Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Assad set to hit back at Turkey
He sends army to protect Kurds
PRESIDENT Bashar al-assad has deployed Syria’s forces to defend Kurds from Turkey’s brutal blitz.
The two sides appeared to be lining up against each other in the border town of Manbij as Assad’s tanks were filmed rolling into the area.
But defiant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to fight on “until ultimate victory is achieved”.
The Turkish leader claims he is targeting terrorists but world leaders have accused him of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds.
And his posturing yesterday came as claims emerged of Turkey-backed rebel groups executing prisoners.
Erdogan said: “We are determined to continue the operation until the end, without paying attention to threats. We will finish the job we started.”
On Sunday, the Kurds agreed a rescue pact with the Russiabacked Assad regime, allowing its forces to head into the north-east of the war-torn country and take control at Manbij and Kobane.
Kurdish forces warn that Turkey’s strikes have allowed as many as 1,000 Islamic State members to escape prisons – sparking fears of the terror group’s resurgence in the region and a fresh wave of atrocities in Europe.
But President Donald Trump, accused of abandoning the Kurds by pulling out troops, yesterday claimed the Kurds may have freed jihadis to bait the US into staying. He said: “Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved.” IS was defeated by Westerntrained Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly made up of YPG Kurdish fighters – wrongly identified as terrorists by Turkey. Erdogan’s blitz is aimed at the PKK, a Kurdish group proscribed by the UK that has operated in Syria. He fears Turkey’s 14 million Kurds will be emboldened if Syria’s two million make their north-eastern state of Rojava a democratic success.
■ Aidan James has gone on trial at the Old Bailey accused of travelling to Syria to join the PKK. The 28-yearold, of Formby, Merseyside, denies two charges of attending terrorist training camps.