Turkey-backed forces accused of Syria atrocities

A Kurdish politician captured by Turkey-backed Syrian forces was pulled by the hair and beaten with a blunt object before being shot in the head and body at close range, according to a postmortem report.

Hevrin Khalaf, secretary general of the Future Syria Party, was caught in an ambush by Turkish-backed militias in northern Syria on Saturday. Kurdish authorities accused

Turkey’s Syrian allies of executing Khalaf, her driver, other civilians and several captured Kurdish soldiers.

The postmortem report was released as accusations mount of atrocities in Turkey’s weekold offensive against Kurdish forces in north-east Syria.

“It has been very difficult to verify a lot of things,” Sara Kayyali, Syria researcher for Human Rights Watch, told The National. “There has been a lot of propaganda from all sides.” She said there was evidence of extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling and civilians being prevented from fleeing. “What we have found so far … is more or less what we expected. What concerns us deeply is forces preventing people from fleeing the violence, armed factions backed by Turkey, but also Kurdish led-forces preventing people from fleeing to [Iraqi Kurdistan] or elsewhere.”

Ms Kayyali said continuous cross-border shelling by Turkey was “inherently indiscriminate” and had resulted in civilian deaths. Turkish media reported that towns on the Turkish side of the border had been shelled by Kurdish forces in the past week.

On Thursday Kurdish forces accused Ankara of using napalm and white phosphorus – internationally outlawed weapons – in the fight for Ras Al Ain.

Ms Kayyali advised caution over the claims.

“Reports of the use of white phosphorus or chemical weapons all show footage from prior conflicts,” she said.