Syria Kurd force denies links to Ankara attack as Turkiye strikes

Syria Kurd force denies links to Ankara attack as Turkiye strikes
Syrian Democratic Forces commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi speaks during an interview with AFP in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on October 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 27 October 2024
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Syria Kurd force denies links to Ankara attack as Turkiye strikes

Syria Kurd force denies links to Ankara attack as Turkiye strikes
  • Turkiye carried out air strikes against targets linked to Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria after Wednesday’s shooting and suicide attack that killed five people at a defense firm near the Turkish capital

HASAKEH: The commander of a Kurdish-led force in Syria denied links to a deadly attack near Ankara claimed by Kurdish PKK militants, after Turkish strikes on Kurd-held Syria killed more than a dozen people in retaliation.
Turkiye carried out air strikes against targets linked to Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria after Wednesday’s shooting and suicide attack that killed five people at a defense firm near the Turkish capital.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attackers infiltrated from neighboring Syria, vowing there would be no let-up in the fight against Kurdish militants.
“We opened an internal investigation and I can confirm that none of the attackers entered Turkiye from Syrian territory,” Mazloum Abdi, the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told AFP.
The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019.
It is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which claimed the attack on Ankara.
“We have no connection to this attack that took place in Ankara,” Abdi said late Saturday from Hasakah, a major city run by the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in northeast Syria.
“Our battlefields are inside Syrian territory,” he added.
Turkish strikes on Kurd-held Syria since Wednesday have killed 15 civilians and two fighters, according to Abdi.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Turkiye has launched more than 100 strikes, most of them using drones, since Wednesday.
It said civilian infrastructure including bakeries, grain silos and power stations were hit alongside military facilities and checkpoints used by Kurdish forces.
“It seems that (Turkiye’s) goal is not just to respond to the events that took place in Ankara, but also to target institutions and sources of livelihood for the population,” said Abdi.
“The main goal is to weaken and eliminate the (semi) autonomous administration, forcing the population to migrate,” he said.

Abdi said he was open to dialogue to de-escalate tensions but demanded an end to Turkiye’s attacks which he said are “ongoing” and suggest a potentially wider operation.
“We are ready to resolve issues with Turkiye through dialogue, but not under the pressure of attacks, so these operations must be stopped for dialogue efforts to continue,” Abdi said.
Turkish troops and allied rebel factions control swaths of northern Syria following successive cross-border offensives since 2016, most of them targeting the SDF.
“The Turkish state is taking advantage of the current events in the Middle East, as attention is directed toward Gaza, Lebanon and the Israeli attack on Iran” to launch new attacks on Syria, Abdi said.
Abdi criticized his US allies for not protecting Kurdish forces, saying the position of the US-led coalition “seems weak.”
The United States has about 900 troops in Syria as part of an anti-jihadist coalition.
“Their response is not at the level required to stop the attacks, and pressure must be put on Turkiye,” he added, saying the strikes on Syria “not only concern us but also affect their forces.”
The US presidential election on November 5 could also weaken support for the SDF if Donald Trump is elected, according to Abdi.
In 2019, Trump announced a decision to withdraw thousands of US troops from Kurdish-held Syria, paving the way for Turkiye to launch an invasion there that same year.
“In 2019, we had an unsuccessful experience with the administration of US President Trump,” said the SDF commander.
“But we are confident that the United States... makes its decisions based on” strategic interests in the region.


Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive

Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive
Updated 21 sec ago
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Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive

Hezbollah chief says group will be by Syria’s side amid militant offensive
Qassem denounced “terrorist groups” who “want to bring down the government in Syria“

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Thursday that his Lebanese militant group, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, would be by Damascus’s side as Islamist-led militants press a sweeping offensive.
In a televised address, Qassem denounced “terrorist groups” who “want to bring down the government in Syria,” adding: “They will not be able to achieve their goals despite what they have done in past days, and we as Hezbollah will be by Syria’s side in thwarting the goals of this aggression as much as we can.”

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says
Updated 49 min 29 sec ago
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Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says

Turkiye’s Erdogan tells UN’s Guterres new phase reached in Syrian conflict, presidency says
  • Syrian militants captured the key city of Hama on Thursday

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a call on Thursday that a new phase “being managed calmly” has been reached in the Syrian conflict, his office said.
Syrian militants captured the key city of Hama on Thursday, bringing the insurgents a major victory after a lightning advance across northern Syria and dealing a new blow to President Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
Erdogan told Guterres that the Syrian government needed to rapidly engage with its people to achieve a political solution, and added Turkiye was working to de-escalate tensions, protect civilians and pave the way for a political solution, his office said in a statement on X.


Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus
Updated 05 December 2024
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Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus

Syria state media says air defenses shoot down two ‘enemy’ drones over Damascus
  • “Our air defenses confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus,” the statement said

DAMASCUS: Syrian air defenses shot down two “enemy” drones over Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.
“A short time ago, our air defenses confronted enemy drone aircraft in the skies over Damascus,” the statement from the military source said, adding that “two aircraft were shot down, without any human or material losses.”


‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids

‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids
Updated 23 min 37 sec ago
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‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids

‘Can’t leave them to it’: ex-child soldier urges help for Sudan kids
  • The United Nations warned earlier this year that “an entire generation could be destroyed,” with millions facing disease and malnutrition
  • During a visit this week to the eastern city of Port Sudan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador Ishmael Beah met with displaced children and families

NAIROBI: A former child soldier has urged the world to do more to help children devastated by Sudan’s brutal civil war, telling AFP on Thursday that “we can’t just leave them to it.”
Since April 2023, the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, and displaced almost 11 million — among them five million children.
The United Nations warned earlier this year that “an entire generation could be destroyed,” with millions facing disease and malnutrition.
During a visit this week to the eastern city of Port Sudan, UNICEF goodwill ambassador Ishmael Beah — who was himself forcibly recruited into a Sierra Leone militia aged just 13 — met with displaced children and families.
“This collapse has really devastated a lot of their lives,” he told AFP in Nairobi shortly after the visit.
“It’s been difficult to constantly see what I experienced so many years ago is still happening to people.”
Beah described the plight of one woman he met, whose cousin and his wife were shot and killed after trying to defend themselves, leaving their child an orphan.
“So she took that child and basically ran with that child,” he said, describing it as just one case of remarkable resilience that he encountered.
“There are a lot of stories of rape and people being killed and constant bombardment, and people just running,” he added.
“It’s that restlessness and constant travel, the walking, and particularly for the girls, also then encountering checkpoints,” he said.
“There is a lot of rape.”
Beah said he had expected people’s spirits to be broken, but that was not what he found.
He said many of the young people he met were tough and, armed with the Internet, keen to share their own stories with the world.
“The message that all of them repeated over and over again was: ‘Can the world please help to end the war?’
“’We don’t care how they do it, but let it stop.’“


Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide

Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide
Updated 05 December 2024
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Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide

Israel army spokesman regrets remarks on bill linked to ex-Netanyahu aide
  • Hagari said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was “dangerous for the army and the country’s security“
  • Hagari was swiftly reprimanded by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, and apologized in a message on social media site X

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, has apologized for publicly criticizing a bill that would protect soldiers who disclose classified information to the prime minister.
Hagari, in a press conference on Wednesday, said the legal amendment considered by lawmakers was “dangerous for the army and the country’s security.”
The bill, which passed a preliminary reading in Israel’s parliament, aims to prevent the prosecution of soldiers or defense officials who disclose classified documents to the prime minister or the defense minister even if they do so without authorization.
Lawmakers and media outlets have dubbed it “Feldstein law,” after Eli Feldstein, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been charged with harming state security by transferring classified information.
The bill was drawn up in response to a domestic scandal over the alleged leaking of confidential material to foreign media to benefit Netanyahu, over which Feldstein has been charged.
Hagari said the bill was “very dangerous because it could allow any subordinate member of the IDF (Israeli military) to steal intelligence on their own initiative.”
The spokesman, who hardly ever comments on domestic politics, added that the bill would “endanger people’s lives and the lives of soldiers.”
Hagari was swiftly reprimanded by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, and apologized in a message on social media site X.
“In my statement this evening in response to questions, I expressed myself in a manner that exceeded my authority as the spokesman for the army, and I have been reprimanded for that by the chief of staff,” he said.
“The State of Israel is a democratic country and the IDF is subordinate to the political leadership.”
Netanyahu welcomed Hagari’s reprimand, saying in a statement late Wednesday that “in a democratic country, the army must not intervene in political affairs and certainly not criticize legislation.”
Hagari has become a familiar face to many Israelis with his frequent televised press briefings since the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
He was previously reprimanded by the government in June after referring to the idea that Hamas could be eliminated in Gaza as “smoke and mirrors” in a televised interview.