Human cost of Turkey’s assault
DISPLACEMENT: UN CONFIRMS 70 000 ARE FLEEING
Ras al-Ain
Turkish and allied forces faced stiff Kurdish resistance yesterday as they battled to seize key border towns, on the third day of a broad offensive that sparked a civilian exodus.
At least 15 civilians have been killed on both sides of the border.
The Turkish defence ministry said its forces have killed more than 200 YPG fighters.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said 22 of its fighters were killed on Wednesday and Thursday.
US President Donald Trump, whose order to pull back US troops from the border this week effectively triggered the invasion, said Washington would now seek to broker a truce. The Turkish operation was met with fierce international condemnation, including among Trump’s allies, over what many saw as the betrayal of a faithful ally.
The Kurdish forces targeted by Turkey were the US-led coalition’s main partner in years of battle against the Islamic State.
The risk that thousands of the jihadists they hold could break free on the back of the Turkish assault could yet spur the international community into action.
“There is heavy fighting between the SDF and the Turks on different fronts,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based war monitor said the Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies, mostly Sunni Arab former rebels, were deploying air strikes, heavy artillery and rocket fire. “The SDF are using tunnels, trenches and berms” in defence operations, it said.
Kurdish counterattacks overnight led to the retaking of two of the 11 villages they had lost. The war monitor said at least 10 civilians and 29 SDF fighters had been killed. The Turkish military announced its first fatality yesterday.
Ras al-Ain, Tal Abyad and other border towns between them have been almost emptied in a huge wave of displacement.
Most of the 70 000 people the United Nations confirmed were displaced went towards the city of Hasakeh, which Turkey has not targeted.
Erdogan wants to create a buff
er between the border and territory controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces, who have links with Turkey’s Kurdish rebels. He also plans to use it as an area in which to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees on Turkish soil.
The area would be under Turkish control and run by Syrian proxies, which would make it hard for displaced Kurds to return.
Aid groups have warned of yet another humanitarian disaster in Syria’s eight-year-old war if the offensive was not stopped. – Reuters/AFP/Al Jazeera