighting was reported in northern Syria pitting Turkey's Syrian proxies against Kurdish forces backed by the Syrian army. Damascus deployed troops to Kurdish-held areas that had been outside its control since 2012 under an accord with Kurdish authorities announced on Sunday.

Hundreds of Syria Kurds seek refuge in Iraq

By Haidar Khezri

Kurdish fighters under attack by Turkey have described President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria as a “stab in the back.”

Since the bombing began on October 9, Turkish military operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, Washington’s staunchest and most effective allies in the war against the Islamic State, has killed at least 11 civilians and an unconfirmed number of Kurdish fighters, with estimates ranging from dozens to hundreds.

Kurdish fighters are key partners to the US in the Middle East. From 2003 to 2017, they helped overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, battled al-Qaida and pushed the Islamic State out of northern Iraq and Syria.

Kurdish women have fought on the front lines in all these battles, as they have done since the 19th-century Kurdish commander Kara Fatma led an Ottoman battalion of 700 men and 43 women against the Russian Empire.

That was unusual for the period – but, then again, Kurdish women have long been exceptions in the mostly conservative Middle East.

Who are the Kurds?

Kurdistan, where I was born, is among the largest nations in the world without a state. Around 35 million Kurds inhabit a mountainous zone straddling Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Armenia.

The Kurds were first split up politically in the 17th century when their territory was divided between the Ottoman and Safavid empires. Back then, the Roman scholar Pietro Della Valle travelled to the region and was surprised to find “Kurdish women commuting freely without hijab.” He noted in his 1667 travelogue that “they engage with Kurdish men and foreigners without any problems.”

After World War I, a treaty between Britain and France, called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, drew arbitrary borders across the Middle East, creating colonial protectorate states. The partition again fragmented the Kurds, this time across four countries: modern-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

The Kurds have been fighting for their sovereignty ever since. In recent decades, they have succeeded in establishing autonomously governed regions within Iraq and Syria.

But in Iran and Turkey, the Kurds continue their armed struggle. Both countries to view this ethnic minority as a terrorist threat and legally repress Kurdish populations.

This setup has put Kurdistan – domestically a rather peaceable, prosperous place with significant oil reserves – squarely in the center of a geopolitical quagmire.

Until Trump’s recent turnaround, the US had backed the Kurds in Syria, Iraq and Iran, where they were critical to defeating the Islamic State and served as jailers to about 11,000 captured IS fighters.

But Turkey – a US ally – sees the armed Kurds in Syria as an extension of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey since the 1980s.

In May 2018, over 250 people were killed when Turkey bombed the Kurdish-majority Syrian city of Afrin, which Turkish armed forces consider a “terrorist corridor.”

The feminists of the PKK

The Marxist-Leninist PKK, founded in 1978, may be an enemy of the Turkish state, but it is also one of the most feminist movements in the Middle East.

The group held its first congress on women’s rights in 1987, in which PKK co-founder Sakine Cansiz – who was assassinated in 2013 – proposed that its “liberation for all” rhetoric must include women’s liberation, too.

Today the party’s political agenda explicitly recognises religious minorities, dissidents and women as the crux of democracy.

In the autonomous Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria, women have the same legal rights as men. Indeed, the Iraqi Kurdish regional government has a higher proportion of women than the United Kingdom – 30 per cent versus 20 per cent.

The charter of the semi-autonomous Syrian Federation of Kurdistan, founded in 2012, requires that women must hold a minimum of 40 per cent of all government posts. Every Kurdish Syrian public institution must also have two co-presidents, one male and one female.

Women also make up 30 per cent of Kurdish fighters deployed across the Middle East. More than 25,000 Kurdish women are deployed in Syria as the Women’s Protection Units, an all-female militia inspired by the KPP’s feminist liberation ideology.

In contrast, about 14 per cent of US military service members are women.

Female Kurdish troops rescued thousands of Yazidis trapped by the Islamic State on Iraq’s Mount Sinjar in 2014 and helped liberate the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State in 2017.

Equal in battle but not everywhere else

Despite the relative freedom of women in Kurdistan compared to elsewhere in the Middle East, Kurdish society is not entirely gender equal.

In 2014, only 12 of 250 judges in Iraqi Kurdistan were female, and just one of 21 government ministers was. Female genital mutilation, child marriage and honour killings – in which male family members murder women who are alleged to have disgraced their families – persist, particularly in rural areas of Kurdistan.

And, in my experience, feminist debates like equal pay for women and #MeToo aren’t yet a topic of conversation in Kurdistan.

Historically, too, it’s noteworthy that many famous female Kurdish leaders succeeded only because their empowerment did not challenge the male establishment.

During World War I, Lady Adela Khanum, leader of the Kurdish region of Halabja, saved the lives of numerous British army officers on the battlefield, earning her the nickname “Princess of the Brave.”

But she originally rose to power because she inherited the position when her husband died. While ruling Halabja from 1909 to 1924, she did not push a women’s rights agenda.

The hard labour of freedom

Kurdish women who were seen as threats to male authority have often been punished, sometimes with death.

That’s what happened to the very first woman to fight in the Kurdish army. Margaret George Malik quickly rose up among the all-male ranks in the 1960s to lead troops in the Kurdish war for independence from Iraq.

She was murdered in 1969 under mysterious circumstances. Some historians believe that Malik was killed by her lover because she rejected his marriage proposal. Others say she was assassinated by the Kurdish leadership, which feared her growing influence.

Either way, Malik’s murder speaks to the battles Kurdish women still fight today.

It’s meaningful that in the Kurdish language, the word for woman – “jin” – shares a root with the word for life: “jiyan.” And both jin and jiyan are related to the word “jan,” or labour pains.

In a region surrounded by threats – from Turkey’s attacks and Islamic State terrorism and patriarchy at home – the women of Kurdistan are fighting for their life and liberty. And the cost is hard, dangerous labour.

 
(Haidar Khezri is Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the<a href="https://theconversation.com/kurds-targeted-in-turkish-attack-include-thousands-of-female-fighters-who-battled-islamic-state-125100"> original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) &nbsp;

By Haidar Khezri Kurdish fighters under attack by Turkey have described President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria as a “stab in the back.

By Haidar Khezri Kurdish fighters under attack by Turkey have described President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria as a “stab in the back.” Since the bombing began on October 9, Turkish military operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, Washington’s staunchest and most effective allies in the war against the Islamic State, has killed at least 11 civilians and an unconfirmed number of Kurdish fighters, with estimates ranging from dozens to hundreds. Kurdish fighters are key partners to the US in the Middle East. From 2003 to 2017, they helped overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, battled al-Qaida and pushed the Islamic State out of northern Iraq and Syria. Kurdish women have fought on the front lines in all these battles, as they have done since the 19th-century Kurdish commander Kara Fatma led an Ottoman battalion of 700 men and 43 women against the Russian Empire. That was unusual for the period – but, then again, Kurdish women have long been exceptions in the mostly conservative Middle East. Who are the Kurds? Kurdistan, where I was born, is among the largest nations in the world without a state. Around 35 million Kurds inhabit a mountainous zone straddling Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Armenia. The Kurds were first split up politically in the 17th century when their territory was divided between the Ottoman and Safavid empires. Back then, the Roman scholar Pietro Della Valle travelled to the region and was surprised to find “Kurdish women commuting freely without hijab.” He noted in his 1667 travelogue that “they engage with Kurdish men and foreigners without any problems.” After World War I, a treaty between Britain and France, called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, drew arbitrary borders across the Middle East, creating colonial protectorate states. The partition again fragmented the Kurds, this time across four countries: modern-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Kurds have been fighting for their sovereignty ever since. In recent decades, they have succeeded in establishing autonomously governed regions within Iraq and Syria. But in Iran and Turkey, the Kurds continue their armed struggle. Both countries to view this ethnic minority as a terrorist threat and legally repress Kurdish populations. This setup has put Kurdistan – domestically a rather peaceable, prosperous place with significant oil reserves – squarely in the center of a geopolitical quagmire. Until Trump’s recent turnaround, the US had backed the Kurds in Syria, Iraq and Iran, where they were critical to defeating the Islamic State and served as jailers to about 11,000 captured IS fighters. But Turkey – a US ally – sees the armed Kurds in Syria as an extension of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey since the 1980s. In May 2018, over 250 people were killed when Turkey bombed the Kurdish-majority Syrian city of Afrin, which Turkish armed forces consider a “terrorist corridor.” The feminists of the PKK The Marxist-Leninist PKK, founded in 1978, may be an enemy of the Turkish state, but it is also one of the most feminist movements in the Middle East. The group held its first congress on women’s rights in 1987, in which PKK co-founder Sakine Cansiz – who was assassinated in 2013 – proposed that its “liberation for all” rhetoric must include women’s liberation, too. Today the party’s political agenda explicitly recognises religious minorities, dissidents and women as the crux of democracy. In the autonomous Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria, women have the same legal rights as men. Indeed, the Iraqi Kurdish regional government has a higher proportion of women than the United Kingdom – 30 per cent versus 20 per cent. The charter of the semi-autonomous Syrian Federation of Kurdistan, founded in 2012, requires that women must hold a minimum of 40 per cent of all government posts. Every Kurdish Syrian public institution must also have two co-presidents, one male and one female. Women also make up 30 per cent of Kurdish fighters deployed across the Middle East. More than 25,000 Kurdish women are deployed in Syria as the Women’s Protection Units, an all-female militia inspired by the KPP’s feminist liberation ideology. In contrast, about 14 per cent of US military service members are women. Female Kurdish troops rescued thousands of Yazidis trapped by the Islamic State on Iraq’s Mount Sinjar in 2014 and helped liberate the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State in 2017. Equal in battle but not everywhere else Despite the relative freedom of women in Kurdistan compared to elsewhere in the Middle East, Kurdish society is not entirely gender equal. In 2014, only 12 of 250 judges in Iraqi Kurdistan were female, and just one of 21 government ministers was. Female genital mutilation, child marriage and honour killings – in which male family members murder women who are alleged to have disgraced their families – persist, particularly in rural areas of Kurdistan. And, in my experience, feminist debates like equal pay for women and #MeToo aren’t yet a topic of conversation in Kurdistan. Historically, too, it’s noteworthy that many famous female Kurdish leaders succeeded only because their empowerment did not challenge the male establishment. During World War I, Lady Adela Khanum, leader of the Kurdish region of Halabja, saved the lives of numerous British army officers on the battlefield, earning her the nickname “Princess of the Brave.” But she originally rose to power because she inherited the position when her husband died. While ruling Halabja from 1909 to 1924, she did not push a women’s rights agenda. The hard labour of freedom Kurdish women who were seen as threats to male authority have often been punished, sometimes with death. That’s what happened to the very first woman to fight in the Kurdish army. Margaret George Malik quickly rose up among the all-male ranks in the 1960s to lead troops in the Kurdish war for independence from Iraq. She was murdered in 1969 under mysterious circumstances. Some historians believe that Malik was killed by her lover because she rejected his marriage proposal. Others say she was assassinated by the Kurdish leadership, which feared her growing influence. Either way, Malik’s murder speaks to the battles Kurdish women still fight today. It’s meaningful that in the Kurdish language, the word for woman – “jin” – shares a root with the word for life: “jiyan.” And both jin and jiyan are related to the word “jan,” or labour pains. In a region surrounded by threats – from Turkey’s attacks and Islamic State terrorism and patriarchy at home – the women of Kurdistan are fighting for their life and liberty. And the cost is hard, dangerous labour. (Haidar Khezri is Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Kurdish women have been exceptions in mostly conservative Middle East

Burying fighters killed in a nearly week-long battle against Turkish forces in northern Syria, the country's Kurdish minority denounced a "betrayal" by United States&nbsp;allies that paved the way for Ankara's offensive.

In a graveyard in the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/syrian-forces-in-full-control-of-manbij-russia-256109">Kurdish-majority</a> city of Qamishli, 57-year-old Basna Amin watched as the newly fallen were laid to rest near comrades who died in the US-backed fight against the Islamic State group.

"We are disappointed because (the Americans) betrayed us," she said, a black and white headscarf covering her hair.

"The world wants the Kurds to always be broken," she told AFP.

At least 135 Kurdish fighters have been killed in Ankara's assault triggered by last week's US pullout from border areas in Syria's north, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Washington's move, widely interpreted as green-lighting the long-planned Turkish invasion, has sparked resentment among the Kurds who have already lost 11,000 of their fighters in anti-IS battles.&nbsp;

Sitting near the grave of her son who died battling jihadists in 2014, Jawahir said that sacrifices by Syria's Kurds will compensate for the blow dealt by Washington.

"We have been betrayed before," she said.

"All the gains we have scored are thanks to the blood of these martyrs," she added.

"Their blood will not go to waste."&nbsp;

Around her, women hunkered beside graves, their eyes red with tears.

Hundreds had streamed into the graveyard to bury fighters killed in recent border battles, the portraits of 'martyrs' plastered on coffins and pinned to clothes.

'Pay with our children'

Dressed in military fatigues, a female Kurdish fighter pressed her body against a colourful casket, held up by a sea of mourners.&nbsp;

She stroked the coffin's lid, its floral arrangement matching the pattern on her black headscarf.&nbsp;

In the crowd below, another woman whispered inaudible words as she caressed a similar coffin, decorated with ribbons, flowers and a red sheet.&nbsp;

Trump, who is campaigning for re-election but faces impeachment, is keen to deliver on a promise of pulling US troops out of the Syria quagmire.

More than <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/britain-halts-weapon-exports-to-turkey-over-syria-offensive-foreign-secretary-dominic-raab-256092">1,000 troops are now being withdrawn from northern Syria</a> and the United States will keep only a residual contingent of some 150 troops in the south at the Al-Tanf base near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

"They used to break bread together, and fight terrorism together, it is a big disappointment," said Farida Bakr, speaking on Washington's decision to withdraw troops.&nbsp;

But "we will stay on our land, and we will fight until we are victorious, even if we have to pay with our children," said the 50-year-old.

Around her, women ululated in grief.

Others in headscarves stood silently, raising two fingers in a victory gesture, their solemn gaze directed to the floor.

They waved baskets carrying candles and henna dye, a custom during funerals for the young.

For Souad Hussein, whose children are among those fighting Ankara's forces, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/foreign-aid-in-northeast-syria-fully-halted-kurds-256084">the Kurds can rely only on themselves</a>.

"We have hope only in our forces because the Kurds have no friends," she told AFP.

"We will be friends to ourselves and we will confront our enemies."

Burying fighters killed in a nearly week-long battle against Turkish forces in northern Syria, the country's Kurdish minority denounced a "betrayal" by United States allies that paved the way for Ankara's offensive.

Burying fighters killed in a nearly week-long battle against Turkish forces in northern Syria, the country's Kurdish minority denounced a "betrayal" by United States allies that paved the way for Ankara's offensive. In a graveyard in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, 57-year-old Basna Amin watched as the newly fallen were laid to rest near comrades who died in the US-backed fight against the Islamic State group. "We are disappointed because (the Americans) betrayed us," she said, a black and white headscarf covering her hair. "The world wants the Kurds to always be broken," she told AFP. At least 135 Kurdish fighters have been killed in Ankara's assault triggered by last week's US pullout from border areas in Syria's north, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Washington's move, widely interpreted as green-lighting the long-planned Turkish invasion, has sparked resentment among the Kurds who have already lost 11,000 of their fighters in anti-IS battles. Sitting near the grave of her son who died battling jihadists in 2014, Jawahir said that sacrifices by Syria's Kurds will compensate for the blow dealt by Washington. "We have been betrayed before," she said. "All the gains we have scored are thanks to the blood of these martyrs," she added. "Their blood will not go to waste." Around her, women hunkered beside graves, their eyes red with tears. Hundreds had streamed into the graveyard to bury fighters killed in recent border battles, the portraits of 'martyrs' plastered on coffins and pinned to clothes. 'Pay with our children' Dressed in military fatigues, a female Kurdish fighter pressed her body against a colourful casket, held up by a sea of mourners. She stroked the coffin's lid, its floral arrangement matching the pattern on her black headscarf. In the crowd below, another woman whispered inaudible words as she caressed a similar coffin, decorated with ribbons, flowers and a red sheet. Trump, who is campaigning for re-election but faces impeachment, is keen to deliver on a promise of pulling US troops out of the Syria quagmire. More than 1,000 troops are now being withdrawn from northern Syria and the United States will keep only a residual contingent of some 150 troops in the south at the Al-Tanf base near the borders with Jordan and Iraq. "They used to break bread together, and fight terrorism together, it is a big disappointment," said Farida Bakr, speaking on Washington's decision to withdraw troops. But "we will stay on our land, and we will fight until we are victorious, even if we have to pay with our children," said the 50-year-old. Around her, women ululated in grief. Others in headscarves stood silently, raising two fingers in a victory gesture, their solemn gaze directed to the floor. They waved baskets carrying candles and henna dye, a custom during funerals for the young. For Souad Hussein, whose children are among those fighting Ankara's forces, the Kurds can rely only on themselves. "We have hope only in our forces because the Kurds have no friends," she told AFP. "We will be friends to ourselves and we will confront our enemies."

While burying their dead, Syria's Kurds blast United States for 'betrayal'

The Syrian army has sent troops to confront Turkish aggression. This move came after successful negotiations between the Kurds and the Bashar al-Assad government to form a united front against the invasion.

Residents of northern Syria were seen celebrating the Kurd-Damascus deal as United States President Donald Trump ordered all US troops to withdraw from the area to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fast-escalating conflict.

In a series of tweets, Trump said that it was a very smart move not to get involved in the Syria offensive as the Turks and Kurds have been fighting each other for years.

Trump asked the Turks and Kurds to ensure that ISIS prisoners don't escape.&nbsp;

This came after nearly 800 ISIS supporters escaped the poorly guarded jails run by the Kurds.&nbsp;

Remember, the Kurds have abandoned prison posts to resist the Turkish onslaught, leading to concerns over the revival of the isis.

The Turkish offensive continued to escalate as Ankara-backed rebels captured a second Syrian border town. The Syrian Observatory for human rights has said that civilians were also killed in the fighting.

Over a lakh civilians have been displaced as the rebels were known as the 'national army' entered the Tel Abyad town.

Meanwhile, amid fears of a Kurdish genocide, french president Emmanuel Macron said that the Turkish invasion is paving way for an unbearable humanitarian crisis.&nbsp;

However, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to continue the offensive as he dismissed warnings from Ankara's western allies.

Turkey has said that it wants to create a 'buffer zone' along the Syrian border. It wants to expel Kurds from the region and settle Syrian Arabs who fled to Turkey to escape the war at home.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish fighter group the YPG as an offshoot of the separatist Turk-Kurdish party the PKK.

Turkish offensive began after US Announced troops pullout from Syria.&nbsp;

The YPG-led Syrian democratic front played a key role in Washington's fight against the Islamic state in Syria.

The Syrian army has sent troops to confront Turkish aggression. This move came after successful negotiations between the Kurds and the Bashar al-Assad government to form a united front against the invasion.

The Syrian army has sent troops to confront Turkish aggression. This move came after successful negotiations between the Kurds and the Bashar al-Assad government to form a united front against the invasion. Residents of northern Syria were seen celebrating the Kurd-Damascus deal as United States President Donald Trump ordered all US troops to withdraw from the area to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fast-escalating conflict. In a series of tweets, Trump said that it was a very smart move not to get involved in the Syria offensive as the Turks and Kurds have been fighting each other for years. Trump asked the Turks and Kurds to ensure that ISIS prisoners don't escape. This came after nearly 800 ISIS supporters escaped the poorly guarded jails run by the Kurds. Remember, the Kurds have abandoned prison posts to resist the Turkish onslaught, leading to concerns over the revival of the isis. The Turkish offensive continued to escalate as Ankara-backed rebels captured a second Syrian border town. The Syrian Observatory for human rights has said that civilians were also killed in the fighting. Over a lakh civilians have been displaced as the rebels were known as the 'national army' entered the Tel Abyad town. Meanwhile, amid fears of a Kurdish genocide, french president Emmanuel Macron said that the Turkish invasion is paving way for an unbearable humanitarian crisis. However, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to continue the offensive as he dismissed warnings from Ankara's western allies. Turkey has said that it wants to create a 'buffer zone' along the Syrian border. It wants to expel Kurds from the region and settle Syrian Arabs who fled to Turkey to escape the war at home. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish fighter group the YPG as an offshoot of the separatist Turk-Kurdish party the PKK. Turkish offensive began after US Announced troops pullout from Syria. The YPG-led Syrian democratic front played a key role in Washington's fight against the Islamic state in Syria.

Celebrations erupt as Kurds and Syrian government reach a deal

The Pentagon has begun removing all its troops in <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/syria-regime-steps-in-to-halt-turkish-assault-on-kurds-255907">northern Syria</a>, a US official said Monday, after President Donald Trump ordered them to leave in the face of Turkey's attacks on Kurds in the area.

Nearly 1,000 troops will vacate the country, leaving behind only a small contingent of 150 in the southern Syria base at Al Tanf, the official said.

"We are executing the order," the official told AFP.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/big-sanctions-coming-on-turkey-declares-us-president-trump-255891">Big sanctions coming on Turkey, declares US President Trump</a>

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pressing a deadly assault against Kurdish forces -- a key US ally in the five-year battle to crush the Islamic State group -- in northeastern Syria since Wednesday last week.

Trump, whose order to pull back US special forces from the border effectively triggered the incursion, has faced a firestorm of criticism for appearing to give NATO member Turkey the green light for the push.

On Sunday Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump had ordered the withdrawal of the remaining troops deployed in northern Syria, with the US seeking to avoid getting caught between two allies.

But Esper did not make clear whether the troops would simply pull back to a position further south or quit the country completely.

Trump's critics accuse him of abandoning the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who Ankara says support Kurdish rebels inside Turkey.

Earlier Monday Trump said he planned "big sanctions" against Turkey for the attacks into Syria, but also criticized the Kurds for allegedly trying to suck US forces into the conflict.

He suggested the Kurds were releasing Islamic State prisoners in their custody "to get us involved" in the conflict.

"Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey?" Trump said, ruing "never ending wars."

"The same people who got us into the Middle East mess are the people who most want to stay there!" 
&nbsp;

The Pentagon has begun removing all its troops in northern Syria, a US official said Monday, after President Donald Trump ordered them to leave in the face of Turkey's attacks on Kurds in the area.

The Pentagon has begun removing all its troops in northern Syria, a US official said Monday, after President Donald Trump ordered them to leave in the face of Turkey's attacks on Kurds in the area. Nearly 1,000 troops will vacate the country, leaving behind only a small contingent of 150 in the southern Syria base at Al Tanf, the official said. "We are executing the order," the official told AFP. Also read: Big sanctions coming on Turkey, declares US President Trump Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pressing a deadly assault against Kurdish forces -- a key US ally in the five-year battle to crush the Islamic State group -- in northeastern Syria since Wednesday last week. Trump, whose order to pull back US special forces from the border effectively triggered the incursion, has faced a firestorm of criticism for appearing to give NATO member Turkey the green light for the push. On Sunday Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump had ordered the withdrawal of the remaining troops deployed in northern Syria, with the US seeking to avoid getting caught between two allies. But Esper did not make clear whether the troops would simply pull back to a position further south or quit the country completely. Trump's critics accuse him of abandoning the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who Ankara says support Kurdish rebels inside Turkey. Earlier Monday Trump said he planned "big sanctions" against Turkey for the attacks into Syria, but also criticized the Kurds for allegedly trying to suck US forces into the conflict. He suggested the Kurds were releasing Islamic State prisoners in their custody "to get us involved" in the conflict. "Do people really think we should go to war with NATO Member Turkey?" Trump said, ruing "never ending wars." "The same people who got us into the Middle East mess are the people who most want to stay there!"

US troops in northern Syria ordered to leave country: US official

The Syrian regime sent troops towards the Turkish border on Monday to contain Ankara's deadly offensive against the Kurds, stepping in for US forces due to begin a controversial withdrawal.

Outgunned and without US protection, the autonomous Kurds in northeastern Syria had few other options to stop the rapid advance of Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/big-sanctions-coming-on-turkey-declares-us-president-trump-255891">Big sanctions coming on Turkey, declares US President Trump</a>

Turkey wants to create a roughly 30-kilometre (20-mile) buffer zone along its border to keep Kurdish forces at bay and also to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts.

The United States and its partners, who spent years fighting alongside the Kurds against the Islamic State group in Syria before deserting them, have condemned the Turkish invasion, but their threats of sanctions have failed to stop it.

Washington says that it is planning to pull out 1,000 troops &nbsp;-- almost the entire ground force -- from Syria's north, in a move welcomed Monday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as "a positive approach."

The chaos in the areas targeted in the six-day-old Turkish assault has already led to the escape of around 800 foreign women and children linked to IS from a Kurdish-run camp, Kurdish authorities said.

The Kurds had repeatedly warned of that scenario when Western countries refused to repatriate their IS-linked nationals and when US President Donald Trump made it clear he wanted to end the US military presence.

But Trump on Monday said the Kurds "may be releasing" IS prisoners to keep the US involved in Syria.

Wasting no time to fill the void, Moscow -- already the top broker in Syria -- clinched a <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/celebrations-erupt-as-kurds-and-syrian-government-reach-a-deal-255737">deal between the Kurds and Damascus</a>, whose ties had been icy since the minority threw its lot with Washington and unilaterally declared self-rule.

"In order to prevent and confront this aggression, an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government," the Kurdish administration said in a statement late Sunday.

Averting 'genocide'

In an editorial published in Foreign Policy magazine, the head of the main Kurdish force wrote: "If we have to choose between compromises and the genocide of our people, we will surely choose life for our people."

By Monday morning, Syrian government forces were already moving to within several kilometres (miles) of the border, AFP correspondents on the ground said.

Residents around the town of Tall Tamr welcomed regime forces with cheers and Syrian state television showed some of them waving national flags and portraits of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian troops also deployed in the areas of Tabqa and Ain Issa in the northern province of Raqa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

According to a newspaper close to the Damascus regime, Syrian forces were also expected to deploy in the areas of Manbij and the border town of Kobane.

The main remaining flashpoint along the border was the town of Ras al-Ain, where Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have put up stiff resistance against Turkish air strikes and shelling for almost a week.

"There is a large tunnel network under the town" said Abou Bassam, a Syrian rebel commander fighting with Ankara's forces.

The SDF "are moving swiftly, mostly underground, and all buildings in Ras al Ain have trenches" he told AFP.

According to Observatory, the Turkish attack -- which uses Syrian proxies on the ground -- has already left 128 SDF fighters and 69 civilians dead.

The United Nations says 130,000 people have been displaced.&nbsp;

Rising toll

On the Turkish side, four soldiers and 18 civilians have been confirmed killed in six days, either in fighting or from Kurdish cross-border fire, according to Turkish sources.

The Observatory put the number of pro-Turkish Syrian forces killed in the offensive at 94.

An internal document circulated by the Kurdish administration on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, stressed the deal with Damascus was purely of a military nature and did not affect the work of the semi-autonomous institutions.

But the de-facto statelet the Kurdish administration had set up in northeastern Syria has fast unravelled in recent days, with its forces losing control of a 120-kilometre-long segment of the border.

The area that is now under the control of Turkey and its proxies is ethnically Arab-dominated and some residents welcomed Turkish-backed forces.

Betrayal

Kurdish officials and residents alike in northeastern Syria have expressed outrage at what they call a US betrayal that shortchanges the sacrifices made in the fight against IS.

Since 2014, the SDF have been the US-led anti-IS coalition's main partner on the ground in Syria, spearheading some key battles on the way to eliminating the jihadists' self-proclaimed "caliphate" earlier this year.

"The United States has lost its defeat mechanism against the Islamic State," the Institute for the Study of War wrote in a brief.

"It took years for the US to realise that the SDF were the only capable partners. They will not partner with us again," it said.

The Syrian regime sent troops towards the Turkish border on Monday to contain Ankara's deadly offensive against the Kurds, stepping in for US forces due to begin a controversial withdrawal.

The Syrian regime sent troops towards the Turkish border on Monday to contain Ankara's deadly offensive against the Kurds, stepping in for US forces due to begin a controversial withdrawal. Outgunned and without US protection, the autonomous Kurds in northeastern Syria had few other options to stop the rapid advance of Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies. Also read: Big sanctions coming on Turkey, declares US President Trump Turkey wants to create a roughly 30-kilometre (20-mile) buffer zone along its border to keep Kurdish forces at bay and also to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts. The United States and its partners, who spent years fighting alongside the Kurds against the Islamic State group in Syria before deserting them, have condemned the Turkish invasion, but their threats of sanctions have failed to stop it. Washington says that it is planning to pull out 1,000 troops -- almost the entire ground force -- from Syria's north, in a move welcomed Monday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as "a positive approach." The chaos in the areas targeted in the six-day-old Turkish assault has already led to the escape of around 800 foreign women and children linked to IS from a Kurdish-run camp, Kurdish authorities said. The Kurds had repeatedly warned of that scenario when Western countries refused to repatriate their IS-linked nationals and when US President Donald Trump made it clear he wanted to end the US military presence. But Trump on Monday said the Kurds "may be releasing" IS prisoners to keep the US involved in Syria. Wasting no time to fill the void, Moscow -- already the top broker in Syria -- clinched a deal between the Kurds and Damascus, whose ties had been icy since the minority threw its lot with Washington and unilaterally declared self-rule. "In order to prevent and confront this aggression, an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government," the Kurdish administration said in a statement late Sunday. Averting 'genocide' In an editorial published in Foreign Policy magazine, the head of the main Kurdish force wrote: "If we have to choose between compromises and the genocide of our people, we will surely choose life for our people." By Monday morning, Syrian government forces were already moving to within several kilometres (miles) of the border, AFP correspondents on the ground said. Residents around the town of Tall Tamr welcomed regime forces with cheers and Syrian state television showed some of them waving national flags and portraits of President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian troops also deployed in the areas of Tabqa and Ain Issa in the northern province of Raqa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. According to a newspaper close to the Damascus regime, Syrian forces were also expected to deploy in the areas of Manbij and the border town of Kobane. The main remaining flashpoint along the border was the town of Ras al-Ain, where Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have put up stiff resistance against Turkish air strikes and shelling for almost a week. "There is a large tunnel network under the town" said Abou Bassam, a Syrian rebel commander fighting with Ankara's forces. The SDF "are moving swiftly, mostly underground, and all buildings in Ras al Ain have trenches" he told AFP. According to Observatory, the Turkish attack -- which uses Syrian proxies on the ground -- has already left 128 SDF fighters and 69 civilians dead. The United Nations says 130,000 people have been displaced. Rising toll On the Turkish side, four soldiers and 18 civilians have been confirmed killed in six days, either in fighting or from Kurdish cross-border fire, according to Turkish sources. The Observatory put the number of pro-Turkish Syrian forces killed in the offensive at 94. An internal document circulated by the Kurdish administration on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, stressed the deal with Damascus was purely of a military nature and did not affect the work of the semi-autonomous institutions. But the de-facto statelet the Kurdish administration had set up in northeastern Syria has fast unravelled in recent days, with its forces losing control of a 120-kilometre-long segment of the border. The area that is now under the control of Turkey and its proxies is ethnically Arab-dominated and some residents welcomed Turkish-backed forces. Betrayal Kurdish officials and residents alike in northeastern Syria have expressed outrage at what they call a US betrayal that shortchanges the sacrifices made in the fight against IS. Since 2014, the SDF have been the US-led anti-IS coalition's main partner on the ground in Syria, spearheading some key battles on the way to eliminating the jihadists' self-proclaimed "caliphate" earlier this year. "The United States has lost its defeat mechanism against the Islamic State," the Institute for the Study of War wrote in a brief. "It took years for the US to realise that the SDF were the only capable partners. They will not partner with us again," it said.

Syria regime steps in to halt Turkish assault on Kurds

Turkey denied that its offensive in northern Syria had allowed Islamic State prisoners to break out of detention camps, charging Monday that Kurdish militants had instead deliberately "emptied" a prison.&nbsp;

"There is only one Daesh (Islamic State) prison in our (operation) region and we have seen it was emptied by the YPG (the Kurdish People's Protection Units militia)," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters.

"There are pictures and films of it," he added, without naming the prison.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/big-sanctions-coming-on-turkey-declares-us-president-trump-255891">Big sanctions coming on Turkey, declares US President Trump</a>

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier hit out at "disinformation" reports that Turkey's offensive against Kurdish forces had allowed jihadists to escape.&nbsp;

"This is actually disinformation aimed at provoking America or the West," he said, quoted by the Hurriyet daily.&nbsp;

Kurdish authorities said Sunday that 800 IS family members being held in a camp at Ain Issa had fled due to Turkish bombing.&nbsp;

But relatives back in France told AFP that Kurdish guards had forced the women and children to leave the camp.

"Today (Sunday), the Kurdish guards opened the doors to the foreign women and asked them to leave the camp," said the mother of a 24-year-old woman, who had been kept at the camp with her infant son for the past 18 months.&nbsp;

"They didn't escape. They (the Kurdish forces) didn't want them. They were expecting to be taken over by Syrian or Turkish forces, but they were kicked out. For several days, the bombs were falling closer and closer to the camp, where there were no more NGOs, no more help," she added.&nbsp;

Kurdish forces also claimed that five IS jihadists escaped on Friday from a prison in the region.

Turkey is in the sixth day of its offensive in Syria against the YPG, which it sees as "terrorists" but which were a crucial ally for the United States and western powers against IS.&nbsp;

President Donald Trump denied Monday that removing US troops from the region was risking a mass escape of IS prisoners held by the Kurdish forces.&nbsp;

"Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly," he wrote on Twitter.

France, which accounts for the largest number of European jihadists in Syria, said Sunday it was "worried" by the situation and has called for an end to the Turkish offensive.

Turkey denied that its offensive in northern Syria had allowed Islamic State prisoners to break out of detention camps, charging Monday that Kurdish militants had instead deliberately "emptied" a prison.

Turkey denied that its offensive in northern Syria had allowed Islamic State prisoners to break out of detention camps, charging Monday that Kurdish militants had instead deliberately "emptied" a prison. "There is only one Daesh (Islamic State) prison in our (operation) region and we have seen it was emptied by the YPG (the Kurdish People's Protection Units militia)," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters. "There are pictures and films of it," he added, without naming the prison. Also read: Big sanctions coming on Turkey, declares US President Trump President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier hit out at "disinformation" reports that Turkey's offensive against Kurdish forces had allowed jihadists to escape. "This is actually disinformation aimed at provoking America or the West," he said, quoted by the Hurriyet daily. Kurdish authorities said Sunday that 800 IS family members being held in a camp at Ain Issa had fled due to Turkish bombing. But relatives back in France told AFP that Kurdish guards had forced the women and children to leave the camp. "Today (Sunday), the Kurdish guards opened the doors to the foreign women and asked them to leave the camp," said the mother of a 24-year-old woman, who had been kept at the camp with her infant son for the past 18 months. "They didn't escape. They (the Kurdish forces) didn't want them. They were expecting to be taken over by Syrian or Turkish forces, but they were kicked out. For several days, the bombs were falling closer and closer to the camp, where there were no more NGOs, no more help," she added. Kurdish forces also claimed that five IS jihadists escaped on Friday from a prison in the region. Turkey is in the sixth day of its offensive in Syria against the YPG, which it sees as "terrorists" but which were a crucial ally for the United States and western powers against IS. President Donald Trump denied Monday that removing US troops from the region was risking a mass escape of IS prisoners held by the Kurdish forces. "Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly," he wrote on Twitter. France, which accounts for the largest number of European jihadists in Syria, said Sunday it was "worried" by the situation and has called for an end to the Turkish offensive.

Turkey denies offensive triggered IS prison break

When Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Riyadh this week for the second time in 12 years, his call for endorsement of his proposal to replace the US defence umbrella in the Gulf with a multilateral security architecture is likely to rank high on his agenda.

So is Putin’s push for Saudi Arabia to finalise the acquisition of Russia’s S-400 anti-missile defence system in the wake of the failure of US weaponry to intercept drones and missiles that last month struck key Saudi oil installations.

“We are ready to help Saudi Arabia protect their people. They need to make clever decisions…by deciding to buy the most advanced S-400 air-defence systems. These kinds of systems are capable of defending any kind of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia from any kind of attack,” Putin said immediately after the attacks.

Putin’s push for a multilateral security approach is helped by changing realities in the Gulf as a result of President Donald Trump’s repeated recent demonstrations of his unreliability as an ally.

Doubts about Trump have been fuelled by his reluctance to respond more forcefully to perceived Iranian provocations, including the downing of a US drone in June and the September attacks on the Saudi facilities as well as his distancing himself from Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu following last month’s elections, and most recently, the president’s leaving the Kurds to their own devices as they confront a Turkish invasion in Syria.

Framed in transactional terms in which Saudi Arabia pays for a service, Trump’s decision this week to send up to 3,000 troops and additional air defences to the kingdom is likely to do little to enhance confidence in his reliability.

By comparison, Putin, with the backing of Chinese President Xi Jinping, seems a much more reliable partner even if Riyadh differs with Moscow and Beijing on key issues, including Iran, Syria and Turkey.

“While Russia is a reliable ally, the US is not. Many in the Middle East may not approve of Moscow supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but they respect Vladimir Putin for sticking by Russia’s beleaguered ally in Syria,” said Middle East scholar and commentator Mark N Katz.

In a twist of irony, Trump’s unreliability coupled with an Iran’s strategy of gradual escalation in response to the president’s imposition of harsh economic sanctions in a bid to force the Islamic republic to the negotiating table appear to have moderated what was perceived as a largely disastrous assertive and robust go-it-alone Saudi foreign and defense policy posture in recent years.

While everyone would benefit from a dialling down of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Trump’s overall performance as the guarantor of security in the Gulf could in the longer term pave the way for a more multilateral approach to the region’s security architecture.

In the latest sign of Saudi willingness to step back from the brink, Saudi Arabia is holding back channel talks for the first time in two years with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The talks began after both sides declared partial ceasefires in the more than four-year-long Yemeni war.

The talks potentially open the door to a broader Russian-sponsored deal in the context of some understanding about non-aggression between the kingdom and Iran, in which Saudi Arabia would re-establish diplomatic relations with Syria in exchange for the Islamic republic dropping its support for the Houthis.

Restoring diplomatic relations and reversing the Arab League’s suspension of Syrian membership because of the civil war would constitute a victory for Al-Assad’s main backers, Russia and Iran. It would grant greater legitimacy to a leader viewed by significant segments of the international community as a pariah.

A Saudi-Iranian swap of Syria for Yemen could also facilitate Saudi financial contributions to the reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria. Saudi Arabia was conspicuously absent at last month’s Rebuild Syria Expo in Damascus.&nbsp;

Putin is likely to further leverage his enhanced credibility as well as Saudi-Russian cooperation in curtailing oil production to boost prices to persuade Saudi Arabia to follow through on promises to invest in Russia.

Saudi Arabia had agreed to take a stake in Russia’s Novatek Arctic-2 liquefied natural gas complex, acquire Sibur, Russia's largest petrochemical facility, and invest an additional $6 billion in future projects.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak predicted that “about 30 agreements and contracts will be signed during President Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia. We are working on it. These are investment projects, and the sum in question is billions of dollars.”

In anticipation of Putin’s visit, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said it was opening its first overseas office in Riyadh.

RDIF and the kingdom's counterpart, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), are believed to be looking at some $2.5 billion in investment in technology, medicine, infrastructure, transport and industrial production.

The Russian fund is also discussing with Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, $3 billion in investments in oil services and oil and gas conversion projects.

Saudi interest in economic cooperation with Russia goes beyond economics. Ensuring that world powers have an increasing stake in the kingdom’s security is one pillar of a more multilateral regional approach. 
&nbsp;

When Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Riyadh this week for the second time in 12 years, his call for endorsement of his proposal to replace the US defence umbrella in the Gulf with a multilateral security architecture is likely to rank high on his agenda.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Riyadh this week for the second time in 12 years, his call for endorsement of his proposal to replace the US defence umbrella in the Gulf with a multilateral security architecture is likely to rank high on his agenda. So is Putin’s push for Saudi Arabia to finalise the acquisition of Russia’s S-400 anti-missile defence system in the wake of the failure of US weaponry to intercept drones and missiles that last month struck key Saudi oil installations. “We are ready to help Saudi Arabia protect their people. They need to make clever decisions…by deciding to buy the most advanced S-400 air-defence systems. These kinds of systems are capable of defending any kind of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia from any kind of attack,” Putin said immediately after the attacks. Putin’s push for a multilateral security approach is helped by changing realities in the Gulf as a result of President Donald Trump’s repeated recent demonstrations of his unreliability as an ally. Doubts about Trump have been fuelled by his reluctance to respond more forcefully to perceived Iranian provocations, including the downing of a US drone in June and the September attacks on the Saudi facilities as well as his distancing himself from Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu following last month’s elections, and most recently, the president’s leaving the Kurds to their own devices as they confront a Turkish invasion in Syria. Framed in transactional terms in which Saudi Arabia pays for a service, Trump’s decision this week to send up to 3,000 troops and additional air defences to the kingdom is likely to do little to enhance confidence in his reliability. By comparison, Putin, with the backing of Chinese President Xi Jinping, seems a much more reliable partner even if Riyadh differs with Moscow and Beijing on key issues, including Iran, Syria and Turkey. “While Russia is a reliable ally, the US is not. Many in the Middle East may not approve of Moscow supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but they respect Vladimir Putin for sticking by Russia’s beleaguered ally in Syria,” said Middle East scholar and commentator Mark N Katz. In a twist of irony, Trump’s unreliability coupled with an Iran’s strategy of gradual escalation in response to the president’s imposition of harsh economic sanctions in a bid to force the Islamic republic to the negotiating table appear to have moderated what was perceived as a largely disastrous assertive and robust go-it-alone Saudi foreign and defense policy posture in recent years. While everyone would benefit from a dialling down of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Trump’s overall performance as the guarantor of security in the Gulf could in the longer term pave the way for a more multilateral approach to the region’s security architecture. In the latest sign of Saudi willingness to step back from the brink, Saudi Arabia is holding back channel talks for the first time in two years with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The talks began after both sides declared partial ceasefires in the more than four-year-long Yemeni war. The talks potentially open the door to a broader Russian-sponsored deal in the context of some understanding about non-aggression between the kingdom and Iran, in which Saudi Arabia would re-establish diplomatic relations with Syria in exchange for the Islamic republic dropping its support for the Houthis. Restoring diplomatic relations and reversing the Arab League’s suspension of Syrian membership because of the civil war would constitute a victory for Al-Assad’s main backers, Russia and Iran. It would grant greater legitimacy to a leader viewed by significant segments of the international community as a pariah. A Saudi-Iranian swap of Syria for Yemen could also facilitate Saudi financial contributions to the reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria. Saudi Arabia was conspicuously absent at last month’s Rebuild Syria Expo in Damascus. Putin is likely to further leverage his enhanced credibility as well as Saudi-Russian cooperation in curtailing oil production to boost prices to persuade Saudi Arabia to follow through on promises to invest in Russia. Saudi Arabia had agreed to take a stake in Russia’s Novatek Arctic-2 liquefied natural gas complex, acquire Sibur, Russia's largest petrochemical facility, and invest an additional $6 billion in future projects. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak predicted that “about 30 agreements and contracts will be signed during President Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia. We are working on it. These are investment projects, and the sum in question is billions of dollars.” In anticipation of Putin’s visit, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said it was opening its first overseas office in Riyadh. RDIF and the kingdom's counterpart, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), are believed to be looking at some $2.5 billion in investment in technology, medicine, infrastructure, transport and industrial production. The Russian fund is also discussing with Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, $3 billion in investments in oil services and oil and gas conversion projects. Saudi interest in economic cooperation with Russia goes beyond economics. Ensuring that world powers have an increasing stake in the kingdom’s security is one pillar of a more multilateral regional approach.

Saudi Arabia's interest in Russia goes beyond economics

thousands Have Fled Their Homes & Hundreds Killed As Turkey's Military Offensive In Syria Continues For The Third Day.

Gravitas: Trump Offers To Mediate Between Turkey & Kurds

Why the conflict between Turkey and Kurds started?

The Story of The Turkish-Kurdish Conflict

Turkey's defence ministry said today that one its soldier was killed during clashes with Kurdish militia in the northern Syria operation as it continued its push&nbsp;across the border.

Three more soldiers were injured in the "operation region", the defence ministry added.

Turkish troops continued their operation<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/thousands-flee-dozens-reported-killed-as-turkey-pushes-syria-assault-255067">&nbsp;inside Syria</a> even as a divided UN Security Council on Thursday was&nbsp;unable to convince the rest of the 15-state body to adopt a statement asking Turkey to halt its military operations in northern Syria.

France, Germany, Britain, Belgium and Poland were forced to deliver their statement alone, while the United States issued a separate statement asserting that it did not endorse the Turkish operation.

Watch Video:

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/turkeys-syria-invasion-us-president-trump-offers-to-mediate-255136/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Turkey had told the United Nations Security Council that its military operation in northern Syria would be "proportionate, measured and responsible".

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “very concerned” by developments in northeast Syria and “any military operation must fully respect the U.N. Charter and international humanitarian law,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Guterres called for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and Haq said Guterres "believes that there's no military solution to the Syrian conflict."

The move comes even as thousands of civilians fled the border towns of &nbsp;Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya as Turkish troops continued their assault just days after <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/mediating-deal-between-turkey-and-the-kurds-one-of-the-choices-trump-255085">President Trump pulled the last </a>of the US troops from the region.

The Observatory said Turkish forces had already seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad on Thursday just hours after the operation started.

Turkey's defence ministry said today that one its soldier was killed during clashes with Kurdish militia in the northern Syria operation as it continued its push across the border.

Turkey's defence ministry said today that one its soldier was killed during clashes with Kurdish militia in the northern Syria operation as it continued its push across the border. Three more soldiers were injured in the "operation region", the defence ministry added. Turkish troops continued their operation inside Syria even as a divided UN Security Council on Thursday was unable to convince the rest of the 15-state body to adopt a statement asking Turkey to halt its military operations in northern Syria. France, Germany, Britain, Belgium and Poland were forced to deliver their statement alone, while the United States issued a separate statement asserting that it did not endorse the Turkish operation. Watch Video: Turkey had told the United Nations Security Council that its military operation in northern Syria would be "proportionate, measured and responsible". United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “very concerned” by developments in northeast Syria and “any military operation must fully respect the U.N. Charter and international humanitarian law,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said. Guterres called for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and Haq said Guterres "believes that there's no military solution to the Syrian conflict." The move comes even as thousands of civilians fled the border towns of Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya as Turkish troops continued their assault just days after President Trump pulled the last of the US troops from the region. The Observatory said Turkish forces had already seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad on Thursday just hours after the operation started.

First Turkish soldier killed during Syria operation: Defence ministry

As Turkish troops began their offensive in northeast Syria, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/thousands-flee-dozens-reported-killed-as-turkey-pushes-syria-assault-255067">US President Trump said</a> he hopes he can mediate between Turkey and Kurds.

"We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win militarily, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-faces-us-sanctions-from-hell-after-syria-kurd-assault-255061">hit Turkey very hard financially</a> and with sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds! the US president said.

On Tuesday, thousands of civilians fled their homes as Turkish troops pounded Kurdish military positions in northeast Syria. According to reports, at least twenty-three fighters with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and six fighters with a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group were killed in the initial assault launched by Turkish troops.

Trump, however, declared that ISS was defeated "100%" and the US no longer "has any troops in the area under attack by Turkey, in Syria." "We did our job perfectly," the US president added.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate and no longer have any troops in the area under attack by Turkey, in Syria. We did our job perfectly! Now Turkey is attacking the Kurds, who have been fighting each other for 200 years....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1182387197066039298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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"Now Turkey is attacking the Kurds, who have been fighting each other for 200 years," he said.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
....We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1182387198164946944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The civilian exodus from the area around the military operation has been immense. The International Rescue Committee said 64,000 people in Syria have fled since the campaign began on Wednesday&nbsp;with Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya towns which fall directly in the assault zone practically deserted.

The rescue committee said Turkish forces had already seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad. Meanwhile, Turkey has said it intends to create a "safe zone" for the return of millions of refugees to Syria even as fighting continues in the region.

Turkey President Erdogan defiantly declared on Thursday that he would permit Syrian refugees in Turkey to move to Europe if EU countries described his forces' move as an occupation. Turkey is reportedly holding at least 3.6 million people who have fled the conflict in Syria.&nbsp;

Although Turkey brands the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as terrorists because of their ties to militants who have waged an insurgency in Turkey, the US Congress feels Kurds have been instrumental in defeating the Islamic State terrorists.

As Turkish troops began their offensive in northeast Syria, US President Trump said he hopes he can mediate between Turkey and Kurds. "We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win militarily, hit Turkey very hard financially and with sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!

As Turkish troops began their offensive in northeast Syria, US President Trump said he hopes he can mediate between Turkey and Kurds. "We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win militarily, hit Turkey very hard financially and with sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds! the US president said. On Tuesday, thousands of civilians fled their homes as Turkish troops pounded Kurdish military positions in northeast Syria. According to reports, at least twenty-three fighters with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and six fighters with a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group were killed in the initial assault launched by Turkish troops. Trump, however, declared that ISS was defeated "100%" and the US no longer "has any troops in the area under attack by Turkey, in Syria." "We did our job perfectly," the US president added. We defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate and no longer have any troops in the area under attack by Turkey, in Syria. We did our job perfectly! Now Turkey is attacking the Kurds, who have been fighting each other for 200 years.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2019 × "Now Turkey is attacking the Kurds, who have been fighting each other for 200 years," he said. ....We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2019 × Watch Video: The civilian exodus from the area around the military operation has been immense. The International Rescue Committee said 64,000 people in Syria have fled since the campaign began on Wednesday with Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya towns which fall directly in the assault zone practically deserted. The rescue committee said Turkish forces had already seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad. Meanwhile, Turkey has said it intends to create a "safe zone" for the return of millions of refugees to Syria even as fighting continues in the region. Turkey President Erdogan defiantly declared on Thursday that he would permit Syrian refugees in Turkey to move to Europe if EU countries described his forces' move as an occupation. Turkey is reportedly holding at least 3.6 million people who have fled the conflict in Syria. Although Turkey brands the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as terrorists because of their ties to militants who have waged an insurgency in Turkey, the US Congress feels Kurds have been instrumental in defeating the Islamic State terrorists.

Mediating deal between Turkey and the Kurds one of the choices: Trump

Turkey pounded Kurdish militia in northeast Syria for a second day on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee and killing at least dozens of people in a cross-border assault on U.S. allies that has turned the Washington establishment against President Donald Trump.

Turkey Invades Syria and attacks Kurds

For the second time in two years, Jihan and her family had to pack their bags and abandon their home in northern Syria because of a Turkish invasion.

As she picked her way through the belongings other <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/more-than-60000-displaced-by-turkey-assault-on-syria-monitor-255034">displaced families </a>had strewn across the schoolyard, the 47-year-old mother felt a mix of anger and wary deja vu.

"We don't know where to go," she said, moments after reaching the school in the city Hasakeh which the autonomous Kurdish administration turned into a shelter.

According to the United Nations, 70,000 people have had to flee their homes since <a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/turkey-invades-syria-and-attacks-kurds-255086">Turkey launched a cross-border offensive </a>on Kurdish-controlled areas on Wednesday.

It is the third time since the start of the Syria conflict in 2011 that Turkey has invaded northern Syria.

The last time was in early 2018, when Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies seized the Kurdish-majority area of Afrin, causing another major wave of displacement.

Jihan and her family fled her native Afrin then and settled in Kobane, another mostly Kurdish border town that suffered major destruction earlier in the war.

On Thursday, she had to flee again and join the flock of civilians who have streaming to Hasakeh, an eastern city that has not been targeted by Turkey so far.

"What does Erdogan want from us?," she raged, referring to the Turkish president. "Is it all simply because we are Kurds?"

She and most other displaced Kurds have been unable to return to Afrin, where mostly Sunni Arab former rebels loyal to Ankara have settled.

Some of the same former rebels, who were defeated by regime forces and cannot return to their own native regions in Syria, are now supporting Turkey's latest operation.

History is repeating itself in many ways: Turkey launched its attack on Afrin last year after Russian forces quit positions in the area.

This week, Ankara and its proxies launched their offensive two days after US forces pulled back from the border, leaving their Kurdish allies in the lurch.

"In Afrin, Russia sold us out. Today, America is selling us out," is how Jihan summed it up.

In the schoolyard in Hasakeh, the displaced children play on a rusty old swing while their parents start unpacking their bags and feed the youngest.

Most of the displaced are from the largest towns on the border, including Kobane, Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain.

"Following the emergency... people went to Tall Tamr, Hasakeh, and surrounding villages. We have requisitioned three schools to house the people," said Majida Amin, a local official in charge of displaced people.

She said that the number of people who were given shelter in the first school was 220 and increasing with every hour.

Amin said that little help was available from local aid groups and called on the international community to step up and organise the emergency humanitarian response.

She explained that most of the people who fled their homes try to move in with relatives who live in safer areas before coming to the newly opened shelters.

Since Turkish jets and artillery started raining bombs and shells, families can be seen heading away from the border, some of them walking down roads with bags and bundles on their backs.

Others like Ibrahim Fares and his family were able to squeeze in a car to leave Ras al-Ain, one of the towns hardest hit.

"Now we don't know where to go and where we will sleep," the 28-year-old said.

For the second time in two years, Jihan and her family had to pack their bags and abandon their home in northern Syria because of a Turkish invasion. As she picked her way through the belongings other displaced families had strewn across the schoolyard, the 47-year-old mother felt a mix of anger and wary deja vu.

For the second time in two years, Jihan and her family had to pack their bags and abandon their home in northern Syria because of a Turkish invasion. As she picked her way through the belongings other displaced families had strewn across the schoolyard, the 47-year-old mother felt a mix of anger and wary deja vu. "We don't know where to go," she said, moments after reaching the school in the city Hasakeh which the autonomous Kurdish administration turned into a shelter. According to the United Nations, 70,000 people have had to flee their homes since Turkey launched a cross-border offensive on Kurdish-controlled areas on Wednesday. It is the third time since the start of the Syria conflict in 2011 that Turkey has invaded northern Syria. The last time was in early 2018, when Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies seized the Kurdish-majority area of Afrin, causing another major wave of displacement. Jihan and her family fled her native Afrin then and settled in Kobane, another mostly Kurdish border town that suffered major destruction earlier in the war. On Thursday, she had to flee again and join the flock of civilians who have streaming to Hasakeh, an eastern city that has not been targeted by Turkey so far. "What does Erdogan want from us?," she raged, referring to the Turkish president. "Is it all simply because we are Kurds?" She and most other displaced Kurds have been unable to return to Afrin, where mostly Sunni Arab former rebels loyal to Ankara have settled. Some of the same former rebels, who were defeated by regime forces and cannot return to their own native regions in Syria, are now supporting Turkey's latest operation. History is repeating itself in many ways: Turkey launched its attack on Afrin last year after Russian forces quit positions in the area. This week, Ankara and its proxies launched their offensive two days after US forces pulled back from the border, leaving their Kurdish allies in the lurch. "In Afrin, Russia sold us out. Today, America is selling us out," is how Jihan summed it up. In the schoolyard in Hasakeh, the displaced children play on a rusty old swing while their parents start unpacking their bags and feed the youngest. Most of the displaced are from the largest towns on the border, including Kobane, Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain. "Following the emergency... people went to Tall Tamr, Hasakeh, and surrounding villages. We have requisitioned three schools to house the people," said Majida Amin, a local official in charge of displaced people. She said that the number of people who were given shelter in the first school was 220 and increasing with every hour. Amin said that little help was available from local aid groups and called on the international community to step up and organise the emergency humanitarian response. She explained that most of the people who fled their homes try to move in with relatives who live in safer areas before coming to the newly opened shelters. Since Turkish jets and artillery started raining bombs and shells, families can be seen heading away from the border, some of them walking down roads with bags and bundles on their backs. Others like Ibrahim Fares and his family were able to squeeze in a car to leave Ras al-Ain, one of the towns hardest hit. "Now we don't know where to go and where we will sleep," the 28-year-old said.

In Syria, history repeats itself for displaced Kurds

By James L Gelvin

Turkey’s attack on Kurdish-run territory in northern Syria will likely snuff out a radical experiment in self-government that is unlike anything I have seen in more than 30 years studying the Middle East.

In a surprise October 6 statement, President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw its troops from northern Syria.

Approximately 1,000 American soldiers had been stationed in that region as a buffer separating Kurdish forces – who had been working with the Americans in the fight against the Islamic State – from Turkish troops. Turkey feared that the Syrian Kurds would link up with Turkey’s Kurdish minority who have demanded autonomy or independence.

On October 9, the Turkish military began its assault, pummeling Kurdish-held territory with artillery and airstrikes. Kurds are rapidly evacuating the region and at least 24 people have been killed in northern Syria. Retaliatory strikes from Syria have killed civilians in southern Turkey.

According to Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s goal is to create a buffer zone separating Syria’s Kurds from the Turkish border.

But his country’s attack will do much more than that. If successful, it will destroy the most full-fledged democracy the Middle East has yet to see.

A different way to govern

The Kurds call their autonomous region in Syria “Rojava,” meaning “the land where the sunsets.”

Kurdish-led forces took possession of this swath of territory in northern and eastern Syria from direct Syrian government control in 2012. Then they successfully defended it against the Islamic State.

Kurdish Syria is a small portion of a territory, known as Kurdistan, that includes parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Kurdistan is home to approximately 25-35 million Kurds, a cultural and ethnic minority in the Middle East.

The key to understanding the Rojava project, as those involved often refer to it, is the notion of “confederalism.” In this form of government, local units – in this case, Kurdistan’s “autonomous regions” – come together in a federation yet retain a great deal of autonomy.

Because sovereign power belongs to the local units and not to a central government, Kurdish confederalism differs from an American-style federal system.

The Kurds are so serious about devolving power to the local level that Rojava’s charter requires each of its three regions to have its own flag. And within each region, local elected councils are in charge. They organize garbage collection, adjudicate disputes and manage public health and safety.

Confederalism sets the Kurds apart from almost every other government in the Middle East.&nbsp;

Across the region, power is concentrated at the top. Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, is an authoritarian leader who has ruthlessly crushed his opponents in the country’s eight-year civil war. Egypt has a military government. Saudi Arabia has a king.

But Rojava would be an exceptional society almost anywhere.

Rojava’s charter guarantees freedom of expression and assembly and equality of all religious communities and languages. It mandates direct democracy, term limits and gender equality. Men and women share every position in government. Kurdish women have fought the Islamic State in Syria as soldiers in an all-female militia.

In a region where religion and politics are often intertwined, the Kurdish state is secular. Religious leaders cannot serve in politics. Rojava’s charter even affirms the right of all citizens to a healthy environment.

Surrounding countries, including Syria, also have constitutions with eloquent endorsements of political and human rights.

In Rojava, however, the constitution is actually in effect. Syrian Kurds have realized the dream of the 2010-2011 pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world.

Rojava’s downsides

Internal cleavages in Syria’s Kurdish community undermine the Rojava project – namely, the perpetual jockeying for power between rival Kurdish clans and the struggle for preeminence among Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds.

The Kurds also have a troubled relationship with Syria’s Arabs and other groups. Beginning in the 1960s, the Syrian government began moving other populations to Kurdish territory to challenge Kurdish dominance there, sparking Kurdish resentment.

The devastation wrought by the Islamic State – such as the mass murder of the Yazidis, a religious minority within the Kurdish community, and sexual enslavement of their women – further fueled this resentment.

There have been numerous reports of Kurdish soldiers taking violent revenge against captured Islamic State members, alleged collaborators and even entire villages suspected of aiding the Islamic State enemy.

The Kurdish region of Syria also has some politically problematic origins.

The Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party – Rojava’s leading political party – played an outsized role in the creation of Rojava. The party is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a far-left militant group that has fought against the Turkish government, first for the independence of Kurds from Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s, then – in the early 2000s – for their autonomy within Turkish borders.

Many Kurds in Rojava consider PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan a national hero. It was Ocalan who came up with the idea of confederalism in the first place, back in 2005.

But both Turkey and the United States consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization. The PKK is currently conducting an insurgency against the Turkish government.

Danger ahead 
 
The Rojava project is now in imminent peril.

Even if Turkey hadn’t launched its military offensive, Rojava would probably still have a tenuous future.

The Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party has refused to take sides in the Syrian civil war. Its vision, now realized, lay elsewhere.

Nevertheless, it is doubtful that the Syrian regime will reward Kurds for their relative impartiality during the civil war. Nor is it likely that the regime will reward them for limiting their goal to autonomy instead of independence.

The reason: Rojava sits atop Syria’s largest oil fields.

(James L Gelvin is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/turkish-attack-on-syria-endangers-a-remarkable-democratic-experiment-by-the-kurds-125105">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) &nbsp; 
&nbsp;

By James L Gelvin Turkey’s attack on Kurdish-run territory in northern Syria will likely snuff out a radical experiment in self-government that is unlike anything I have seen in more than 30 years studying the Middle East.

By James L Gelvin Turkey’s attack on Kurdish-run territory in northern Syria will likely snuff out a radical experiment in self-government that is unlike anything I have seen in more than 30 years studying the Middle East. In a surprise October 6 statement, President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw its troops from northern Syria. Approximately 1,000 American soldiers had been stationed in that region as a buffer separating Kurdish forces – who had been working with the Americans in the fight against the Islamic State – from Turkish troops. Turkey feared that the Syrian Kurds would link up with Turkey’s Kurdish minority who have demanded autonomy or independence. On October 9, the Turkish military began its assault, pummeling Kurdish-held territory with artillery and airstrikes. Kurds are rapidly evacuating the region and at least 24 people have been killed in northern Syria. Retaliatory strikes from Syria have killed civilians in southern Turkey. According to Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s goal is to create a buffer zone separating Syria’s Kurds from the Turkish border. But his country’s attack will do much more than that. If successful, it will destroy the most full-fledged democracy the Middle East has yet to see. A different way to govern The Kurds call their autonomous region in Syria “Rojava,” meaning “the land where the sunsets.” Kurdish-led forces took possession of this swath of territory in northern and eastern Syria from direct Syrian government control in 2012. Then they successfully defended it against the Islamic State. Kurdish Syria is a small portion of a territory, known as Kurdistan, that includes parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Kurdistan is home to approximately 25-35 million Kurds, a cultural and ethnic minority in the Middle East. The key to understanding the Rojava project, as those involved often refer to it, is the notion of “confederalism.” In this form of government, local units – in this case, Kurdistan’s “autonomous regions” – come together in a federation yet retain a great deal of autonomy. Because sovereign power belongs to the local units and not to a central government, Kurdish confederalism differs from an American-style federal system. The Kurds are so serious about devolving power to the local level that Rojava’s charter requires each of its three regions to have its own flag. And within each region, local elected councils are in charge. They organize garbage collection, adjudicate disputes and manage public health and safety. Confederalism sets the Kurds apart from almost every other government in the Middle East. Across the region, power is concentrated at the top. Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, is an authoritarian leader who has ruthlessly crushed his opponents in the country’s eight-year civil war. Egypt has a military government. Saudi Arabia has a king. But Rojava would be an exceptional society almost anywhere. Rojava’s charter guarantees freedom of expression and assembly and equality of all religious communities and languages. It mandates direct democracy, term limits and gender equality. Men and women share every position in government. Kurdish women have fought the Islamic State in Syria as soldiers in an all-female militia. In a region where religion and politics are often intertwined, the Kurdish state is secular. Religious leaders cannot serve in politics. Rojava’s charter even affirms the right of all citizens to a healthy environment. Surrounding countries, including Syria, also have constitutions with eloquent endorsements of political and human rights. In Rojava, however, the constitution is actually in effect. Syrian Kurds have realized the dream of the 2010-2011 pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world. Rojava’s downsides Internal cleavages in Syria’s Kurdish community undermine the Rojava project – namely, the perpetual jockeying for power between rival Kurdish clans and the struggle for preeminence among Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. The Kurds also have a troubled relationship with Syria’s Arabs and other groups. Beginning in the 1960s, the Syrian government began moving other populations to Kurdish territory to challenge Kurdish dominance there, sparking Kurdish resentment. The devastation wrought by the Islamic State – such as the mass murder of the Yazidis, a religious minority within the Kurdish community, and sexual enslavement of their women – further fueled this resentment. There have been numerous reports of Kurdish soldiers taking violent revenge against captured Islamic State members, alleged collaborators and even entire villages suspected of aiding the Islamic State enemy. The Kurdish region of Syria also has some politically problematic origins. The Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party – Rojava’s leading political party – played an outsized role in the creation of Rojava. The party is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a far-left militant group that has fought against the Turkish government, first for the independence of Kurds from Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s, then – in the early 2000s – for their autonomy within Turkish borders. Many Kurds in Rojava consider PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan a national hero. It was Ocalan who came up with the idea of confederalism in the first place, back in 2005. But both Turkey and the United States consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization. The PKK is currently conducting an insurgency against the Turkish government. Danger ahead The Rojava project is now in imminent peril. Even if Turkey hadn’t launched its military offensive, Rojava would probably still have a tenuous future. The Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party has refused to take sides in the Syrian civil war. Its vision, now realized, lay elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is doubtful that the Syrian regime will reward Kurds for their relative impartiality during the civil war. Nor is it likely that the regime will reward them for limiting their goal to autonomy instead of independence. The reason: Rojava sits atop Syria’s largest oil fields. (James L Gelvin is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds

Turkey's Invasion Of Syria & Trump's Decision To Allow It Has Sparked Global Criticism.

Gravitas: World condemns Turkey's move to invade Syria

Thousands Of Civilians Flee After Turkey's Strikes In North East Syria.

Gravitas: Turkey targets Kurds in Syria: Key implications

Turkey's Pounds Kurdish Forces In Turkey-Syria Border As Tensions Escalate.

Gravitas: Turkey's military offensive in Syria: Has the U.S. allowed a genocide?

India has expressed its "deep concern" at the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, an area dominated by minority Kurds who Ankara blames for terrorism.

In a strong response by New Delhi, the ministry of external affairs said, the "unilateral military offensive by Turkey in north-east Syria..undermine stability in the region and the fight against terrorism."

The west Asian country's action has the "potential for causing humanitarian and civilian distress" and urged it to "exercise restraint and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria."It called on Ankara to peaceful settle "all issues through dialogue and discussion," the MEA added.

The Syrian Ambassador to India Riad Abbas speaking to WION has welcomed New Delhi's statement

The statement by New Delhi comes on the back of Turkey backing Pakistan on Kashmir with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even raising Kashmir from the United Nations General Assembly in New York in Kashmir.

Turkey, along with Malaysia and China are the only three countries who have reacted negatively on New Delhi's decision to remove a special status for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has welcomed the Turkish invasion of Syria.&nbsp;

Pakistan foreign office spokesperson said, "We appreciate Turkey’s positive role in finding a viable political solution to the conflict in Syria. We also acknowledge Turkey’s humanitarian efforts by graciously hosting over 3.5 million Syrian refugees. We recognize Turkey’s legitimate security concerns in the region. Like Pakistan, Turkey has also been a victim of terrorism."

"Pakistan has been and continues to support the territorial integrity of Syria and expresses the hope that a political solution to the Syrian conflict will be reached at the earliest, that takes into account concerns of all regional stakeholders and parties to the conflict," he added.

India has expressed its "deep concern" at the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, an area dominated by minority Kurds who Ankara blames for terrorism. In a strong response by New Delhi, the ministry of external affairs said, the "unilateral military offensive by Turkey in north-east Syria.

India has expressed its "deep concern" at the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, an area dominated by minority Kurds who Ankara blames for terrorism. In a strong response by New Delhi, the ministry of external affairs said, the "unilateral military offensive by Turkey in north-east Syria..undermine stability in the region and the fight against terrorism." The west Asian country's action has the "potential for causing humanitarian and civilian distress" and urged it to "exercise restraint and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria."It called on Ankara to peaceful settle "all issues through dialogue and discussion," the MEA added. The Syrian Ambassador to India Riad Abbas speaking to WION has welcomed New Delhi's statement The statement by New Delhi comes on the back of Turkey backing Pakistan on Kashmir with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even raising Kashmir from the United Nations General Assembly in New York in Kashmir. Turkey, along with Malaysia and China are the only three countries who have reacted negatively on New Delhi's decision to remove a special status for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, Pakistan has welcomed the Turkish invasion of Syria. Pakistan foreign office spokesperson said, "We appreciate Turkey’s positive role in finding a viable political solution to the conflict in Syria. We also acknowledge Turkey’s humanitarian efforts by graciously hosting over 3.5 million Syrian refugees. We recognize Turkey’s legitimate security concerns in the region. Like Pakistan, Turkey has also been a victim of terrorism." "Pakistan has been and continues to support the territorial integrity of Syria and expresses the hope that a political solution to the Syrian conflict will be reached at the earliest, that takes into account concerns of all regional stakeholders and parties to the conflict," he added.

India expresses 'deep concern' over Turkish invasion of northern Syria; Pak lauds Ankara’s 'positive role'  

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that particularly dangerous <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/syria-kurds-say-two-civilians-killed-in-turkish-border-attack-254827">Islamic State group fighters</a> held by the Kurds in northeast Syria had been removed to US custody ahead of a Turkish attack Wednesday.

While Trump did not give any specifics, the Washington Post reported that <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/turkish-air-strikes-hit-northeast-syria-near-border-monitor-254813">US forces had gained control</a> of two notorious British fighters dubbed "The Beatles" and moved them to Iraq.

CNN also reported that the US military had taken custody of the two fighters, while ABC said they had been transferred to a safe location.

"We are taking some of the most dangerous ISIS fighters out and we're putting them in different locations where it's secure," Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

"We have taken a certain number of ISIS fighters who are particularly bad and we've wanted to make sure nothing happened to them with respect to getting out," he said.

Watch Video:

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The move addressed one of the most worrisome issues of Trump's green light to Turkey to invade Syria, where the Kurds, a longtime US battlefield partner, are viewed as a terror threat by Ankara, a NATO ally of Washington.&nbsp;

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been holding prisoner some 10,000 captured Islamic State group fighters.

Many have feared the Turkish attack would lead to them escaping and reconstituting the group.

The SDF-held fighters include around 2,000 of foreign nationality, many of them from European countries that have refused to take them back.

The two "Beatles" reportedly in US custody, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, were part of an extremely violent all-British four-man cell that kidnapped and tortured foreigners, including journalists, at the height of Islamic State group's power in Syria and Iraq.

One other was killed in a drone strike and the fourth is imprisoned on terror charges in Turkey.

Trump said the Kurds are still guarding many of the Islamic State group terrorists, but also said Turkey will be responsible for them.

"If the Kurds don't watch, Turkey will watch. They don't want those people out any more than we do," he said. 
&nbsp;

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that particularly dangerous Islamic State group fighters held by the Kurds in northeast Syria had been removed to US custody ahead of a Turkish attack Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that particularly dangerous Islamic State group fighters held by the Kurds in northeast Syria had been removed to US custody ahead of a Turkish attack Wednesday. While Trump did not give any specifics, the Washington Post reported that US forces had gained control of two notorious British fighters dubbed "The Beatles" and moved them to Iraq. CNN also reported that the US military had taken custody of the two fighters, while ABC said they had been transferred to a safe location. "We are taking some of the most dangerous ISIS fighters out and we're putting them in different locations where it's secure," Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. "We have taken a certain number of ISIS fighters who are particularly bad and we've wanted to make sure nothing happened to them with respect to getting out," he said. Watch Video: The move addressed one of the most worrisome issues of Trump's green light to Turkey to invade Syria, where the Kurds, a longtime US battlefield partner, are viewed as a terror threat by Ankara, a NATO ally of Washington. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been holding prisoner some 10,000 captured Islamic State group fighters. Many have feared the Turkish attack would lead to them escaping and reconstituting the group. The SDF-held fighters include around 2,000 of foreign nationality, many of them from European countries that have refused to take them back. The two "Beatles" reportedly in US custody, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, were part of an extremely violent all-British four-man cell that kidnapped and tortured foreigners, including journalists, at the height of Islamic State group's power in Syria and Iraq. One other was killed in a drone strike and the fourth is imprisoned on terror charges in Turkey. Trump said the Kurds are still guarding many of the Islamic State group terrorists, but also said Turkey will be responsible for them. "If the Kurds don't watch, Turkey will watch. They don't want those people out any more than we do," he said.

We have taken most dangerous Islamic State fighters in Syria: Trump

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