Civilians flee Syrian border as Turkey targets Kurds
Erdogan: We’re eliminating ‘terror corridor’
Akcakale, turkey (reuters) – turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast syria on wednesday just days after us troops pulled back from the area, with warplanes and artillery striking militia positions in several towns in the border region.
turkish president recep tayyip erdogan, announcing the start of the action, said the aim was to eliminate what he called a “terror corridor” on turkey’s southern border, but european countries immediately called on ankara to halt the operation. thousands of people fled the syrian town of ras al-ayn toward hasaka province, held by the Kurdish-led syrian democratic Forces. the turkish airstrikes had killed two civilians and wounded two others, the SDF said.
turkey had been poised to enter northeast syria since us troops, who have been fighting with Kurdish-led forces against islamic state, started to leave in an abrupt policy shift by us president donald trump. the withdrawal was criticized in washington as a betrayal of america’s Kurdish allies.
a turkish security source told reuters the military offensive, dubbed “operation peace spring,” opened with air strikes. turkish howitzer fire then hit bases and ammunition depots of the Kurdish YPG militia.
the artillery strikes, which also targeted YPG gun and sniper positions, were aimed at sites far from residential areas, the source said.
a reuters cameraman in the turkish town of akcakale saw several explosions across the border in the syrian town of tel abyad, where a witness reported people fleeing en masse.
Large explosions also rocked ras al-ayn, just across the bor-
der from the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, a CNN Turk reporter said. The sound of planes could he heard above and smoke was rising from buildings in Ras al-Ayn, he said.
The SDF said military positions and civilians in the city of Qamishli and the town of Ain Issa – more than 30km. inside Syria – had been hit, and said there were initial reports of civilian casualties.
Turkish media said mortar and rocket fire from Syria struck the Turkish border towns of Ceylanpinar and Nusaybin. There were no immediate reports of casualties there.
Turkey’s lira slid 0.5%, breaking through what traders called a key support level of 5.85 against the US dollar to its weakest level since August.
World powers fear the action could open a new chapter in Syria’s eight-yearold war and worsen regional turmoil. Ankara has said it intends to create a “safe zone” to return millions of refugees to Syrian soil.
Erdogan earlier told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the operation would help peace and stability in Syria.
In the build-up to the expected offensive, Syria had said it was determined to confront any Turkish aggression by all legitimate means. It was also ready to embrace “prodigal sons,” it said, in an apparent reference to the Syrian Kurdish authorities who hold the northeast.
Turkey views Kurdish YPG fighters in northeast Syria as terrorists because of their ties to militants waging an insurgency inside Turkey. An influx of non-Kurdish Syrians would help it secure a buffer against its main security threat.
Amid deepening humanitarian concerns, Germany said Turkey’s action would lead to further instability and could strengthen ISIS, while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on Ankara to halt the military operation.
Juncker said that the bloc would not fund Ankara’s plans in the region.
“If the plan involves the creation of a so-called safe zone, don’t expect the EU to pay for any of it,” he told EU Parliament.
Kurdish-led forces have denounced the US policy shift as a “stab in the back.” Trump denied he had abandoned the forces, the most capable US partners in fighting ISIS in Syria.
The United Nations Security Council plans to meet behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss the operation at the request of the five European members, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Poland, diplomats said. France, Germany and Britain are finalizing a joint statement condemning the advance.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said any military operation must fully respect the UN Charter and international humanitarian law. UN spokesman Farhan Haq said: “Civilians and civilian infrastructure should be protected. The secretary-general believes that there’s no military solution to the Syrian conflict.”
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said he hoped Turkey’s operations in Syria would be measured and proportionate.
Egypt’s foreign ministry
condemned the offensive as “a blatant and unacceptable attack on the sovereignty of a brotherly Arab state.” It called for an emergency meeting of the League of Arab States.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the operation risked destabilizing the region and harming civilians.
Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod tweeted: “Deeply concerned about Turkish military operation in Syria. In my view, this is a regrettable and wrong decision, which can have serious consequences for civilians and the fight against ISIL (Islamic State). Turkey must show restraint. Denmark is in close contact with allies on the matter.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok summoned the Turkish ambassador and said: “The Netherlands condemns the Turkish offensive in northeast Syria. “We call on Turkey not to continue on the path they are going down.”
Kurdish demonstrators gathered in Rome on Wednesday to protest Turkish actions.
”The Kurdish civilians are under attack, the children are under attack”, member of Kurdish International Congress, Adem Uzun, said. “Turkey will occupy our area. They want to destroy the dream of the people for democracy, peace and life together.”
Demonstrators chanted ‘’Erdogan killer!” and carried banners and placards to denounce Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to advance into the country.
Kurds in France gathered in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The small crowd held images of jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan at the demonstration organized in front of the human rights body, with more set to take place into the weekend in other major cities including Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lyon.
At the French Senate in Paris junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne expressed solidarity with Kurdish fighters as European countries called on Turkey to halt its operation.
The Kurdish-led authority in northern Syria declared a state of “general mobilization” before the looming attack.
“We call on all our institutions, and our people in all their components, to head toward the border region with Turkey to fulfill their moral duty and show resistance in these sensitive, historic moments,” it said in a statement.
Erdogan’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said Turkey had no ambition in northeastern Syria except to neutralize the threat against Turkish citizens and to liberate the local people from what he called “the yoke of armed thugs.”
Turkey was taking over leadership of the fight against ISIS in Syria, he said. YPG fighters could either defect or Ankara would have to “stop them from disrupting our counter-Islamic State efforts,” he wrote in a tweet and in a column in The Washington Post.
Turkey’s Demirören news agency said Syrian rebels had traveled from northwest Syria to Turkey in preparation for
the incursion. They will be based in Ceylanpinar, with 14,000 of them gradually joining the offensive.
“Strike them with an iron fist, make them taste the hell of your fires,” the National Army, the main Turkey-backed rebel force, told its fighters in a statement.
Russia, Syria’s strongest foreign ally, urged dialogue between Damascus and Syria’s Kurds on solving issues in northeast Syria including border security.
“We will do our best to support the start of such substantive talks,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters during a visit to Kazakhstan.
Another Assad ally, Iran, urged Turkey to show restraint and avoid military action in northern Syria, although it said Turkey was “rightfully worried” about its southern border.
On Monday, Erdogan said US troops started to pull back after a call he had with Trump, adding that talks between Turkish and US officials on the matter would go on.
Trump’s decision to pull back troops has rattled allies, including France and Britain, two of Washington’s main partners in the US-led coalition fighting ISIS.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report. •