Turkey is blocking border evacuation; Kurdish forces have begun anti-Islamic State action: Commander
Turkey
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,PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoganon 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 aUnited States-brokered truce in northeastern Syriaeven 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.