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Bernama
1.11.19

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DAMASCUS, Nov 1 -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday warned that war would be the only option if political means fail to secure Turkey's troop pullout from northern Syria, Xinhua news agency reported.

Speaking in an interview with the Syrian national TV, Assad said the recent Turkey-Russia deal on creating a safe zone in northern Syria had been conducive in pulling back Kurdish militia from the border region in coordination with the Syrian army.

"This doesn't eliminate the negativity of the Turkish occupation," Assad said, adding that if all political means are exhausted to push the Turkish forces to leave, there would be no other choice but war.

Turkey launched an military incursion into northern Syria in early October, in a bid to drive Kurdish fighters out of the border region, following the pullout of United States (US) troops. Turkey and Russia, a major supporter of Syria, reached a deal last Tuesday to allow the Kurdish fighters to withdraw 30 km away from the border and conduct joint Turkey-Russia patrols in the region.

Assad insisted that the deal is only "temporary," without elaborating.

The Syrian leader said the entry of the Syrian army into the Kurdish-held areas is not only for countering the Turkish attacks, but also will restore the government rule there.

He added that the return of the Syrian government to all Kurdish-held areas will be gradual and might take some time.

"Our policy should be rational and gradual taking into account the facts, but the final goal is for sure the return of the Syrian state's control" over all Kurdish-held areas, Assad said.

Regarding the presence of the US forces in Syria, Assad said that when the Syrians are united against the occupation, the US forces will withdraw by themselves "because they will have no chance to remain in Syria."

On the Syrian constitutional committee, which is holding its first session in Geneva, Assad said the Syrian government would approve any outcome of the committee's work as long as it's compatible with the national interest of Syria "even if it is a new constitution."

-- BERNAMA

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assad warns of war if political means fail to secure turkey's pullout from syria

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Assad warns of war if political means fail to secure Turkey's pullout from Syria

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DAMASCUS, Nov 1 -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday warned that war would be the only option if political means fail to secure Turkey's troop pullout from northern Syria, Xinhua news agency reported.

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Global Newsstream
"The Shifting Syrian Battlefield"
Jan. 2019

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Global Newsstream
"The Middle East: Winners and losers"
11.2.19

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The Moscow Times
10.22.19
"Turkey, Russia Strike Deal to Remove Syrian Kurdish YPG, Launch Joint Patrols"
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/10/22/turkey-russia-strike-deal-to-remove-syrian-kurdish-ypg-launch-joint-patrols-a67862

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Global News Stream
"US troops patrol Turkey-Syria border after Turkish strikes on Kurds"
4.30.17

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AlJazeera

"US releases footage, provides more detail on al-Baghdadi raid."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/releases-footage-detail-al-baghdadi-raid-191031010956094.html

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Haaretz

Assad warns of war if political means fail to secure Turkey's pullout from N. Syria

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/clashes-between-turkish-forces-and-syrian-army-in-north-syria-state-news-reports-1.8031026

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Al-Ahram Weekly (Global News Stream)
"Erdogan: Syrian safe zone nightmare"
https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2170961348/E8AE071490124912PQ/19?accountid=37383

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Al Jazeera

"Russia and Turkey begin joint patrols in northeast Syria"

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Turkish and Russian troops began their first joint ground patrols in northeast Syria on Friday under a deal between the two countries that forced Kurdish fighters to evacuate from a so-called "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebels launched a cross-border offensive on October 9 against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), dubbed "terrorists" by Turkey, seizing control of 120km-long (75 miles) and 30km-deep (19 miles) strip of land along the frontier.

Russia has told Turkey that the YPG left the strip on Wednesday, a week after Ankara and Moscow agreed to remove the YPG fighters from the area.

More:

Turkish armoured vehicles on Friday drove through country roads across the border to join their Russian counterparts, according to Reuters television footage filmed from the Turkish side of the border.

Ground and air units were involved in the patrol in the area of the Syrian border town of Darbasiya, the Turkish Defence Ministry said on Twitter, showing photographs of four armoured vehicles and soldiers studying a map.

The 110-km joint patrol with Russian military police, consisting of nine military vehicles, starts at Darbasiya and travels west along the border, the Russian defence ministry said.

'Regime elements' released

Overnight, Turkey's defence ministry said Turkey had handed over to the Russians 18 "regime elements", believed to be Syrian government soldiers.

They were detained in Syria near the Turkish border this week. It said the move was coordinated with Russia but did not say who they were handed to.

They were seized on Tuesday during operations southeast of the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, part of the area where Turkey's military action took place, which stretches some 120km (75 miles) along the border to the town of Tal Abyad.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had information that the YPG had not completed its pullout.

He said Turkey's joint patrols with Russia were starting on Friday at a depth of 7km (4 miles) within Syria, less than the 10km set out in the October 22 Ankara-Moscow deal.

First Turkish-Russian joint patrols with ground and air units are under way east of Ad Darbasiyah in NE Syria as agreed between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi on 22 October. pic.twitter.com/daFWbPahx2
- T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) November 1, 2019

Russia is the Syrian government's most powerful ally and helped it turn the tables in the country's civil war by retaking much of the country from rebels since 2015. The Turkish-Russian deal last week allowed Syrian government forces to move back into border regions from which they had been absent for years.

Ankara launched its offensive against the YPG following US President Donald Trump's abrupt withdrawal of 1,000 US troops from northern Syria in early October. The YPG had helped the US defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Syria.

'Refugee towns'

Erdogan said on Thursday night that Turkey planned to establish a "refugee town or towns" in a "safe zone" between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, part of a project which state media have said would cost 151 billion lira ($26bn).

He was meeting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday morning and said he would ask him to call for a donors' meeting to help finance Ankara's plans for the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the region.

18 Regime elements seized during the search / detection / reconnaissance / security activities in the southeast of Rasulayn on October 29 were handed over as a result of the coordination with the authorities of the Russian Federation.#MSB
- T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) October 31, 2019

Ankara has said it plans to resettle in Syria up to two million of the 3.6 million Syrian war refugees that it hosts.

According to plans Erdogan presented at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Turkey would resettle some 405,000 people between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain.

Erdogan said leaders at the General Assembly had viewed the plans positively but declined to offer financial support. He strongly criticised international reaction to the Syrian refugee issue.

"We have for years hosted millions of refugees in our lands. The support we have received from the international community has unfortunately just been advice," he said.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Russia and Turkey begin joint patrols in northeast Syria

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Turkish and Russian troops began their first joint ground patrols in northeast Syria on Friday under a deal between the two countries that forced Kurdish fighters to evacuate from a so-called "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

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Turkey/Syria: Turkey should solve its syria problems through dialogue. (2019, Oct 21). Asia News Monitor Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2306924032?accountid=37383

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The Moscow Times

"Dozens of Russian Women Vanish After Fleeing Syrian Camp – Reports"

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/10/28/dozens-russian-women-vanish-fleeing-syrian-camp-a67932

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"Russian Helicopters Land in Abandoned U.S. Base in Syria" - Moscow Times

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Three Russian military helicopters have landed in the Tabqa military airfield in Syria that the United States abandoned earlier this month, Russian state media reported Tuesday.

Syrian government forces took control of the airfield last week when U.S.-led coalition forces left the base as part of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from northern Syria. The airfield had been captured in 2017 by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces from the Islamic State terrorist group.

Two Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopters and a Mi-35 helicopter gunship have landed in the Tabqa airport, according to footage by Russia's Defense Ministry-run Zvezda television channel.

The highly damaged airfield has opened for the first time in six years in what the channel called a "historic moment."

"The Tabqa airport is a strategically located air corridor that links the key northern Syrian cities of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa," Zvezda .

"It takes no more than an hour to fly to any of these cities from the opened airfield, provided, of course, that the runway will be restored," it said.

Tabqa is the latest U.S.-held position now controlled by Russian-backed Syrian or Russian forces.

Last week a Pentagon official said the U.S. had " handed over " the northern city of Manbij to Russia as Russian military police began patrolling the area.

With Russia's increasing influence in the region, President Vladimir Putin is set to host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reports suggest that the two leaders could discuss a phased Kurdish withdrawal from a border area in northern Syria as part of a U.S.-brokered agreement.

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Russian Helicopters Land in Abandoned U.S. Base in Syria - The Moscow Times

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Three Russian military helicopters have landed in the Tabqa military airfield in Syria that the United States abandoned earlier this month, Russian state media reported Tuesday. Syrian government forces took control of the airfield last week when U.S.-led coalition forces left the base as part of the U.S.

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The Evening Standard

"Boris Johnson expresses 'grave concern' over Turkey's military action in Syria
10.12.19

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/pm-expresses-grave-concern-over-turkeys-military-action-in-syria-a4260221.html

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Al Jazeera
11.1.19
"Russia and Turkey begin joint patrols in northeast Syria"

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Turkish and Russian troops began their first joint ground patrols in northeast Syria on Friday under a deal between the two countries that forced Kurdish fighters to evacuate from a so-called "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebels launched a cross-border offensive on October 9 against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), dubbed "terrorists" by Turkey, seizing control of 120km-long (75 miles) and 30km-deep (19 miles) strip of land along the frontier.

Russia has told Turkey that the YPG left the strip on Wednesday, a week after Ankara and Moscow agreed to remove the YPG fighters from the area.

More:

Turkish armoured vehicles on Friday drove through country roads across the border to join their Russian counterparts, according to Reuters television footage filmed from the Turkish side of the border.

Ground and air units were involved in the patrol in the area of the Syrian border town of Darbasiya, the Turkish Defence Ministry said on Twitter, showing photographs of four armoured vehicles and soldiers studying a map.

The 110-km joint patrol with Russian military police, consisting of nine military vehicles, starts at Darbasiya and travels west along the border, the Russian defence ministry said.

'Regime elements' released

Overnight, Turkey's defence ministry said Turkey had handed over to the Russians 18 "regime elements", believed to be Syrian government soldiers.

They were detained in Syria near the Turkish border this week. It said the move was coordinated with Russia but did not say who they were handed to.

They were seized on Tuesday during operations southeast of the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, part of the area where Turkey's military action took place, which stretches some 120km (75 miles) along the border to the town of Tal Abyad.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had information that the YPG had not completed its pullout.

He said Turkey's joint patrols with Russia were starting on Friday at a depth of 7km (4 miles) within Syria, less than the 10km set out in the October 22 Ankara-Moscow deal.

First Turkish-Russian joint patrols with ground and air units are under way east of Ad Darbasiyah in NE Syria as agreed between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi on 22 October. pic.twitter.com/daFWbPahx2
- T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) November 1, 2019

Russia is the Syrian government's most powerful ally and helped it turn the tables in the country's civil war by retaking much of the country from rebels since 2015. The Turkish-Russian deal last week allowed Syrian government forces to move back into border regions from which they had been absent for years.

Ankara launched its offensive against the YPG following US President Donald Trump's abrupt withdrawal of 1,000 US troops from northern Syria in early October. The YPG had helped the US defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Syria.

'Refugee towns'

Erdogan said on Thursday night that Turkey planned to establish a "refugee town or towns" in a "safe zone" between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, part of a project which state media have said would cost 151 billion lira ($26bn).

He was meeting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday morning and said he would ask him to call for a donors' meeting to help finance Ankara's plans for the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the region.

18 Regime elements seized during the search / detection / reconnaissance / security activities in the southeast of Rasulayn on October 29 were handed over as a result of the coordination with the authorities of the Russian Federation.#MSB
- T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) October 31, 2019

Ankara has said it plans to resettle in Syria up to two million of the 3.6 million Syrian war refugees that it hosts.

According to plans Erdogan presented at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Turkey would resettle some 405,000 people between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain.

Erdogan said leaders at the General Assembly had viewed the plans positively but declined to offer financial support. He strongly criticised international reaction to the Syrian refugee issue.

"We have for years hosted millions of refugees in our lands. The support we have received from the international community has unfortunately just been advice," he said.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Russia and Turkey begin joint patrols in northeast Syria

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Turkish and Russian troops began their first joint ground patrols in northeast Syria on Friday under a deal between the two countries that forced Kurdish fighters to evacuate from a so-called "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border.

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AlJazeera

"Fierce clashes erupt between Syrian army, Turkish-led forces."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/fierce-clashes-erupt-syrian-army-turkish-forces-191031054612060.html

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Global Newsstream
"Betraying the Kurds again; Syrian Kurds' hope now rests with Assad"
10.2.19

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Xin hua net

Assad warns of war if political means fail to secure Turkey's pullout from N. Syria

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/01/c_138519312.htm

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Syria Times
"President Al-Assad: Erdogan stole Syrian factories, oil and wheat and today he is stealing Syrian land"

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GMT (Global Voices)
"From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair"

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Based on actual events and true stories of Syrian people, including the author's friends and relatives, these Notes capture the many aspects of the Syrian tragedy and shed light on the fragility of the Syrian life. They send a clear, loud message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world. The Notes were translated from the original Arabic by Tesbih Habbal.
'I am a child, studying at an elementary school in the east, west, south, north of Syria-or somewhere in between. It doesn't really matter where my school is. I once dreamed of becoming a teacher. My school, and so my dreams, turned into ruins. I suddenly found myself displaced, without dreams, at some camp.'

'I am an infant. I live with my seven brothers in a pitiful house. But I love our house. It is my paradise; my safe haven. Then on a dark night, wild beasts wearing human skins broke into it. They slaughtered me along with my brothers; oh father, they did so just because you said "no.""

'I am an annoying child. I ask my mother every day of Ramadan to buy me Eid clothes and new shoes. My nagging only stopped after I tried on the new outfit and shoes. I watch my mother hiding my new clothes in the closet-she hid them for coming Eid. Then, and in a fleeting moment, a missile blew through my body. To avoid listening to my cries, my mother laid down my Eid outfit and new shoes on my grave.'

'I have aged rapidly, as I watched them cruelly killing my father and two brothers at the checkpoint. I wish they didn't leave me alive, wandering the cold streets alone. Oh God, why didn't they just kill me, too! So I am no longer accused of insanity...'

'I am an artist. I play the violin. I composed all the songs of rage for my beloved neighborhood. I planted seeds of hope in peoples' hearts. And fought, with my melodies, misery and death; until my soul made a peaceful journey to heaven.'

'I am still a young girl, but my rapist turned me into a grown woman-at the age of eight. He invaded my body in a small room at school. It is the room where I go to buy candies. He gave me candies and chips and told me, "Don't worry, you can take them for free."'

'I am a fine young man. I took up arms to defend my country. I knew who my enemies and friends were. I never thought I would be murdered by my brother and camp-mate. As they were burying me in the Martyrs' Cemetery near my hometown, I saw the face of my murder. He was crying; he was my brother; my own flesh and blood. He betrayed me, for a few dollars.'

'I am a father, over 50 years old. I have no family or relatives left here. I often think of my son who fled across the sea. I talk to him every day, gently and fondly, as I sit at the bench in the Public Park. I sing to him: "I want to see you every day, my love."'

'I am an infant. My mother carried me away in a rotting boat to save my life. My parents, the passengers on the sea boat (the balam), and everyone else have died. The waves cast me back on to the shore, not too far from the place from where we were smuggled. The smuggler escaped. The entire world sympathized with me, but my story soon faded away; all that's left is an image of a drowned child called "Eilan" murdered by human savages.'

'I am a fragile poet. They locked me up in a dark basement because I refused to glorify "the master." They tortured me, electrified me, gouged my eyes out, and raped me. When I was released, I was able to see only though my heart and sensations. People saw me as a shallow being, senseless and insensate.'

'I am an innocent child. They pulled me out of the rubble and filmed me. I don't know who destroyed the house over my head. I don't know who rescued me, and I don't know how to deceive or act. Why have you made of me a movie star far too soon?!'

'I am a wheat field, blowing in the wind, ready to harvest. I am awaiting my farmer to cut my corn with his noble sickle. I can see my ears of grain turning into bread for the hungry. But I was burned down by spiteful beings during the harvest season. They claimed someone threw a cigarette that burned down all of my country's fields.'

'I am the head of Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, the temple of Bel, and the statue of Ibrahim Hanano on his horse. I was destroyed by men who came from all over the world; who came from the old ages of banners and conquests. They raised their black banners over my ruins. They destroyed the temple and statue, and killed the horse, claiming that they were idols worshiped instead of God.'

'I am a sarcastic artist. I painted a picture of the spiteful leader. It was a nightmare. They burned my paintings and confiscated my pens and paintbrushes. They beat me and broke my fingers and said, "This is the penalty of one who insults our most gracious leader. The leader has now lost his patience, and it is time for you to stop painting him, or we will wipe you off the face of the earth."'

'I am the Syrian who stood against the world and shouted, "I am a human, not an animal." But what did I get in return? Talks from the "very seriously concerned" Ban Ki-moon, and a gentle tweet from Trump: "Yes, indeed! He ( Al-Assad) is the animal-not you."'

'I am a baker. I make bread and bake cheese and zaatar pies. I dream of a Yafawi orange orchard or olives. They besieged me in "Al-Yarmouk camp" and deprived me from wheat, flour, and bread. They hang the bread on the fence of the siege to hunt me down, just like they would hunt a mouse with a few crumbs. Every time I starved and attempted to break the siege, they shot at me before I ever reached the bread.'

'I am the Syrian everywhere. I stood in the face of tyranny. I was attacked by the universe in the name of defeating terrorism although I am the first victim of it. I have been doomed by all nations and religions. But you will not defeat me. You will not weaken my determination or stop me from dreaming of a better tomorrow-in which the sun of rightfulness shines.'
Jihad Eddin Ramadan is Syrian lawyer and writer from Aleppo, currently living in Vienna as a refugee. Tesbih Habbal is a Syrian researcher and editor, currently based at the University of Chicago.

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From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair

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Based on actual events and stories, these Notes send the message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world.

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Asia News Monitor; Bangkok
"Turkey/Syria: Kurds Claim Turkey's Military Operation in Syria Revived ISIL"
14 Oct 2019 https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2304497306/4DF7E5FDECB848B5PQ/1?accountid=37383

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Khaleej Times

"Turkey's shaky democracy receives another serious blow"

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Presumably, wise old heads within the AKP have little chance of prevailing over diktats issued by an omnipotent president.

The ousting of three pro-Kurdish mayors by the government is merely the latest in Turkey's long line of self-inflicted wounds. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has evidently taken a calculated risk on the assumption that no amount of persecution of Kurds by Middle East regimes will trigger off angry demonstrations in London, much less a flurry of furious opeds in America's elite liberal media.

Marginalised socially and economically and demonised politically, Turkey's Kurds have been able to stage isolated street protests against the sackings. For the Erdogan government, the scenes of riot police using water cannon, tear gas and batons against Kurdish demonstrators have the added bonus of acting as a warning to all opposition politicians.

Just five months after reposing their faith in Turkish democracy, Kurds are now discovering that the ruling AKP's unspoken credo - "If you don't vote for us, you don't deserve democracy" - remains unchanged despite the stinging losses it suffered in the March mayoral elections.

Sensible Turks, including possibly some of the AKP's now estranged founders, surely know deep down that the harm being done to their country's social fabric and global reputation by the continued persecution of HDP legislators and supporters is incalculable.

Since 2016 nearly 100 mayors and thousands of HDP members, including members of parliament, have been jailed on flimsy charges. The party's two former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have been in prison for several years now. Against this backdrop, the removal of the mayors of Diyarbakir, Van and Mardin has dealt a fresh blow to Kurdish efforts to join the political mainstream.

Presumably, wise old heads within the AKP have little chance of prevailing over diktats issued by an omnipotent president. In any case, the toxic legacy of Erdogan's Kurdish policy is something that will have to be tackled by future generations of Turkish politicians.

In the immediate term, the apparent beneficiaries of the dismissal of the mayors are the PKK and its splinter organisations, which have been waging a low-intensity insurgency from their bases along the border with Iraq.

Although they probably can differentiate between the mentality of the Turkish leader and that of the country's enlightened elites towards Kurds, the Kurdish rebels are unlikely to declare another ceasefire in the near future.

A potential surge of recruits from an increasingly alienated Kurdish population may well be a temporary gain for PKK commanders, but it will be greatly outweighed by the pain felt by Turkey's 12 million Kurds, most of whom live in the country's impoverished southeast.

At a national level, the replacement of the pro-Kurdish mayors by government officials serves notice on opposition CHP politicians who stand a good chance of gaining power in the next general elections.

Given that the accusations against the sacked HDP mayors include "membership of a terrorist organisation and spreading terrorist group propaganda," CHP politicians and AKP dissidents could very well become the next target of the government's ire.

Unconfirmed reports say the crackdown against the HDP will extend to include opposition CHP mayors, including those of Istanbul and Ankara. Pro-government voices have done their bit to fuel such speculation by claiming that 34 CHP mayors with alleged links to terrorism could be removed from office at any time.

Still, it was impossible for a leader of the stature of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to stay silent in the face of the government's latest move. His remark "There may be people who act as though they (have unlimited authority), but they will cause this country to suffer losses" - succinctly described the gravity of the situation.

Before Erdogan became prime minister in 2002, it was the secularist establishment which exacerbated Turkey's Kurdish problem by looking for a purely military solution.

The ease with which Ankara was able to convince its NATO allies to designate the PKK a terrorist group left it with little incentive to foster a more inclusive environment that granted Kurds greater cultural and political rights.

Since 2015, it has been turn of the AKP government to compound the mistakes of its predecessors with its hounding of the HDP. More broadly, Turkey has not experienced such a long spell of turbulence in its domestic, foreign and economic affairs since the 1970s, a decade that remains etched into memory by political factionalism, street battles between rightists and leftists, and runaway inflation.

For good or ill, the polarisation of Turkish society along ideological lines under AKP rule has somewhat blurred the distinction between pro-secularist and pro-Kurdish positions. Indeed, the fearless stance of the HDP leadership in the face of Erdogan's authoritarian turn may have indirectly strengthened Turkish democracy during a particularly dark time.

But on the downside, the Erdogan government's obsessive enmity towards the pro-Kurdish HDP at home and the Kurdish-led SDF in neighbouring Syria has forced Turkey's Kurds to lower their expectations of being treated as equal citizens. From their perspective, the removal of the three mayors amounts to a humiliating rejection of their basic right of political participation.

Arnab Neil Sengupta is an independent journalist and commentator on Middle East

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Turkey's shaky democracy receives another serious blow

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Presumably, wise old heads within the AKP have little chance of prevailing over diktats issued by an omnipotent president. The ousting of three pro-Kurdish mayors by the government is merely the latest in Turkey's long line of self-inflicted wounds.

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Al-Masdar News (Damascus)
"US Senators urge Trump to protect Syrian Kurds from Turkey after troop pullout"
https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2264366797/578745EF91224CC0PQ/4?accountid=37383

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GMT
"From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair"

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Based on actual events and true stories of Syrian people, including the author's friends and relatives, these Notes capture the many aspects of the Syrian tragedy and shed light on the fragility of the Syrian life. They send a clear, loud message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world. The Notes were translated from the original Arabic by Tesbih Habbal.
'I am a child, studying at an elementary school in the east, west, south, north of Syria-or somewhere in between. It doesn't really matter where my school is. I once dreamed of becoming a teacher. My school, and so my dreams, turned into ruins. I suddenly found myself displaced, without dreams, at some camp.'

'I am an infant. I live with my seven brothers in a pitiful house. But I love our house. It is my paradise; my safe haven. Then on a dark night, wild beasts wearing human skins broke into it. They slaughtered me along with my brothers; oh father, they did so just because you said "no.""

'I am an annoying child. I ask my mother every day of Ramadan to buy me Eid clothes and new shoes. My nagging only stopped after I tried on the new outfit and shoes. I watch my mother hiding my new clothes in the closet-she hid them for coming Eid. Then, and in a fleeting moment, a missile blew through my body. To avoid listening to my cries, my mother laid down my Eid outfit and new shoes on my grave.'

'I have aged rapidly, as I watched them cruelly killing my father and two brothers at the checkpoint. I wish they didn't leave me alive, wandering the cold streets alone. Oh God, why didn't they just kill me, too! So I am no longer accused of insanity...'

'I am an artist. I play the violin. I composed all the songs of rage for my beloved neighborhood. I planted seeds of hope in peoples' hearts. And fought, with my melodies, misery and death; until my soul made a peaceful journey to heaven.'

'I am still a young girl, but my rapist turned me into a grown woman-at the age of eight. He invaded my body in a small room at school. It is the room where I go to buy candies. He gave me candies and chips and told me, "Don't worry, you can take them for free."'

'I am a fine young man. I took up arms to defend my country. I knew who my enemies and friends were. I never thought I would be murdered by my brother and camp-mate. As they were burying me in the Martyrs' Cemetery near my hometown, I saw the face of my murder. He was crying; he was my brother; my own flesh and blood. He betrayed me, for a few dollars.'

'I am a father, over 50 years old. I have no family or relatives left here. I often think of my son who fled across the sea. I talk to him every day, gently and fondly, as I sit at the bench in the Public Park. I sing to him: "I want to see you every day, my love."'

'I am an infant. My mother carried me away in a rotting boat to save my life. My parents, the passengers on the sea boat (the balam), and everyone else have died. The waves cast me back on to the shore, not too far from the place from where we were smuggled. The smuggler escaped. The entire world sympathized with me, but my story soon faded away; all that's left is an image of a drowned child called "Eilan" murdered by human savages.'

'I am a fragile poet. They locked me up in a dark basement because I refused to glorify "the master." They tortured me, electrified me, gouged my eyes out, and raped me. When I was released, I was able to see only though my heart and sensations. People saw me as a shallow being, senseless and insensate.'

'I am an innocent child. They pulled me out of the rubble and filmed me. I don't know who destroyed the house over my head. I don't know who rescued me, and I don't know how to deceive or act. Why have you made of me a movie star far too soon?!'

'I am a wheat field, blowing in the wind, ready to harvest. I am awaiting my farmer to cut my corn with his noble sickle. I can see my ears of grain turning into bread for the hungry. But I was burned down by spiteful beings during the harvest season. They claimed someone threw a cigarette that burned down all of my country's fields.'

'I am the head of Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, the temple of Bel, and the statue of Ibrahim Hanano on his horse. I was destroyed by men who came from all over the world; who came from the old ages of banners and conquests. They raised their black banners over my ruins. They destroyed the temple and statue, and killed the horse, claiming that they were idols worshiped instead of God.'

'I am a sarcastic artist. I painted a picture of the spiteful leader. It was a nightmare. They burned my paintings and confiscated my pens and paintbrushes. They beat me and broke my fingers and said, "This is the penalty of one who insults our most gracious leader. The leader has now lost his patience, and it is time for you to stop painting him, or we will wipe you off the face of the earth."'

'I am the Syrian who stood against the world and shouted, "I am a human, not an animal." But what did I get in return? Talks from the "very seriously concerned" Ban Ki-moon, and a gentle tweet from Trump: "Yes, indeed! He ( Al-Assad) is the animal-not you."'

'I am a baker. I make bread and bake cheese and zaatar pies. I dream of a Yafawi orange orchard or olives. They besieged me in "Al-Yarmouk camp" and deprived me from wheat, flour, and bread. They hang the bread on the fence of the siege to hunt me down, just like they would hunt a mouse with a few crumbs. Every time I starved and attempted to break the siege, they shot at me before I ever reached the bread.'

'I am the Syrian everywhere. I stood in the face of tyranny. I was attacked by the universe in the name of defeating terrorism although I am the first victim of it. I have been doomed by all nations and religions. But you will not defeat me. You will not weaken my determination or stop me from dreaming of a better tomorrow-in which the sun of rightfulness shines.'
Jihad Eddin Ramadan is Syrian lawyer and writer from Aleppo, currently living in Vienna as a refugee. Tesbih Habbal is a Syrian researcher and editor, currently based at the University of Chicago.

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From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair

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Based on actual events and stories, these Notes send the message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world.

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Hürriyet Daily News
"Turkey, Russia launch first patrols in northern Syria"

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-russia-launch-first-patrols-in-northern-syria-148178

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Global Voices
"How ISIS Came to Leave its Black Stain on Syria"
8.20.14
https://globalvoices.org/2014/08/20/isis-in-syria/

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Al Jazeera
"Donald Trump vows to get out of 'blood-stained' Middle East"

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The United States will leave the "blood-stained sand" of the Middle East, President Donald Trump said, adding the US no longer needs to be the world's policeman.

Trump spoke on Wednesday in a special address from the White House and declared a change of course in US relations with the Middle East, where he said too many American service members had died.

"We're getting out. Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand. The job of our military is not to police the world," the US president said.

Trump has been under fire for abruptly withdrawing US troops from northern Syria, with many accusing him of abandoning Kurdish forces, who had been one of the US's main allies in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL or ISIS).

Following the pullout, Turkey launched an offensive against Kurdish fighters in the region. Last week, Turkey agreed to a five-day ceasefire to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from the border area.

"Other nations must step up and do their fair share," said Trump of conflict in the region. "I am committed to pursuing a different course, one that leads to victory for America."

It was unclear when American troops in the region would begin returning home. Hundreds previously deployed in Syria are now based in western Iraq.

Trump also said some forces would remain in Syria's oil fields despite the broader US withdrawal from the country.

"We have secured the oil and, therefore, a small number of US troops will remain in the area where they have the oil," he said.

Russian intervention

Under the ceasefire agreement, Russia and Syria will "facilitate the removal" from Turkey's border region of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters.

Russia on Wednesday warned Kurdish forces to quickly withdraw from the Turkey-Syria border or be crushed by the Turkish army. Moscow added the US "betrayed and abandoned" Syrian fighters. Russia is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main military ally.

More than 176,000 people have been displaced by the Turkish offensive and hundreds of imprisoned ISIL fighters have escaped during the conflict.

The fate of ISIL fighters in Syrian Kurdish prisons remains up in the air. A senior Trump administration official said while most remained under lock and key, it appeared a small number had fled from YPG incarceration.

NATO condemnation?

US defence chief Mark Esper is expected to focus on Turkey's operation and the future of the fight against ISIL when he meets NATO partners in Brussels on Thursday.

Esper lashed out at Turkey for its military assault on Syrian Kurdish fighters across the border into Syria, saying Ankara is "heading in the wrong direction" and is getting closer to Russia.

"Turkey put us all in a very terrible situation," he said, adding Ankara needs to return to being the "responsible ally" it has been in the past.

Rachel Rizzo, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security think-tank, said the Pentagon chief has few options to punish NATO member Turkey.

"As far as NATO-level punishment, I don't see really what is possible," Rizzo said.

A number of European countries have suspended weapons sales to Turkey over its military campaign.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday decried NATO's inability to react to what he called Turkey's "crazy" offensive, and said it was time Europe stopped acting like a junior ally when it came to the Middle East.

Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said despite criticism from allies over the Syria incursion and its growing ties with Moscow, Turkey remained at the heart of NATO.

"We are at the centre of NATO and we remain determined to carry out all of our responsibilities fully. We are going nowhere," he said.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Donald Trump vows to get out of 'blood-stained' Middle East

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The United States will leave the "blood-stained sand" of the Middle East, President Donald Trump said, adding the US no longer needs to be the world's policeman. Trump spoke on Wednesday in a special address from the White House and declared a change of course in US relations with the Middle East, where he said too many American service members had died.

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The Times of Israel

Amnesty International accuses Turkey of war crimes in Syria

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rights-group-accuses-turkey-of-war-crimes-in-syria/

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Global Voices
"From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair"

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Based on actual events and true stories of Syrian people, including the author's friends and relatives, these Notes capture the many aspects of the Syrian tragedy and shed light on the fragility of the Syrian life. They send a clear, loud message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world. The Notes were translated from the original Arabic by Tesbih Habbal.
'I am a child, studying at an elementary school in the east, west, south, north of Syria-or somewhere in between. It doesn't really matter where my school is. I once dreamed of becoming a teacher. My school, and so my dreams, turned into ruins. I suddenly found myself displaced, without dreams, at some camp.'

'I am an infant. I live with my seven brothers in a pitiful house. But I love our house. It is my paradise; my safe haven. Then on a dark night, wild beasts wearing human skins broke into it. They slaughtered me along with my brothers; oh father, they did so just because you said "no.""

'I am an annoying child. I ask my mother every day of Ramadan to buy me Eid clothes and new shoes. My nagging only stopped after I tried on the new outfit and shoes. I watch my mother hiding my new clothes in the closet-she hid them for coming Eid. Then, and in a fleeting moment, a missile blew through my body. To avoid listening to my cries, my mother laid down my Eid outfit and new shoes on my grave.'

'I have aged rapidly, as I watched them cruelly killing my father and two brothers at the checkpoint. I wish they didn't leave me alive, wandering the cold streets alone. Oh God, why didn't they just kill me, too! So I am no longer accused of insanity...'

'I am an artist. I play the violin. I composed all the songs of rage for my beloved neighborhood. I planted seeds of hope in peoples' hearts. And fought, with my melodies, misery and death; until my soul made a peaceful journey to heaven.'

'I am still a young girl, but my rapist turned me into a grown woman-at the age of eight. He invaded my body in a small room at school. It is the room where I go to buy candies. He gave me candies and chips and told me, "Don't worry, you can take them for free."'

'I am a fine young man. I took up arms to defend my country. I knew who my enemies and friends were. I never thought I would be murdered by my brother and camp-mate. As they were burying me in the Martyrs' Cemetery near my hometown, I saw the face of my murder. He was crying; he was my brother; my own flesh and blood. He betrayed me, for a few dollars.'

'I am a father, over 50 years old. I have no family or relatives left here. I often think of my son who fled across the sea. I talk to him every day, gently and fondly, as I sit at the bench in the Public Park. I sing to him: "I want to see you every day, my love."'

'I am an infant. My mother carried me away in a rotting boat to save my life. My parents, the passengers on the sea boat (the balam), and everyone else have died. The waves cast me back on to the shore, not too far from the place from where we were smuggled. The smuggler escaped. The entire world sympathized with me, but my story soon faded away; all that's left is an image of a drowned child called "Eilan" murdered by human savages.'

'I am a fragile poet. They locked me up in a dark basement because I refused to glorify "the master." They tortured me, electrified me, gouged my eyes out, and raped me. When I was released, I was able to see only though my heart and sensations. People saw me as a shallow being, senseless and insensate.'

'I am an innocent child. They pulled me out of the rubble and filmed me. I don't know who destroyed the house over my head. I don't know who rescued me, and I don't know how to deceive or act. Why have you made of me a movie star far too soon?!'

'I am a wheat field, blowing in the wind, ready to harvest. I am awaiting my farmer to cut my corn with his noble sickle. I can see my ears of grain turning into bread for the hungry. But I was burned down by spiteful beings during the harvest season. They claimed someone threw a cigarette that burned down all of my country's fields.'

'I am the head of Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, the temple of Bel, and the statue of Ibrahim Hanano on his horse. I was destroyed by men who came from all over the world; who came from the old ages of banners and conquests. They raised their black banners over my ruins. They destroyed the temple and statue, and killed the horse, claiming that they were idols worshiped instead of God.'

'I am a sarcastic artist. I painted a picture of the spiteful leader. It was a nightmare. They burned my paintings and confiscated my pens and paintbrushes. They beat me and broke my fingers and said, "This is the penalty of one who insults our most gracious leader. The leader has now lost his patience, and it is time for you to stop painting him, or we will wipe you off the face of the earth."'

'I am the Syrian who stood against the world and shouted, "I am a human, not an animal." But what did I get in return? Talks from the "very seriously concerned" Ban Ki-moon, and a gentle tweet from Trump: "Yes, indeed! He ( Al-Assad) is the animal-not you."'

'I am a baker. I make bread and bake cheese and zaatar pies. I dream of a Yafawi orange orchard or olives. They besieged me in "Al-Yarmouk camp" and deprived me from wheat, flour, and bread. They hang the bread on the fence of the siege to hunt me down, just like they would hunt a mouse with a few crumbs. Every time I starved and attempted to break the siege, they shot at me before I ever reached the bread.'

'I am the Syrian everywhere. I stood in the face of tyranny. I was attacked by the universe in the name of defeating terrorism although I am the first victim of it. I have been doomed by all nations and religions. But you will not defeat me. You will not weaken my determination or stop me from dreaming of a better tomorrow-in which the sun of rightfulness shines.'
Jihad Eddin Ramadan is Syrian lawyer and writer from Aleppo, currently living in Vienna as a refugee. Tesbih Habbal is a Syrian researcher and editor, currently based at the University of Chicago.

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From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair

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Based on actual events and stories, these Notes send the message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world.

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Al Jazeera

"Fierce clashes erupt between Syrian army, Turkish-led forces"

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A Turkish military truck carries tanks in Syria's Kurdish area of Sanliurfa earlier this month [File: Erdem Sahin/EPA-EFE]

Heavy fighting between Syrian army troops and Turkish forces erupted near Ras al-Ain as Turkish-backed forces seized villages surrounding the border town.

Turkish-backed rebels said there were intermittent clashes between the two militaries in recent days south of the town, which Turkey seized from Syrian Kurdish-led forces earlier this month.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the border town of Sanliurfa, said thousands of people were fleeing the fighting near Ras al-Ain and Tal Tamr towns.

Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters - known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) - launched an offensive and took over areas previously under control of Kurdish fighters south of Ras al-Ain, he said.

As fighting intensified, Syrian troops deployed reinforcements from Derbasiyah to Tal Tamr.

"The SNA took over western parts of the town. People have had enough each time someone controls the area and ends up being worse than the previous armed group," one Tal Tamr resident told Al Jazeera.

"I am concerned for my children, this is why I am leaving. The Syrian army is on the frontline to stop the rebels' offensive, but you never know."

On Thursday, American forces patrolled part of Syria's border with Turkey in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area earlier this month, news reports said.

Five armoured vehicles bearing US flags patrolled a strip of the frontier north of the town of Qahtaniyah, an area they used to operate in before the United States announced its pullout.

Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed on Thursday when a car bomb exploded in a busy market in the northwest Syrian city of Afrin, under control of Turkey-backed rebel groups, witnesses said. The blast also wounded at least 30 people.

The Turkish military helped by its Syrian rebel allies seized Afrin, a mainly Kurdish city, from the Kurdish YPG militia in March 2018 in a major offensive. Turkish forces have since carved out a buffer zone inside northern Syria that extends along most of the countries' border.

Videos posted on social media showed extensive damage to the market area with fires burning.

Similar car blasts frequently hit crowded civilian areas in the mainly Arab-populated towns near the border with Turkey under the control of Turkish-backed forces.

Residents and rebels in the rebel-held northwest blame the YPG for the attacks. The Kurdish-led forces say they are engaged in a guerrilla campaign against Turkish forces but deny they target civilians.

Northeast fighting

The violence underscores the risk of full-scale fighting in northeast Syria resuming after Ankara struck separate deals with Washington and Moscow to push the Syrian Kurdish militia People's Protection Units (YPG) at least 30km (19 miles) south of the border.

Turkish-backed forces crossed into northeast Syria on October 9 to attack the YPG after President Donald Trump's abrupt withdrawal of US forces there days earlier, drawing international condemnation of Turkey.

Ankara views the YPG as a "terrorist" organisation because of its links to Kurdish forces in southeast Turkey. It aims to establish a "safe zone" in northern Syria cleared of the armed group.

As part of Turkey's deal with Russia, Syrian troops have with the agreement of Kurdish forces headed north to take up positions near the border, a region Damascus has not controlled since early on in the country's eight-and-a-half-year-old war.

In Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told politicians from his AK Party that Turkey has information that YPG forces have not completed their pullout despite assurances from Russia on Tuesday they had left before the deal's deadline.

"Even though the information in our hands suggests this has not succeeded in a full sense, we will give our response to them after our field assessments," Erdogan said.

"If we see that the members of the terrorist organisation have not been moved out of the 30km or if attacks continue, no matter from where, we reserve our right to carry out our own operation."

The YPG is the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that fought for years alongside the US military to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) in northeast Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

'One enemy'

Kurdish forces rejected a call on Wednesday from the Syrian army and police to join their ranks following Turkey's cross-border incursion.

"The general command of the armed forces is ready to welcome members of SDF units who are willing to join its ranks," said a defence ministry statement carried by state news agency SANA.

It said all Syrians, including the Kurdish minority, were confronting "one enemy".

Syria's interior ministry said it was willing to provide police services to residents of the northeast, calling on members of the Kurdish internal security services, known as Asayish, to join its ranks, SANA reported.

The SDF, the de facto army of the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria, turned down the proposal.

"A unity of ranks must proceed from a political settlement that recognises and preserves the SDF's special status and structure," it said.

Joint patrols

Joint Russian-Turkish patrols were set to begin on Tuesday 10km (6 miles) inside Syria, but Erdogan said they would now launch on Friday and at a depth of just 7km (4 miles), after a Russian delegation held three days of talks in Ankara seeking cooperation.

"Getting the United States out of Syria was the one big interest Turkey, Russia, and Iran had in common," said Nicholas Danforth, a senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

"But now Russia's long-standing support for restoring the Syrian regime's sovereignty will come into direct conflict with Turkey's desire to protect its interests and territory in northern Syria," he said.

Russia has been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most powerful international backer, while Turkey has supported rebels who fought for years to overthrow him.

Some 300,000 people have been displaced and 120 civilians killed since Turkey's incursion, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.

In Geneva, al-Assad's government condemned what it called the occupation of its land while the Syrian opposition demanded justice at the opening of a UN-backed panel meant to usher in reconciliation, political reform, and free-and-fair elections as a basis for lasting peace.

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Fierce clashes erupt between Syrian army, Turkish-led forces

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Heavy fighting between Syrian army troops and Turkish forces erupted near Ras al-Ain as Turkish-backed forces seized villages surrounding the border town. Turkish-backed rebels said there were intermittent clashes between the two militaries in recent days south of the town, which Turkey seized from Syrian Kurdish-led forces earlier this month.

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Turkey/Syria: Turkey's syria operation sees crackdown on kurdish party. (2019, Oct 30). Asia News Monitor Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2309910421?accountid=37383

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Al Jazeera
"US to deploy more troops to eastern Syria to secure oilfields"

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The United States will station additional forces in eastern Syria to protect oil fields, a defence official announced on Thursday, in another policy shift that one former senior American official called a "shocking ignorance" of history and geography.

The planned reinforcement will take place in coordination with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to prevent the oil fields from falling into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL, also known as ISIS), the defence official said.

More:

"The US is committed to reinforcing our position, in coordination with our SDF partners, in north-east Syria with additional military assets to prevent those oil fields from falling back to into the hands of ISIS or other destabilising actors," the statement added.

Earlier on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said on social media that the US "will never let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!"

The latest announcement, however, contradicts Trump controversial decision earlier this month to withdraw forces from north-east Syria, which paved the way for Turkey's operation in the area.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Joshua Landis, a Middle East expert at the University of Oklahoma, said the announcement was "emblematic of the chaos that has set in the the American foreign policy process."

"It is in free fall and the president is going back and forth," Landis said. "This doesn't really make much sense."

The new deployment could mean that US troops would be like "sitting ducks" being stationed in an area, in which the borders are guarded by Russian and Syrian troops, he added.

"Who is going to safeguard them? The Kurds will have nothing to do with America. They have now made a deal with the Assad government. The whole thing makes no sense."

'Shocking ignorance'

Brett McGurk, the top US official leading Trump's anti-ISIL campaign until January, also criticised the latest shift in a social media post.

"The President of the United States of America appears to be calling for a mass migration of Kurds to the desert where they can resettle atop a tiny oil field. Shocking ignorance of history, geography, law, American values, human decency, and honor."

Trump had justified his earlier decision to withdraw US troops from Syria saying he sought to bring the approximately 1,000 US troops home and end US involvement there.

Trump said previously that a "small number" of US troops would remain in Syria to secure the oil fields.

However, reports from Newsweek and US broadcaster Fox said the deployment may include tanks and hundreds of soldiers.

The Turkish assault on north-east Syria and the US-allied Kurdish forces has been halted after the US brokered a ceasefire.

Ankara also brokered a deal with Russia that saw the evacuation of Kurdish forces from an area along Syria's border with Turkey.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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US to deploy more troops to eastern Syrian to secure oil fields

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The United States will station additional forces in eastern Syria to protect oil fields, a defence official announced on Thursday, in another policy shift that one former senior American official called a "shocking ignorance" of history and geography.

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"UK, US, France Waging Media War Throughout Syrian Conflict - Syrian Ambassador to Russia" - Sputnik; Moscow

https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2016514348/fulltext/185C211C90EC4545PQ/1?accountid=37383

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Global Security
October 18, 2019

"Syria/Turkey: Syrian Locals Grieve as Turkey-Syria Cease-Fire Collapses"

https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2306921323/E733694238704710PQ/16?accountid=37383

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/syria/2019/syria-191018-voa01.htm

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By Heather Murdock October 18, 2019

A smattering of celebratory bullets lit up the sky like fireworks in towns in northeastern Syria on Thursday night, but by Friday afternoon the mood was more somber.

The terms of the five-day cease-fire were becoming more clear. The Turkish pause in hostilities was contingent upon Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces moving farther back from the border, which SDF forces have said they will not do.

On Friday evening, the SDF released a statement declaring the cease-fire had failed.

"Attacks with artillery fire, tanks, heavy weapons and airstrikes continued nonstop," reads the statement. "As legitimate self-defense, the SDF fighters retaliated all the attacks."

Early reports of shelling and battles in border towns were later verified when the wounded arrived at hospitals outside the battle zone.

In the markets of Qamishli, a town on the Syrian border with Turkey that has been bombed several times, locals said they didn't want the SDF to give up. They lost many people fighting Islamic State militants, said Mohammed, 32, a father of two. But this fight expanded the Kurdish-led autonomous region in area and in strength.

"We have already paid with too many lives," he said, leaning over his family's vegetable stand piled with eggplants, potatoes and lemons.

His nephew, 11-year-old Mahmoud, smiled shyly as he spoke. He said among the dead was 13-year-old Mohammed, his friend and football companion.

"I was scared," he said quietly. "The bomb came to our side."
Warring parties
The battle began just over a week ago, when Turkey declared it would establish a buffer zone between its borders and the SDF using military force.

For years, the SDF had been the United States' strongest ally on the ground against Islamic State militants in Syria. The U.S. also served as a kind of political buffer between bitter enemies - Turkey and the YPG, the main military wing of the SDF.

Turkey views the SDF as a part of the PKK, a designated terrorist group that has attacked Turkey for decades, leading to tens of thousands of deaths.

And after U.S. President Donald Trump suddenly declared he would remove troops from Syria, Turkey swiftly announced military operations.

In the week that followed, 200,000 people fled their homes and hundreds of people were killed. Foreign aid workers fled the region, and forces securing Islamic State militants have dramatically weakened, in some places with more than half of their ranks moving to the front.

At a hospital in Hasseka, a city run by the Kurdish semiautonomous government, soldiers and civilians nursed gruesome wounds on Friday, as reports of dead and wounded in border towns trickled in.

They blamed Turkey for the assaults, but also the U.S.

Trump said the U.S. would pull out almost a year ago, said Viane, an 18-year-old artillery specialist with the YPJ, the all-female wing of the YPG. But after years alliance, she did not think they would be abandoned so abruptly.

"I was shocked," she said, sitting on the floor of the hospital. Her brother, 19-year-old Hussain, had raspy breath and deep burn wounds after an airstrike on Wednesday. "I didn't see this coming."

Downstairs in an office, Dr. Abbas Mansoura, said the hospitals are low on supplies and staff, and wounded civilians are believed to be still trapped in the battle zones.

"If this continues," he said. "It will be a catastrophe."

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Syrian Locals Grieve as Turkey-Syrian Cease-fire Collapses

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By Heather Murdock October 18, 2019 A smattering of celebratory bullets lit up the sky like fireworks in towns in northeastern Syria on Thursday night, but by Friday afternoon the mood was more somber. The terms of the five-day cease-fire were becoming more clear.

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Syria Untold
"Walking on Death Along the Iraqi Border"

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This story was originally written for Syria Untold by Kamal Sheikho. It was translated by Naziha Baassiri. It is republished here as part of a partnership agreement.
Defying death, they jump silently but frantically as they leave their past behind. They care for nothing but these moments that will define the rest of their existence. They are now in search of a new life.

Abdus-Sattar (pseudonym used for security reasons), a man in his fifties, used to be a farmer in the city of Bukamal located at the farthest tip of eastern Dayr az-Zawr province, Syria. The area has been under the control of the 'Islamic State' (ISIS) group since July 2014. He told SyriaUntold how he, along with his wife and three children, fled al-Bukamal and covered 200 km in 16 days in the desert, avoiding mine fields to reach al-Hawl Camp in Al-Hasakah.

In an attempt to stop civilians from fleeing the area, ISIS has resorted to setting up check points and patrols along the outer roads, as well as planting mines around border cities and towns.

Abdus-Sattar said he and his family had to walk for parts of their journey after taking a smuggler's car. On November 25, 2016, they reached Rajm as-Salibi on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which is under the control of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). After two weeks, Abdus-Sattar and his family were moved to al-Hawl Camp.
Unpleasant Surprises
Abdus-Sattar and others like him did not care about the landmines they knew they would have to dodge on their journey to freedom. Desperate to reach the other side under Kurdish control, they walked rugged roads that they had never been on before, fully aware that unpleasant surprises, such as a land mine or a bomb, could be there waiting for them in the dark.

Talking to SyriaUntold, Abdus-Sattar said he had agreed to pay $1,000 to the smuggler as long as they avoid roads that had landmines.

However, after reaching the Iraqi border on November 10, "the smuggler told us to continue our journey on foot and to be careful to follow the footprints that barely show in the dark. I realized then that we were walking on death, because we were in the middle of a mine field."

He added that the journey was in several stages. "We stayed at a border village for almost 12 days, before we walked for a whole night to reach the outskirts of al-Hasakah city."

"We stayed at an empty place in the middle of the desert for a day before we walked for 12 hours from 6 pm to 6 am the next day to reach the Rajm as-Salibi border point," continued the farmer.

Abdus-Sattar's hardship and that of others like him does not end at their arrival at Rajm as-Salibi. Between November 25 and December 10, he and his family were stuck at the Iraqi border waiting to be allowed into the al-Hawl Camp. This is part of a YPG security vetting process of all those fleeing ISIS-controlled areas to stop ISIS members from infiltrating the camp.

Today, Abdus-Sattar and his family live in a small tent that doesn't exceed four meters, which is divided into two sections: a kitchen and a sleeping area. Now, this family awaits the YPG approval to travel to Damascus.

Abdus-Sattar lights a cigarette and shares his troubled thoughts with SyriaUntold: "For two and a half years, I lived under the mercy of their [ISIS] rules. I witnessed how they kill people and execute their rulings three times."
She Convinced Him to Keep Going
Mahmud, a man in his forties originally from al-Bukamal, told SyriaUntold via Whatsapp that the hardest bit of his journey was after reaching the Syrian-Iraqi border, because he was fully aware it was filled with landmines.

Mahmud was a wedding photographer living in an ISIS-controlled area, until he was ratted out by an informer working for ISIS who accused him of sending photos and video clips to western media outlets.

A resident of the al-Hawl Camp for the last two months, Mahmud still remembers those tough moments. "They raided my shop on December 2 [2016] and led me to prison for interrogation but couldn't prove anything after going through my gear and my phone."

He adds that ISIS confiscated everything in his shop, "and a judge ruled I get 70 lashes in a public square for practicing a forbidden profession. I also had to take a Sharia course for two weeks."

After these events took place, Mahmud decided to flee al-Bukamal with his wife and two young children. He agreed to pay 400,000 Syrian Pound (SYP) (the equivalent of $800). It was hard to save that amount of money given his salary was a mere 75,000 SYP per month, but a quick and short trip was necessary for him to escape. However, it turned out to be a dangerous experience.

On December 23, the smuggler informed Mahmud that they would leave that same night. They headed by car to the al-Suwar town, north east of Dayr az-Zawr, before continuing to the town of Markadah in the southern al-Hasakah countryside. Yet all attempts to sneak into the Kurdish areas failed.

They then headed for the Iraqi border, but as soon as they arrived, Mahmud pleaded with his wife "to go back and not risk our lives. But she convinced me to keep going instead of returning to certain death in Dayr az-Zawr, and a very possible death on the way back. Perhaps this was the only option we had to survive. That's why I tried again."

Their second attempt also failed due to heavy rain and strong winds as they were trying to cross the mine fields. They were forced to go back and stay put with the Bedouins. "All the credit goes to the woman who [gave us shelter in her tent]. She drew us a map away from the mines planted by ISIS along the border. After that, we got to Rajm as-Salibi. The trip took us five days," said Mahmud.
Running to Escape Paralysis
Suad (33), from Raqqa, decided to "escape hell" with her husband, as she put it. "The residents of Raqqa live in a ghost town," she told SyriaUntold via Whatsapp.

She talked about her tragedy and her family situation: "My only daughter is eight years old. She has osteoporosis and we have to take her to a specialized hospital in Damascus every three months, or she will be paralyzed and die."

Suad said that ISIS officials gave her permission to leave Raqqa to go to Damascus as long as she mortgaged her house [as guarantee of her return]. She added that they prevent civilians from leaving their areas by threatening to confiscate their papers or to fine them or punish them according to their interpretation of Sharia. Those who are allowed to travel need to provide guarantees either through offering money or mortgaging property or having a family member guarantee their return.

After clashes escalated in the northern countryside of Raqqa and ISIS took over Palmyra again on December 10, the extremist group banned all civilians from leaving the area. It ordered all land crossings be closed. "That's when we decided to sell the house for one million SYP ($2,000). We paid half to the smuggler and the other would be for us to get to Damascus [via plane from the Qamishli airport]. Then we'll see what happens," Suad explained.

Due to the heavy clashes in the northern countryside, the smuggler had to take the roads on the Iraqi border. But upon arrival, Suad panicked. "I was walking and felt like I had stepped on a mine and that it will explode and die in my homeland. But when I looked at my daughter and my husband, who was aching for salvation, I got the power to keep walking."

On December 25, Suad and her family reached Rajm as-Salibi after a journey that lasted eight days. Given her daughter's condition, they were immediately taken to the al-Hawl Camp. Today, the family of three lives in a small tent that doesn't protect them from the cold winter, while they patiently await to be allowed to travel to Damascus.

Suad concluded: "There is less than a month left to my daughter's medical appointment. We have come a long way and risked our lives, but nothing is harder than the wait."

She and others fleeing from Raqqa and Dayr az-Zawr, who amount to almost 5,000 according to the al-Hawl Camp's administration, are now waiting to travel to Damascus as well as other locations to leave behind their tragic past.

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Walking on Death Along the Iraqi Border · Global Voices

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This story was originally written for Syria Untold by Kamal Sheikho. It was translated by Naziha Baassiri. It is republished here as part of a partnership agreement. Defying death, they jump silently but frantically as they leave their past behind. They care for nothing but these moments that will define the rest of their existence.

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Al Jazeera
"US military envisions broad defence of Syrian oil fields"

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The United States will repel any attempt to take Syria's oilfields away with "overwhelming force" whether the challenger is Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL or ISIS) or forces backed by Russia or Syria, the Pentagon has warned.

The US military announced last week it was reinforcing its position in Syria with additional assets, including mechanised forces, to prevent oilfields from being taken over by ISIL remnants or other armed groups.

US defence chief Mark Esper offered some of his most detailed remarks to date about the mission at a news briefing on Monday.

"US troops will remain positioned in this strategic area to deny ISIS access those vital resources. And we will respond with overwhelming military force against any group that threatens the safety of our forces there," Esper told reporters.

More:

Pressed on whether the US military mission included denying any Russian or Syrian government forces access to the oilfields, Esper said: "The short answer is yes, it presently does."

He noted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) relied on that oil income to fund its fighters, including the ones guarding prisons that hold captured ISIL soldiers.

"We want to make sure that SDF does have access to resources in order to guard the prisons, in order to arm their own troops, in order to assist us with the defeat-ISIS mission," he said.

"So that's our mission, to secure the oilfields."

'We're keeping the oil'

President Donald Trump recently proposed hiring an American oil company to begin repairing Syria's oil infrastructure, which has been devastated by years of war. Repeated US air strikes against facilities for oil storage, transport, processing and refining starting in 2015 inflicted heavy damage.

Esper said last week that a "mechanised" force would reinforce US positions in the oil region, meaning a force equipped with tanks or Bradley infantry carriers. On Monday he provided no details about the makeup of the force.

He referred to "multiple state and non-state" forces vying for control of Syrian territory and resources, including the oil. He said while the main US military mission is to ensure the "enduring defeat" of ISIL, that now will include denying oil income for the group.

"The United States will retain control of oil fields in northeast Syria," Esper said, adding at the height of now-deceased ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's rule, those oil fields provided the bulk of his group's income.

Esper's remarks echoed Trump's focus on the oil in Syria.

"We're keeping the oil," Trump said during a speech in Chicago. "Remember that, I've always said that. Keep the oil. We want to keep the oil - $45m a month - keep the oil. We've secured the oil."

Confrontation?

The area has been the scene of unusual confrontations with US forces, such as a one-sided battle in February 2018 in which a pro-Syrian government force - reported to be mainly private Russian mercenaries - unleashed an artillery barrage near a small US military outpost.

As then-defence chief James Mattis recounted the episode in congressional testimony two months later, he ordered the attacking force to be "annihilated - and it was after Russian authorities insisted the attackers were not their troops.

Esper said on Monday he has seen no sign of Syrian or Russian forces challenging US control of the oilfields.

In recent days, however, US officials detected what they considered to be a significant massing of Syrian and Russian forces on the western side of the Euphrates River near Deir Az Zor, a US official said.

Russian officials were contacted by phone, and the US was given assurances the staged forces would not move east, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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US military envisions broad defence of Syrian oilfields

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The United States will repel any attempt to take Syria's oilfields away with "overwhelming force" whether the challenger is Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL or ISIS) or forces backed by Russia or Syria, the Pentagon has warned.

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Global Voices
"How US arms supplies to Saudi Arabia threatens Sudan's hard-won peace"

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On June 3, 2019, thousands of Sudanese protesters continued pro-democracy protests demanding civilian rule in Sudan, armed with nothing but peaceful disobedience. In contrast, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), acting on behalf of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) temporarily in charge of Sudan, were ready to shoot and kill on that fateful.

Around the same time that month, the United States Senate voted to block sending $8 million worth of arms to Saudi Arabia-a block US President Donald Trump has said he intends to veto.

Saudi Arabia strongly supports the RSF. RSF leader Mohamed Daglo is a trusted friend and an ally of Saudi Arabia. In May 2019, Daglo met with the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and assured him of continued cooperation with Saudi Arabia in their ongoing war in Yemen.

The Saudis supply RSF with money and arms, so when the US supports arms deals with Saudi Arabia they're essentially supporting RSF as well. Saudi Arabia, a strategic ally of the US in the region, has tried to secure gains at the cost of the Sudanese people's dream.

The Sudanese revolution broke out in December 2018 under the banner of "Fall, That's All!". Sudanese citizens demanded the ouster of President Omar Bashir and his regime, which had held power for over 30 years. In mid-April 2019, Bashir was ousted and the TMC took over as Sudan's de-facto leaders.

On June 3, 2019, the RSF used brutal force to disperse peaceful protesters holding a sit-in and calling for democratic and civilian-led government in Sudan. Initial reports on this massacre confirmed that at least 100 people were shot to death, their bodies thrown into the Nile river, and women were raped in the streets.

In an attempt to obscure their crimes, the RSF and the TMC shut down the internet across the country.

The RSF is made up of members from the notorious "Janjaweed," well known for their role in atrocities committed in Darfur. International rights organizations have issued several reports about their heinous crimes, including " Men With No Mercy," by Human Rights Watch. HRW also placed RSF leader Daglo on the "partial list of individuals who should be investigated by the ICC."

In addition to supporting Sudan's RSF, Saudi Arabia is also involved in an ongoing war in neighboring Yemen. In 2015, they launched a military intervention there to support the government in its attacks against Houthi rebel groups. The Saudi-backed coalition is made up of nine countries from the Middle East and Africa, including Sudan, with RSF as an outspoken ally.

Many human rights groups have condemned and criticized the war in Yemen for ongoing human rights violations, with 14 million people at risk of starvation. Since 2018, 6,872 civilians had been killed and 10,768 wounded, primarily by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It is no secret that Sudan's RSF is recruiting child soldiers to fight in the Yemen war. Daglo assured the Saudi Arabia that Sudanese forces would remain in Yemen to defend the security of Saudi Arabia.

American arms are now in the hands of Saudi crown prince Mohamed bin Salman, who not only orders the killing and torture of journalists such as Jamal Khashoggi, and also fully supports a Daglo and his militia who kill protesters, rape women and recruits children as soldiers.

As a Sudanese citizen, I find it really embarrassing that a great nation like the US-that has been built on the principles of freedom and justice for all-keeps sending arms to Saudi Arabia.

I, for one, stand with all the ongoing efforts in the US at all levels to put a halt to the selling of American weapons to Saudi Arabia. This is both a moral and practical stance American people should take in order to maintain their long-term interests with regard to Sudanese citizens.

I have two wishes: That no new massacre will occur in Sudan; and that the US will stop sending arms to Saudis who protect and support a war criminal who will likely prevent my first wish from coming true.
Mohamed Suliman is a Sudanese citizen living in the U.S. He was one of the coordinators of a campaign that changed the US tech sanctions policy on Sudan, and now tracks Chinese companies that export tear gas to the Sudanese regime. He also coordinating a project to remove the RSF content from the Internet.

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How US arms supplies to Saudi Arabia threatens Sudan's hard-won peace · Global Voices

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On June 3, 2019, thousands of Sudanese protesters continued pro-democracy protests demanding civilian rule in Sudan, armed with nothing but peaceful disobedience. In contrast, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), acting on behalf of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) temporarily in charge of Sudan, were ready to shoot and kill on that fateful.

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Global Voices
"Iran's invisible children"
https://globalvoices.org/2019/08/01/irans-invisible-children/

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Asia News Monitor
"Russia/Turkey/Syria: Russia says Kurds Complete Withdrawal From Turkish Border"
https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2310422420/F0DB5CAA4C7744D6PQ/2?accountid=37383

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From Syria to the World: Notes on Tyranny, War, and Despair
https://globalvoices.org/2019/10/04/from-syria-to-the-world-notes-on-tyranny-war-and-despair/

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Asia News Monitor (Bangkok)

"Turkey/Syria: Invasion of Northeast Syria Carries Gain And Risk For Turkey"

https://search.proquest.com/globalnews/docview/2303219355/fulltext/4BA1859C2CEA4D45PQ/4?accountid=37383

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Global Voices
"Algerian government cracks down as demonstrators protest presidential elections"
10.12.19

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Protesters in Algeria believe that presidential elections proposed for December will not guarantee transparency. They fear that allies of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika may influence the electoral process.

Weekly protests, known as or "movement" in Arabic, began in February this year in opposition to the re-election of Bouteflika, and have continued even after his April resignation.

Presidential elections called

On 15 September, Algeria's interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, announced presidential elections to for mid-December, after they had been twice delayed because of the protests.

In his announcement, Bensalah said that the elections would be a chance for Algerians "to write Algeria's history and to contribute collectively to the right choice of president, who will watch over our country's destinies and make good our people's hopes."

Judges, lawyers, trade unionists and civil activists plan to join government representatives and diplomats to form a 50-member electoral council that will organize, run and oversee the elections.

However the chosen date of 12 December has split Algerians.

Those in favour of the election say it is the only democratic way to solve the crisis, prevent the formation of political vacuum and halt a slide into political uncertainty. They are using a hashtag meaning, "Algeria will go to the polls," to back the decision to hold elections:

#الجزاير_تنتخب
سنمر قدما بإذن الله نحو الاقتراع، و الانتخابات هو الحل من أجل رئيس نزيه و لم يرتبط بالعصابة، لعلمنا ان هذا الطريق هو الأسلم و الانجع للخروج من هذه الحالة، و لعلمنا أيضا اننا جاهزون و نظرتنا إلى أبعد من ذلك نحو بناء جزائر متماسكة و مزدهرة و ما ذلك على الله بعزيز 🌹

- ريمو أزو (@AzzoRimo) September 16, 2019

We are going to the polls because elections are the perfect solution to choose an honest president, because it is the safest way to get out of this situation and we are ready to build a new, collective, prosperous Algeria.

But opponents see the elections as a new ruse to muzzle and weaken hirak protests. They took to the streets for the 31st week in a row to protest the elections that, in their eyes, have little credibility.

Independent journalist Khaled Drareni tweeted:

مئات الآلاف من الجزائريين يتظاهرون للأسبوع 31 ضد النظام
Des centaines de milliers d'Algériens manifestent contre le pouvoir pour la 31ème semaine consécutive
#الجزائر#الجمعة31#Alger#Algerie#Vendredi31 pic.twitter.com/NYgebERCJ8

- Khaled Drareni (@khaleddrareni) September 20, 2019

Hundreds of thousands of Algerians are protesting against the government for a 31st consecutive week

Opponents also believe that the elections will be fixed. They say that if political leaders really wanted fair elections, they would have appointed an independent electoral council. But instead, the government installed Bouteflika's former adviser, Mohamed Charfi, as president of the independent electoral council and guarantor of transparency.

Le #hirak est invisible sur la majorité des chaînes TV, vous pensez sérieusement que les élections seraient transparentes. 🤔
Les citoyens sont libres de leurs choix mais arrêtons la propagande du système qui y joue sa survie. Le système a déjà décidé de notre futur président. 😀

- Collectif Debout l'Algérie 🇩🇿 (@CDA56950635) September 16, 2019

The #hirak goes unreported on most TV channels. Do you seriously think that elections can be transparent.
Citizens are free to make their choices but let's stop the propaganda from the system that is staking its survival on it. The system has already decided on our future president.

Repression rises, arrests increase

Several protesters and activists have been arrested without charge, including journalist Fodil Boumala, activist Samir Benlarbi, arrested on the 16 September, while riding in a car with his friend and Karim Tabbou, leader of the Democratic and Social Alliance, arrested at his home. Authorities also arrested 87-year-old Lakhdar Bouregaa, one of the few surviving figureheads of the Algerian revolution, after he said the government "has named the new president, and is now figuring out how to legitimate him." Furthermore, dozens of students were arrested at the 30th protest on 17 September. CNLD, a national organization for the liberation of prisoners of conscience, published a list of 75 such detainees, of which five have been released.

Not even ill activists were spared. Ziane Bilal, who has cancer, requested release from prison for a chemotherapy appointment. "I know that I am going to die and I do not want to die in prison. I want to spend the days I have left outside prison walls," he said through tears.

On 20 and 27 September, both Fridays, police blocked the main entry points to Algiers, after authorities banned protesters coming into the city in an attempt to quell the movement. LADDH, the Algerian human rights defense league, condemned this move as a serious affront to free movement:

Comme vendredi passé, les accès vers Alger sont bloqués.
Les trains en direction de la capitale annulés.

Des fourgons de la police sont stationnés au niveau de Tafourah et fouillent des individus à la recherche de manifestants.

Bonjour, c'est vendredi 32 Hirak 2019!

- Journal d'El Mouradia - جرنان المرادية (@JournalMouradia) September 27, 2019

The main arteries into Algeria are blocked, just like last Friday.
Trains into the capital are cancelled.
Police vans are parked at Tafourah [interchange station] and officers are searching people looking for protesters.
Hello, its Friday 32 of Hirak 2019!

The authorities have also forbidden meetings of political parties and associations and closed the offices of mainstream TV channel Al-Araby, after it broadcast images of protest slogans against the country's strongman, Ahmed Gaïd Salah, chief of staff of the Algerian army. TSA, the popular Francophone news site that has covered the protests from the start, has also been shut down since 12 June.

Khaled Drareni, the founder of online newspaper Casbah Tribune and correspondent of television channel TV5 Monde, speaks to the pressure bearing down on journalists in Algeria:

Jusqu'à quand allons-nous nous taire ?
Des journalistes et correspondants sont constamment menacés par une responsable au ministère de la Communication parce qu'ils couvrent les manifestations de manière objective et ne censurent pas les slogans hostiles aux tenants du pouvoir

- Khaled Drareni (@khaleddrareni) September 23, 2019

How long can we keep silent?
Journalists and correspondents are constantly threatened by representatives of the communications ministry because they cover protests objectively and do not censor hostile slogans directed at those in power.

In a statement issued on 9 September, Human Rights Watch criticized the restrictions on civil liberties and listed more than forty protesters who have been arrested since June. Ahmed Benchemsi, a manager at HRW, was arrested and expelled.

Similarly, Algerian YouTuber Anes Tina posted a message on Facebook opposing the attacks on civil liberties:

تصلني يوميا رسائل لكثير من العائلات بصور ابنائهم المعتقلين بسبب ارائهم السياسية ما أؤمن به هو ان حرية التعبير حق لكل واحد حتى لو اختلفت معه و لكن الكلام و التعبير عن الأراء حق لا يمكن ان يعتقل بسببه اي احد مهما كان ..... ما نعرفه ان الإعتقال يكون للمجرمين لذلك قررت نطلق حملة و هاشتاغ تضامنا مع كل المعتقلين بسبب ارائهم
اتمنى ان ينضم الجميع الى هذه الحملة دفاعا عن حقنا جميعا في حرية التعبير
#الحرية_لمعتقلي_الرأي #2019

Everyday, I receive many messages from families of those in custody with photos of their children, who have been arrested for their political opinions. What I believe is that freedom of expression is everyone's right. You might not agree with someone but you should not lock them up; that person is not a criminal. No one should be arrested for speaking out or expressing their opinions. I am launching the hashtags #freedomfortheprisonersofconscience, and #freedom ofexpressionismyright, in solidarity with all prisoners of conscience. I hope that everyone will join this campaign to defend our right to freedom of expression.

By blocking the capital and undertaking searches and arbitrary arrests, the government has tried to stop peaceful marches but has failed. The protesters have shown that, once again, nothing will stop them until they reach their stated goal of ending the political system that has wielded power since independence in 1962.

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Algerian government cracks down as demonstrators protest presidential elections · Global Voices

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Protesters in Algeria believe that presidential elections proposed for December will not guarantee transparency. They fear that allies of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika may influence the electoral process. Weekly protests, known as or "movement" in Arabic, began in February this year in opposition to the re-election of Bouteflika, and have continued even after his April resignation.

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Global Voices
"From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair"
10.4.19

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Based on actual events and true stories of Syrian people, including the author's friends and relatives, these Notes capture the many aspects of the Syrian tragedy and shed light on the fragility of the Syrian life. They send a clear, loud message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world. The Notes were translated from the original Arabic by Tesbih Habbal.
'I am a child, studying at an elementary school in the east, west, south, north of Syria-or somewhere in between. It doesn't really matter where my school is. I once dreamed of becoming a teacher. My school, and so my dreams, turned into ruins. I suddenly found myself displaced, without dreams, at some camp.'

'I am an infant. I live with my seven brothers in a pitiful house. But I love our house. It is my paradise; my safe haven. Then on a dark night, wild beasts wearing human skins broke into it. They slaughtered me along with my brothers; oh father, they did so just because you said "no.""

'I am an annoying child. I ask my mother every day of Ramadan to buy me Eid clothes and new shoes. My nagging only stopped after I tried on the new outfit and shoes. I watch my mother hiding my new clothes in the closet-she hid them for coming Eid. Then, and in a fleeting moment, a missile blew through my body. To avoid listening to my cries, my mother laid down my Eid outfit and new shoes on my grave.'

'I have aged rapidly, as I watched them cruelly killing my father and two brothers at the checkpoint. I wish they didn't leave me alive, wandering the cold streets alone. Oh God, why didn't they just kill me, too! So I am no longer accused of insanity...'

'I am an artist. I play the violin. I composed all the songs of rage for my beloved neighborhood. I planted seeds of hope in peoples' hearts. And fought, with my melodies, misery and death; until my soul made a peaceful journey to heaven.'

'I am still a young girl, but my rapist turned me into a grown woman-at the age of eight. He invaded my body in a small room at school. It is the room where I go to buy candies. He gave me candies and chips and told me, "Don't worry, you can take them for free."'

'I am a fine young man. I took up arms to defend my country. I knew who my enemies and friends were. I never thought I would be murdered by my brother and camp-mate. As they were burying me in the Martyrs' Cemetery near my hometown, I saw the face of my murder. He was crying; he was my brother; my own flesh and blood. He betrayed me, for a few dollars.'

'I am a father, over 50 years old. I have no family or relatives left here. I often think of my son who fled across the sea. I talk to him every day, gently and fondly, as I sit at the bench in the Public Park. I sing to him: "I want to see you every day, my love."'

'I am an infant. My mother carried me away in a rotting boat to save my life. My parents, the passengers on the sea boat (the balam), and everyone else have died. The waves cast me back on to the shore, not too far from the place from where we were smuggled. The smuggler escaped. The entire world sympathized with me, but my story soon faded away; all that's left is an image of a drowned child called "Eilan" murdered by human savages.'

'I am a fragile poet. They locked me up in a dark basement because I refused to glorify "the master." They tortured me, electrified me, gouged my eyes out, and raped me. When I was released, I was able to see only though my heart and sensations. People saw me as a shallow being, senseless and insensate.'

'I am an innocent child. They pulled me out of the rubble and filmed me. I don't know who destroyed the house over my head. I don't know who rescued me, and I don't know how to deceive or act. Why have you made of me a movie star far too soon?!'

'I am a wheat field, blowing in the wind, ready to harvest. I am awaiting my farmer to cut my corn with his noble sickle. I can see my ears of grain turning into bread for the hungry. But I was burned down by spiteful beings during the harvest season. They claimed someone threw a cigarette that burned down all of my country's fields.'

'I am the head of Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, the temple of Bel, and the statue of Ibrahim Hanano on his horse. I was destroyed by men who came from all over the world; who came from the old ages of banners and conquests. They raised their black banners over my ruins. They destroyed the temple and statue, and killed the horse, claiming that they were idols worshiped instead of God.'

'I am a sarcastic artist. I painted a picture of the spiteful leader. It was a nightmare. They burned my paintings and confiscated my pens and paintbrushes. They beat me and broke my fingers and said, "This is the penalty of one who insults our most gracious leader. The leader has now lost his patience, and it is time for you to stop painting him, or we will wipe you off the face of the earth."'

'I am the Syrian who stood against the world and shouted, "I am a human, not an animal." But what did I get in return? Talks from the "very seriously concerned" Ban Ki-moon, and a gentle tweet from Trump: "Yes, indeed! He ( Al-Assad) is the animal-not you."'

'I am a baker. I make bread and bake cheese and zaatar pies. I dream of a Yafawi orange orchard or olives. They besieged me in "Al-Yarmouk camp" and deprived me from wheat, flour, and bread. They hang the bread on the fence of the siege to hunt me down, just like they would hunt a mouse with a few crumbs. Every time I starved and attempted to break the siege, they shot at me before I ever reached the bread.'

'I am the Syrian everywhere. I stood in the face of tyranny. I was attacked by the universe in the name of defeating terrorism although I am the first victim of it. I have been doomed by all nations and religions. But you will not defeat me. You will not weaken my determination or stop me from dreaming of a better tomorrow-in which the sun of rightfulness shines.'
Jihad Eddin Ramadan is Syrian lawyer and writer from Aleppo, currently living in Vienna as a refugee. Tesbih Habbal is a Syrian researcher and editor, currently based at the University of Chicago.

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From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair

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Based on actual events and stories, these Notes send the message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world.

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The Bridge (through Global Voices)
"From Syria to the World: Notes on Tyranny, War, and Despair"
10.4.19

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Based on actual events and true stories of Syrian people, including the author's friends and relatives, these Notes capture the many aspects of the Syrian tragedy and shed light on the fragility of the Syrian life. They send a clear, loud message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world. The Notes were translated from the original Arabic by Tesbih Habbal.
'I am a child, studying at an elementary school in the east, west, south, north of Syria-or somewhere in between. It doesn't really matter where my school is. I once dreamed of becoming a teacher. My school, and so my dreams, turned into ruins. I suddenly found myself displaced, without dreams, at some camp.'

'I am an infant. I live with my seven brothers in a pitiful house. But I love our house. It is my paradise; my safe haven. Then on a dark night, wild beasts wearing human skins broke into it. They slaughtered me along with my brothers; oh father, they did so just because you said "no.""

'I am an annoying child. I ask my mother every day of Ramadan to buy me Eid clothes and new shoes. My nagging only stopped after I tried on the new outfit and shoes. I watch my mother hiding my new clothes in the closet-she hid them for coming Eid. Then, and in a fleeting moment, a missile blew through my body. To avoid listening to my cries, my mother laid down my Eid outfit and new shoes on my grave.'

'I have aged rapidly, as I watched them cruelly killing my father and two brothers at the checkpoint. I wish they didn't leave me alive, wandering the cold streets alone. Oh God, why didn't they just kill me, too! So I am no longer accused of insanity...'

'I am an artist. I play the violin. I composed all the songs of rage for my beloved neighborhood. I planted seeds of hope in peoples' hearts. And fought, with my melodies, misery and death; until my soul made a peaceful journey to heaven.'

'I am still a young girl, but my rapist turned me into a grown woman-at the age of eight. He invaded my body in a small room at school. It is the room where I go to buy candies. He gave me candies and chips and told me, "Don't worry, you can take them for free."'

'I am a fine young man. I took up arms to defend my country. I knew who my enemies and friends were. I never thought I would be murdered by my brother and camp-mate. As they were burying me in the Martyrs' Cemetery near my hometown, I saw the face of my murder. He was crying; he was my brother; my own flesh and blood. He betrayed me, for a few dollars.'

'I am a father, over 50 years old. I have no family or relatives left here. I often think of my son who fled across the sea. I talk to him every day, gently and fondly, as I sit at the bench in the Public Park. I sing to him: "I want to see you every day, my love."'

'I am an infant. My mother carried me away in a rotting boat to save my life. My parents, the passengers on the sea boat (the balam), and everyone else have died. The waves cast me back on to the shore, not too far from the place from where we were smuggled. The smuggler escaped. The entire world sympathized with me, but my story soon faded away; all that's left is an image of a drowned child called "Eilan" murdered by human savages.'

'I am a fragile poet. They locked me up in a dark basement because I refused to glorify "the master." They tortured me, electrified me, gouged my eyes out, and raped me. When I was released, I was able to see only though my heart and sensations. People saw me as a shallow being, senseless and insensate.'

'I am an innocent child. They pulled me out of the rubble and filmed me. I don't know who destroyed the house over my head. I don't know who rescued me, and I don't know how to deceive or act. Why have you made of me a movie star far too soon?!'

'I am a wheat field, blowing in the wind, ready to harvest. I am awaiting my farmer to cut my corn with his noble sickle. I can see my ears of grain turning into bread for the hungry. But I was burned down by spiteful beings during the harvest season. They claimed someone threw a cigarette that burned down all of my country's fields.'

'I am the head of Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, the temple of Bel, and the statue of Ibrahim Hanano on his horse. I was destroyed by men who came from all over the world; who came from the old ages of banners and conquests. They raised their black banners over my ruins. They destroyed the temple and statue, and killed the horse, claiming that they were idols worshiped instead of God.'

'I am a sarcastic artist. I painted a picture of the spiteful leader. It was a nightmare. They burned my paintings and confiscated my pens and paintbrushes. They beat me and broke my fingers and said, "This is the penalty of one who insults our most gracious leader. The leader has now lost his patience, and it is time for you to stop painting him, or we will wipe you off the face of the earth."'

'I am the Syrian who stood against the world and shouted, "I am a human, not an animal." But what did I get in return? Talks from the "very seriously concerned" Ban Ki-moon, and a gentle tweet from Trump: "Yes, indeed! He ( Al-Assad) is the animal-not you."'

'I am a baker. I make bread and bake cheese and zaatar pies. I dream of a Yafawi orange orchard or olives. They besieged me in "Al-Yarmouk camp" and deprived me from wheat, flour, and bread. They hang the bread on the fence of the siege to hunt me down, just like they would hunt a mouse with a few crumbs. Every time I starved and attempted to break the siege, they shot at me before I ever reached the bread.'

'I am the Syrian everywhere. I stood in the face of tyranny. I was attacked by the universe in the name of defeating terrorism although I am the first victim of it. I have been doomed by all nations and religions. But you will not defeat me. You will not weaken my determination or stop me from dreaming of a better tomorrow-in which the sun of rightfulness shines.'
Jihad Eddin Ramadan is Syrian lawyer and writer from Aleppo, currently living in Vienna as a refugee. Tesbih Habbal is a Syrian researcher and editor, currently based at the University of Chicago.

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From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair

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Based on actual events and stories, these Notes send the message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom-just like everyone else in the world.

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Syria Times
"Damascus adopted necessary measures to confront the Turkish aggression on the Syrian territories"

http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/news/local/44282-damascus-adopted-necessary-measures-to-confront-the-turkish-aggression-on-the-syrian-territories

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Al Jazeera
"US releases footage, provides more detail on al-Baghdadi raid"

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The US destroyed the compound following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. [Department of Defense via The Associated Press]

The general who oversaw the United States raid on the compound of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL or ISIS) leader provided the most detailed account yet of the operation and said the US was on alert for possible "retribution attacks".

General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said on Wednesday Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's remains were buried at sea within 24 hours of his death inside an underground tunnel where he fled as special operations soldiers closed in on him.

More:

"US forces discovered Baghdadi hiding in a tunnel when capture at the hands of US forces was imminent," McKenzie said, as the US released the first photos and videos from Saturday's raid.

"Baghdadi detonated a bomb he wore killing himself and two young children that were with him. The number two is a change, we originally thought there were three children with him."

The two children appeared to be under the age of 12, he added.

Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher in Washington, DC said what the US had released was "very short snippets of video".

"We see the troops moving towards the edge of the compound," he said.

"We don't see them going inside. What we are told is that the army then issued orders in Arabic for people to give themselves up, and a number of what they described as non-combatants left the building."

Compound destroyed

Once the mission was completed, the US moved to destroy the compound in northwestern Syria so that it could not stand as a shrine to al-Baghdadi.

"It looks pretty much like a parking lot with large potholes right now," McKenzie said.

Among the images the Defense Department released was grainy black-and-white footage of US troops approaching the high-walled compound on foot, as well as video that showed about a dozen unidentified fighters on the ground opening fire on the helicopters that were ferrying the US troops to the site.

Before and after pictures of the isolated compound were also released.

In outlining the operation, the general said al-Baghdadi had been at the compound province for "a considerable period," but did not go into detail.

The team set off from an undisclosed location inside Syria for the one-hour helicopter ride to the compound, he added.

Eleven children were escorted from the site unharmed, while four women and two men who were wearing suicide vests and refused to surrender were killed, the general added.

Baghdadi was identified by comparing his DNA to a sample collected in 2004 when he was captured by US forces in Iraq.

The raid had also enabled the US to collect "substantial" amounts of documentation and electronics, McKenzie said, but would not elaborate.

Prepared for response

Although the operation was a success, McKenzie said it would be a mistake to conclude that ISIL had been defeated.

"It will take them some time to re-establish someone to lead the organisation, and during that period of time their actions may be a little bit disjointed," the general said.

"They will be dangerous. We suspect they will try some form of retribution attack, and we are postured and prepared for that."

Earlier on Wednesday, the acting Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, told a congressional hearing that US security agencies have been reminded of the potential for al-Baghdadi's death to inspire his followers to launch an attack "in the immediate aftermath".

Russell Travers, the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the same hearing that he did not believe al-Baghdadi's death would have "much impact" on the organisation.

"If there were significant attacks that were in the planning, that planning will continue. It won't have that much effect," Travers said.

Within Syria and Iraq, he added, ISIL has at least 14,000 fighters.

"That's an important number," he said. "Because five, six years ago, when ISIS was at its low point, they were down under a thousand. To us, this tells us the insurgency has a lot of options."

ISIL confirmed al-Baghdadi's death on Thursday, announcing Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as his replacement and threatening the US.

"Do not rejoice America. The new chosen one will make you forget the horror you have beholden ... and make the achievements of the Baghdadi days taste sweet," the group's audio statement said.

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US releases footage, provides more detail on al-Baghdadi raid

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The general who oversaw the United States raid on the compound of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL or ISIS) leader provided the most detailed account yet of the operation and said the US was on alert for possible "retribution attacks".

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Al Jazeera

"Iraq: US troops leaving Syria have no approval to stay"

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US forces that crossed into Iraq as part of a pullout from northeastern Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit, Iraq's military said.

An Iraqi statement on Tuesday contradicted the Pentagon's announcement that all of the nearly 1,000 troops withdrawing from northern Syria are expected to move to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) and "to help defend Iraq".

More:

"All US forces that withdrew from Syria received approval to enter the Kurdish region so that they may be transported outside Iraq. There is no permission granted for these forces to stay inside Iraq," the statement said.

US defence chief Mark Esper said he had spoken to his Iraqi counterpart about the plan to shift the more than 700 troops leaving Syria into western Iraq.

A senior US defence official later clarified the situation was still fluid and plans could change.

Esper said on Tuesday that Washington aimed to bring US troops withdrawing from Syria back to the United States.

"The aim isn't to stay in Iraq interminably. The aim is to pull our soldiers out and eventually get them back home," Esper said in front of a Patriot missile battery at the Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fighting ISIL

On Monday, a convoy of US troops crossed from Syria into Iraq's northern province of Dohuk, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

It was unclear whether the US troops will use Iraq as a base to launch ground raids into Syria and carry out air attacks against ISIL fighters.

The additional US troops would add to the more than 5,000 American forces already based in the country, training Iraqi forces and helping to ensure ISIL does not make a comeback.

Ignominious retreat

US President Donald Trump has been widely criticised for abandoning the Kurdish Syrian People's Protection Units (YPG) militia - which spearheaded the American-led ground war against ISIL - and allowing Turkey to launch a cross-border military operation against the group.

Residents of a Kurdish-dominated Syrian city pelted US troops with potatoes and shouted expletives at them as they drove through.

A video posted on Monday by the Kurdish news agency showed a convoy of armoured vehicles driving through Qamishli.

Angry residents hurled potatoes and shouted "no America" and "America liar" in English. One vehicle backed up over the pavement, in an attempt to get away from the people.

"Just like rats, America, run away. Long live the resistance and long live the YPG," a man holding a photo shouted.

Some US military members, current and former, have also publicly denounced the YPG's abandonment.

Mark Giaconia, a 46-year-old former US Army Special Forces soldier, recalled camaraderie with the Kurds he fought alongside in Iraq more than 10 years ago.

"I trusted them with my life," said Giaconia. "I fought with these guys and watched them die for us."

The Trump administration's decision to "leave them hanging" stirred deep emotions, Giaconia said.

"It's like a violation of trust," he said.

The White House declined to comment.

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Iraq: US troops leaving Syria have no approval to stay

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US forces that crossed into Iraq as part of a pullout from northeastern Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit, Iraq's military said.

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USA Today
"Troops, armored vehicles enter Syria to protect oil fields from ISIS"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/31/isis-u-s-troops-armor-enter-syria-protect-oil-fields/4109889002/ (has a good detailed video about al-Baghdadi's death)

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Troops, armored vehicles enter Syria to protect oil fields from ISIS

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CLOSE WASHINGTON - U.S. troops and armored vehicles entered Syria Thursday on a mission to protect oil fields from falling into the hands of Islamic State terrorists, according to a U.S. official. Dozens of soldiers and fewer than 10 Bradley armored vehicles moved into the northeastern part of Syria, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

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Al Jazeera
'"ISIL confirms death of leader al-Baghdadi, names new chief"
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/isil-confirms-death-leader-al-baghdadi-names-chief-191031151709004.html

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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group has confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announcing Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as its new chief.

Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, ISIL's new spokesman, made the announcement on Thursday in an audio statement distributed by the group's media arm, Al Furqan.

He also confirmed the death of his predecessor, Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir.

More to follow.

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ISIL confirms death of leader al-Baghdadi, names new chief

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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group has confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announcing Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as its new chief. Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, ISIL's new spokesman, made the announcement on Thursday in an audio statement distributed by the group's media arm, Al Furqan.

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Fox News
"Russian military patrolling Syria-Turkey border as US troops officially withdraw"

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-military-syria-turkey-us-troops

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BBC
"Turkey Syria offensive: Russia deploys troops to border"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50152235

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CNN
"Syria's five-day "ceasefire" runs out today"

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-10-22-2019/index.html

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Hürriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-support-for-terrorists-in-syria-tragedy-says-turkish-presidential-spokesperson-147981

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ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The U.S.' supporting, arming, and financing a terrorist network in Syria since the Obama administration period is the real "tragedy", said Turkey's presidential spokesman.

In an interview with CNN's Becky Anderson over phone, İbrahim Kalın said Turkey had tried very hard for a long time to reach a deal with the U.S. about Syria.

He recalled that Turkey raised its concerns about national security at every platform and said it cannot let formation of a terror corridor along the Turkey-Syria border.

But unfortunately, our calls have fallen on deaf ears," Kalın said.

The Turkish official reiterated that the so-called SDF or YPG in Syria is PKK, which was registered both by the CIA and the U.S. State Department reports.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

"Now what is ironic and what is tragedy is the fact that the United States is arming and supporting a Marxist-Leninist separatist terrorist organization in Syria [to fight against ISIL]," Kalın said.

He emphasized that Turkey offered other elements such as the Free Syrian Army, other local elements, Turkmen, non-PKK Kurds and Turkish soldiers to fight against ISIL.
YPG/PKK used ISIL as 'bargaining chip
Kalın also addressed Turkey's recent anti-terror operation in northern Syria.

He said: "This is serious because YPG/PKK in Syria is gaining ground, occupying non-Kurdish Arab towns, forcing people to flee, getting all these weapons from the United States free of charge, all in the name of fighting ISIS." Kalın was using another acronym for ISIL.

On Oct. 9, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria east of the Euphrates River in order to secure Turkey's borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria's territorial integrity.

"But the reality is that as we have seen on the second day of the Peace Spring Operation, they let about 800 ISIS prisoners free. Why did they do that?" Kalın questioned.

"Because they used the ISIS prisoners to blackmail the United States and Europeans claiming that without them, the fight against ISIS will not be successful," he said and added that the situation was the opposite and the YPG/PKK terror group used ISIL as a "bargaining chip".

Kalın said YPG/PKK's actions on the ground also proved that they were not genuinely interested in fighting ISIL but rather creating some kind of an autonomous region with a clearly separatist agenda.

Responding to the claims that Turkey-backed forces on the ground committed war crimes, Kalın said Turkey "takes allegations of war crimes or any kind of executions very seriously."

"Our soldiers have always been very careful. The militia that we support in Syria also have been careful in not attacking the civilians," he said.

On the concerns of some people, countries, and analysts that the civilians would be harmed, hundreds of thousands of people would be fleeing, the Kurdish people would be attacked, demography would change, Kalın said: "None of that happened."

He later recalled the violence in Morocco and Iraq's Mosul.

"Compare it with what happened in Morocco where 4,000 civilians were killed, compare it with what happened in Mosul where anywhere between 9,000 and 11,000 civilians were killed in the operations. They've been recorded, they've been documented in reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch."

Referring to another report by these two human rights organizations, Kalın said the YPG/PKK amounted to war crimes by razing villages to the ground and forcing people to flee in Syrian areas such as Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain which Turkey cleared of terrorists during Operation Peace Spring.

Responding to the YPG/PKK's claims that the religious minorities have been suffering in the areas held by Turkish-backed forces in Syria, Kalın said the terror group was using the Christian minorities as a selling point to the American public and to the Trump administration "as if they were the guardians of this community."

"To the contrary, just listen carefully to what the Christian original domestic Syrian Christian communities have been saying very loudly. Listen to the president of the World Aramaic Council of Assyrian Aramaic and Assyrian Christians. In fact, they've been saying that it's the YPG that kidnapped Christian children and enlisted them in their ranks to fight against Turkey and other opposition forces. ... Just recently, they bombed a church and tried to blame it on Turkey," Kalın said.

He underlined that Turkey protected the Christian minorities when it opened its doors to almost 4 million Syrian refugees over the last five or six years.

"We've never asked anybody about their religion or ethnicity or their region. Kurds have come, Arabs have come, Sunni Muslims have come, Christians have come to Turkey.

"Just listen to what our own Christian minorities have been saying over the last 10 days in Turkey, the Armenian Church, the Aramaic church, the Syrian church, the Syria, these are some of the oldest churches in the world.

"And they've been praising our Operation Peace Spring and telling the truth. So, instead of listening to the original people who suffered under the oppression of YPG, now, you're giving the floor to people to spread this nonsense," Kalın concluded.

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US support for terrorists in Syria 'tragedy,' says Turkish presidential spokesperson - Turkey News

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ANKARA-Anadolu Agency The U.S.' supporting, arming, and financing a terrorist network in Syria since the Obama administration period is the real "tragedy", said Turkey's presidential spokesman. In an interview with CNN's Becky Anderson over phone, İbrahim Kalın said Turkey had tried very hard for a long time to reach a deal with the U.S.

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Reuters
"Syrian army, Turkish forces clash near border: state media"

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security/syrian-army-turkish-forces-clash-near-border-state-media-idUSKBN1X91UY

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BBC
"Turkey Syria offensive: 'The Kurds have no friends but the mountains'"

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"It's like hell. I am afraid for all my family and everyone I know."

Sevinaz is from a town near Syria's border with Turkey that immediately came under heavy bombardment when the Turkish military and allied Syrian rebels launched an assault on Kurdish-led forces there on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Kurdish filmmaker and activist said repeated air and artillery strikes on the town - called Sere Kaniye by Kurds, and Ras al-Ain by Arabs - had forced her to flee with several members of her family.

"I am outside the town with my sick mother. My brother is inside. I have been informed that my cousin might have been martyred. There is no safe place for anybody," she told the BBC on Thursday morning, hours before rebels said the town was surrounded.

"I'm concerned about it being the last time that I see my city," she said.

'Erdogan is a liar'

Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said the aim of the military operation is to create a 32km (20-mile) deep "safe zone" along the Syrian side of the border and to resettle up to two million Syrian refugees there.

He has said he wants to push back from the Turkish border members of a Syrian Kurdish militia called the People's Protection Units (YPG). He insists the YPG is an extension of a rebel group that has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and EU.

The YPG, which denies the claim, is the dominant force in an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It has been the critical partner on the ground in Syria for the US-led multinational coalition against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

Sevinaz dismissed Mr Erdogan's assertion that he wants "to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area".

Turkey Syria offensive: Your questions answered

Turkey v Syria's Kurds explained

Four maps explaining the offensive

"He's a liar and he wants the Kurds to be finished. And not just Kurds, because in Sere Kaniye and all the other cities it's not just Kurds who are living here," she said.

Sevinaz said she believed the SDF and YPG's fighters would do all they could to repel the Turkish assault, and that ultimately they would be victorious.

"They are the children of this land. They are our brothers and sisters," she explained. "Even with all the things that are happening and the silence from the world, I still believe that the right people will win."

Azad Cudi, a British-Iranian Kurd who is a sniper for the YPG, told the BBC on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from the border area in anticipation of a Turkish offensive felt "like a stab in the back".

The US military had previously attempted to avert a Turkish offensive on its Kurdish allies by setting up with the Turkish military a "security mechanism" in the border area. The YPG co-operated by dismantling fortifications.

"In August, we came to this 'security mechanism' agreement," Mr Cudi said. "Based on that, we withdrew. We destroyed the fighting positions which were built to fight the Turkish in case of an invasion and we handed them over to the Americans."

'We have no friends but the mountains'

Mr Cudi said SDF forces were not equipped with the heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons that they would need to repel a Turkish assault.

"But if there is no choice, there is no choice. We will fight back at all costs."

"There's been many, many letting down and abandoning Kurds in the past. This is what we say: 'We have no friends but the mountains,'" he added. "The United States, like any other state or any other government, will do whatever serves their own best interests. We know that."

Could Turkish offensive unleash IS threat?

Turkey v Syria's Kurds explained

Four maps explaining the offensive

He said Mr Trump and other US politicians had been "lied to" about the war with IS, and he expressed concern about the risk of thousands of suspected IS militants being detained in SDF prisons escaping if their guards came under attack by Turkey.

"[The war] is not finished, it is not over. We wouldn't do such a thing as losing prisoners, but imagine when things get tough and there is a war and you are fighting on many fronts. It will be practically difficult to control and manage these prisoners."

He added: "The Kurds are the only people who have fought [IS]. The Iraqi government and the Syrian government couldn't stand their attacks. We were the only ones who could resist them. With us being threatened, their hope for a new caliphate may grow again."

Could Turkish offensive unleash IS threat?

Who are the Kurds?

Sevinaz said she believed Turkey was also in contact with IS sleeper cells inside north-eastern Syria and would ask them to target the Kurds. On Wednesday, several IS militants reportedly attacked SDF posts in the region.

"I'm worried and I think soon that there will be lots more movement from them. They already did one [attack] next to Sere Kaniye, and... in Raqqa, and I think there will be more soon."

Turkey says it has made its military move in northern Syria to fight terrorism and that it wants to take the lead in fighting IS.

She also held out little hope of Mr Trump carrying out his threat to "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey's economy if it does anything he considers to be "off limits".

"What does 'off limits' mean? They're already attacking everywhere," she said. "They don't care about civilians. They don't care about the middle of the cities.

"Donald Trump is going to do nothing. He cares about money. He doesn't care about the 11,000 people who [died] while fighting and resisting against IS."

Sevinaz insisted that she would not flee to another part of Syria. "I will not move from Rojava. I will never move," she said, using the Kurdish name for the north-east of the country.

Instead, she called for people across the world to make clear to their governments their anger at the situation.

"The states do not care about us. The states didn't care about bringing their [foreign] IS prisoners back to their countries. The states didn't care about us being under threat for a long, long time," she added. "It is the time for the voices of the people, who believe in freedom, who believe in human rights."

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'The Kurds have no friends but the mountains'

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"It's like hell. I am afraid for all my family and everyone I know." Sevinaz is from a town near Syria's border with Turkey that immediately came under heavy bombardment when the Turkish military and allied Syrian rebels launched an assault on Kurdish-led forces there on Wednesday.

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CFR
"Syria's Civil War: The Descent Into Horror"

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The civil uprising against the longtime rule of the Assads deteriorated into protracted civil war. Here's a look at the elements that have deepened Syria's tragedy.

Twelve years after protesters in Syria first demonstrated against the four-decade rule of the Assad family, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and nearly thirteen million people-more than half the country's prewar population-have been displaced. Today, the country is fractured by actors with apparently irreconcilable interests: in areas beyond the regime's control, extremists promoting a Sunni Muslim theocracy have eclipsed opposition forces fighting for a democratic and pluralistic Syria, while regional powers have backed various local forces to advance their geopolitical interests on Syria's battlefields.

The United States was at the forefront of a coalition conducting air strikes on the self-proclaimed Islamic State, but it abruptly pulled back some of its forces in 2019 ahead of an invasion of northern Syria by Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally. Since then, the Turkish military has pushed Kurdish forces, the United States' main local partner in the fight against the Islamic State, from border areas. Russia, too, has carried out air strikes in Syria, coming to the Assad regime's defense. Iranian forces and their Hezbollah allies have done the same on the ground, inadvertently making themselves the targets of strikes by Iran's enemy Israel.

The war whose brutality once dominated headlines has settled into an uncomfortable stalemate. Hopes for regime change have largely died out, peace talks have been fruitless, and some regional governments are reconsidering their opposition to engaging with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. The government has regained control of most of the country, and Assad's hold on power seems secure. Meanwhile, the Syrian people are suffering an economic crisis, and a massive earthquake at the start of 2023 cast much of the population in the north into further despair.

Despite a UN Security Council resolution in 2014 aimed at securing humanitarian aid routes, aid became politicized as Assad would grant UN convoys permission to distribute food and medicine in government-held areas while denying them access to rebel-held areas, and rights advocates charged the regime with targeting medical facilities and personnel [PDF]. In 2020, Syria's ally Russia used its veto at the Security Council to allow UN aid deliveries to the rebel-held north through only one border crossing, down from four the previous year.

Opposition forces, too, have had foreign backers. For several years, the United States covertly trained and armed rebel fighters. France and the United Kingdom have provided logistical and military support. Additionally, the short-lived rapprochement by Qatar and Saudi Arabia in 2015 enabled the formation of the Army of Conquest, which comprised an array of opposition and extremist groups but effectively disbanded after several years.

UN-backed attempts to mediate a conflict-ending political transition in Syria have been stymied by differences among veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council and other powers. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey aligned with the United States against the Assad regime, while Iran joined Russia in backing it. Russia and China have cast multiple vetoes on Syria-related Security Council resolutions, and the threat of veto has deterred or watered down humanitarian and human rights measures, reinforcing a view of the council as toothless. A June 2012 multilateral document known as the Geneva Communiqué became the basis for one set of negotiations. It calls for "a Syrian-led political process," beginning with the establishment of a transitional governing body "formed on the basis of mutual consent." But multiple rounds of peace talks to implement these principles have yielded little. A core issue is Assad himself: he has no interest in negotiating his own political demise and retains Russia's and Iran's backing, while the possibility of Assad staying on in a transition is anathema to the opposition.

Because prospects for a negotiated settlement are dim, the United States has focused on counterterrorism activities while calling for de-escalation. Meanwhile, Iran, Russia, and Turkey have taken the diplomatic initiative, sidelining the UN-led process and excluding the United States. But though they have agreed in principle on maintaining Syria's territorial integrity and achieving a "lasting cease-fire," their agreements to work through their respective local allies to de-escalate the conflict have come to naught.

More than half of Syria's prewar population of twenty-two million has been displaced by the violence, with almost seven million people displaced internally and nearly the same amount having fled abroad. Neighboring countries have borne the heaviest burden: Lebanon, a country of just over five million people, is hosting eight hundred thousand Syrians, and Jordan, with more than half a million Syrians, for years blocked would-be refugees from crossing the border. Turkey is host to more than three million Syrians, straining government resources. With limited work and educational opportunities, and little hope that they will soon be able to return safely home, more than one million asylum seekers and refugees have journeyed to Europe, contributing to what the United Nations called the largest migrant and refugee crisis since World War II.

Disputes over how to settle refugees across the European Union (EU) have posed a severe challenge to the bloc, threatening to bring an end to the Schengen system of open borders on the continent and contributing to the rise of anti-immigrant, far-right parties. The EU struck an agreement with Turkey to block refugees' northward migration in 2016, but since then, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has periodically threatened to permit hundreds of thousands of migrants to cross into Europe.

The Turkish incursion drew international condemnation. The United States sanctioned top Turkish officials and threatened to raise tariffs on steel, but a brief cease-fire led Trump to lift the sanctions after one week, and the tariffs ultimately remained unchanged. Erdogan says his troops will not back down until they establish a twenty-mile-deep buffer zone in Syria for returned refugees.

With the assistance of their foreign backers, Assad's forces besieged and bombarded the rebels' final redoubts in Syria's northwest in late 2019, imperiling hundreds of thousands of civilians. By December, the regime and its allies advanced into Idlib, where Russia-backed forces launched a devastating air campaign and clashes resumed between the regime and Turkish forces seeking to protect their opposition posts in the area. A cease-fire agreement signed by Ankara and Moscow in January quickly collapsed as regime forces captured cities along the strategically significant M5 highway, which connects Damascus and Aleppo.

Hostilities between the regime and the Turks intensified in February 2020, when Syrian government forces killed Turkish troops in direct combat for the first time, spurring Turkey to retaliate with strikes against dozens of regime targets. The fighting endangered Idlib's population, which ballooned to three million as government authorities offered rebel fighters and civilians the choice of surrendering-risking conscription or arrest-or being bused north to the province. The heightened violence resulted in the war's largest mass displacement to date, with some nine hundred thousand people forced from their homes A March 2020 cease-fire agreement between Moscow and Ankara has largely quelled the fighting, despite violations on both sides.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State increased its attacks [PDF] in Syria's northeast soon after the U.S. killing of the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in October 2019. Despite the troop drawdown announced in October, some five hundred American soldiers remain in eastern Syria to prevent the Islamic State from accessing the region's oil fields.

A decade after the uprising that sparked the war, Syria was still mired in low-level conflict, political instability, and economic turmoil. The 2020 cease-fire stemmed violence in the Turkey-controlled northwest, while the regime maintained control of most of the rest of the country with help from Russia and Iran. At the same time, Israel increasingly began bombing targets in Syria said to belong to Iran-linked militias, including Hezbollah. A U.S. air strike targeted an Iraq-based militia in Syria just weeks after the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021.

While the violence has waned, civilians are now suffering an economic crisis. More than 90 percent of the population lives in poverty. Syrians have been the main victims of international sanctions, including the U.S. Caesar Act, which is meant to pressure the regime to reform but appears to have little effect on Assad.

Diplomacy also has yet to sway Assad's government. A UN-facilitated constitution-drafting committee that was formed in 2019 brought together 150 representatives of civil society, the regime, and the opposition. But the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic stalled talks for months, and the committee quickly reached an impasse. While the UN-led talks founder, the rival process led by Iran, Russia, and Turkey is no closer to resolving Syria's political crisis. Further complicating the diplomatic field, Qatar, Russia, and Turkey began another track of negotiations on Syria's peace process in March 2021.

Even nature has refused to spare Syria-a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the country's north in February 2023. In the first week after the disaster, more than three thousand were confirmed dead in Syria and over twenty-nine thousand in Turkey. The quake leveled thousands of buildings in Syria alone, and the United Nations estimated that at least eleven thousand Syrians lost their homes. Already, nearly two million people had lived in camps or other areas with poor access to water, heat, and protection from the elements. Much of the area constituted the last rebel-held territory in Syria, and it was tragically ill-equipped for a natural disaster; not even half the country's prewar health facilities remained in operation.

Affected areas under government control appeared best prepared to cope with the earthquake, with aid immediately flowing in from longtime regime allies including Iran and Russia, as well as from others such as Egypt, India, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. State media reported that the government would direct some of that aid to opposition-held areas hit hardest by the quake, with assistance from international agencies. Some four million people in the mainly rebel-held northwest depend on humanitarian aid to survive, but the United Nations reported that the tremor threatened to overwhelm its response capabilities. Winter weather and equipment shortages bogged down rescue and relief efforts directly after the disaster, which also damaged the sole remaining UN-authorized border crossing to the region from Turkey. With former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in control of the city of Idlib, international sanctions against the Islamist group also hampered the delivery of assistance there.

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The civil uprising against the longtime rule of the Assads deteriorated into protracted civil war. Here's a look at the elements that have deepened Syria's tragedy.

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Al-Jazeera

"Timeline: US intervention in Syria's war since 2011"

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As US forces pull back from parts of northern Syria and make way for a threatened Turkish military offensive, here is a recap of Washington's involvement in the Syrian conflict.

Pressure on Assad

On April 29, 2011, a month after the first protests in Syria that were met with brutal force by the government, Washington imposes sanctions on several Syrian officials.

The measures extend to President Bashar al-Assad the following month.

On August 18, US President Barack Obama and Western allies for the first time explicitly call on Assad to stand down.

In October, the US ambassador leaves Syria for "security reasons". Damascus recalls its ambassador from Washington.

Obama backs off 'red line'

In August 2013, the Syrian government is accused of carrying out a chemical attack near Damascus that killed more than 1,400 people, according to Washington.

Despite having promised to act with force if Syria crossed the chemical weapons "red line", Obama at the last minute pulls back from punitive strikes on regime infrastructure.

Instead, on September 14, he agrees to a deal with Moscow - Assad's main backer - that is meant to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

US targets ISIL

On September 23, 2014, the US and Arab allies launch air raids in Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL or ISIS) group, expanding a campaign under way in neighbouring Iraq.

The biggest contributor to the coalition, Washington deploys 2,000 soldiers, mostly special forces.

In October 2015, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Syrian Arab alliance of some 50,000 fighters, is created with US backing.

Dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, it receives US training and aid in the form of arms, air support and intelligence.

The SDF later overruns ISIL in northeastern Syria, driving out the jihadists from their last patch of territory in the village of Baghouz in March 2019.

Trump orders strikes

On April 7, 2017, US forces fire a barrage of cruise missiles at Syria's Shayrat airbase, believed to be the launch site of a chemical attack that killed 88 people in Idlib province.

It is the first direct US action against Assad's government and President Donald Trump's most significant military decision since taking office in January 2017.

On April 14, 2018, the US - with the support of France and the UK - launches new retaliatory attacks after an alleged government chemical attack on the then rebel-held town of Douma, in which some 40 people were killed.

Withdrawal announced

On December 19, 2018, Trump announces that all of the roughly 2,000 US troops in Syria will be withdrawn because ISIL had been "defeated".

The surprise decision prompts Secretary of Defense James Mattis to resign and is met with concern by France, the UK and Germany, but praise from Russia and Turkey.

On January 16, 2019, a suicide attack claimed by ISIL kills four US servicemen and 15 others at a restaurant in Syria's northern city of Manbij.

It is the deadliest attack against US forces since they deployed.

On August 7, Turkish and US officials agree to jointly manage a buffer zone between the Turkish border and areas in Syria controlled by the YPG, which Istanbul considers a "terrorist" threat.

US steps aside

But on October 6, Washington announces that US forces would withdraw from the border areas to make way for a "long-planned operation" by Turkish forces.

The following day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirms that Turkish action against Kurdish fighters in Syria is imminent.

Trump's pullback decision provokes an uproar in Washington, with several of his close allies calling on him to reconsider.

The Pentagon says it does "not endorse" a Turkish operation in northern Syria, while a senior State Department official says the US has pulled back a "very small number" of troops from areas along the border.

In an extraordinary warning via Twitter, Trump says he will "obliterate" Turkey's economy if Ankara does anything he considers "off-limits" in Syria.

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Timeline: US intervention in Syria's war since 2011

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As US forces pull back from parts of northern Syria and make way for a threatened Turkish military offensive, here is a recap of Washington's involvement in the Syrian conflict. On April 29, 2011, a month after the first protests in Syria that were met with brutal force by the government, Washington imposes sanctions on several Syrian officials.

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Hürriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-told-nato-allies-its-ready-to-cooperate-for-safe-zone-in-north-syria-147969

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Serkan Demirtaş - BRUSSELS

Turkey is ready to cooperate with NATO allies in turning northeastern Syria into a safe and habitable environment where the refugees may voluntarily return, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said, highlighting the Turkish government's willingness to study a proposal tabled by Germany to that end.

"We always ask our allies: 'What proposals you can put forward in terms of providing security and welfare to this region so that Syrians may return on a volunteer basis?' I have raised this question to my colleagues here: 'What can you do for us?' I have listened to their proposals and shared our readiness to engage with them," Akar told a group of reporters in Brussels, where he attended NATO defense ministers' meeting on Oct. 24 and 25.

Akar held bilateral meetings with his American, French, British, German and Greek counterparts from the alliance as well as with Qatari and Afghan defense ministers on the sidelines of the meetings.

The NATO ministers had in-depth discussions on the Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria, as many allied countries argued that it would further destabilize the region and risk the return of ISIL.

Akar conveyed that there were some criticisms directed against the Turkish operation in both plenary sessions and in private meetings by some ministers.

"I have explained our position and the background conditions of this operation in an open and frank way. As a result of our talks, a lot of issues have been clarified on their minds," he said.

"Turkey has never wanted to hold this operation alone," Akar said, recalling that the government has long been demanding help from its allies to eradicate the terrorist threats just across its borders, which were in fact the borders of the NATO as well.

"We had to move because our calls have not been responded. And we have been observing that the terrorist organization was increasing its capacity every passing day. We could no longer tolerate that," he stressed.

"Just imagine, terrorists fired more than 1,00" mortar shells on Turkish residential areas and killed two dozens of people, including a nine-month-old baby."
Turkey ready to examine German proposal
As Turkey's recent agreements with the U.S. and Russia helped to de-escalate tension in northeastern Syria after the YPG has withdrawn to the south, Akar reiterated Ankara's call for a multilateral effort to create conditions for voluntarily return of the refugees to the region.

In this context, he stressed that Turkey found the proposal put forward by Germany for the creation of a security zone in northeast Syria as positive.

"I have met my German counterpart and told her that we are ready to examine the proposal once we will hear more details about it. Because her proposal is in line with our previous calls for setting up a safe zone," he said.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karranbauer has suggested setting up an internationally controlled security zone in northeastern Syria in the aftermath of the Turkish military operation against the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a group listed as terrorist by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
Minister thanks to Spain for Patriots
Another issue discussed at the NATO was how the alliance would continue to protect the Turkish air space against the potential attacks by the Syrian regime after Italy has announced that it withdraws its SAMP/T batteries from Turkey.

Spain has decided to extend the deployment of the Patriot batteries in Turkey although there were reports that Madrid was pondering to terminate the mission.

"We thank to our Spanish friends for their decision to extend the mission. We very much appreciate this move," Akar stated.
Turkey's orbit not changing
Akar has indirectly responded to U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper's claim that Turkey was not heading in the right direction as it was moving from NATO's orbit to Russia's orbit.

"We are hearing claims on Turkey's direction. Turkey is not going anywhere. It stays where it is. It's committed to upholding its responsibilities at NATO and continuing its active participation in different NATO missions, from Afghanistan to Kosovo," he said.
'Turkey fights ISIL, too'
In response to arguments that the Turkish operation would weaken the ongoing anti-ISIL fight, the minister recalled that Turkey is a part of the global anti-ISIL coalition and has been actively fighting the jihadist terrorists.

"Turkey is not only fighting against the YPG but also against the ISIL in the east of Euphrates. We have neutralized more than three thousand Daesh members in Syria through our operations," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the ISIL.

On the imprisoned ISIL members in the east of Euphrates, there are 14 prisons in the entire region with around 2,000 jailed terrorists, Akar said, citing information provided to him by the U.S. officials.

"Out of 14 prisons, only one of them is in the area we control now. One of the first places our troops sought to secure was the prison just outside Tal Abyad but when we reached out there we have seen that the YPG had already liberated the prisoners," the minister said.

"So far, we could re-collect 265 Daesh members," he informed, adding relevant state bodies were taking necessary actions.
Claims on ethnic cleansing are pure fantasy
Akar did also respond claims that the Turkish army is committing ethnic cleansing against the Kurdish population of Syria.

The Turkish operation is not against an ethnic or religious group but against the terrorists, Akar said.

"First of all, the YPG is not representing the Kurds. It's not Kurdish. There are Turks, Arabs, French, Italian and Europeans among them. We have received a lot of positive messages from Syrian Kurdish communities and Christian population in Syria. Because they were suffering from the YPG's pressures," he said.

"The allegations on ethnic cleansing are pure fantasy. Accusing a country of ethnic cleansing is a very serious and heavy claim. We have called on everybody to come and to conduct their own investigations. They can come and check whether chemical weapons have been used," he added.

Turkey has no such weapons in its stocks and has never developed a military doctrine paving the way for using the weapons of mass destruction, the minister said.

"It was a very big lie to suggest that Turkey has used chemical weapons in Syria. Turkey never, ever uses such weapons. We don't have these weapons in our inventory. This is completely against our faith, moral and humane values."

These claims are not true and diffused by western media outlets. "These are all fake news. We have seen them during our Operation Euphrates Shield as well."
The Turkish army will look into individual cases
The minister acknowledged that there could be some individual wrongdoings during the military operation but the Turkish army has all its legal and administrative capacity to look into these claims.

"Just like all modern armies, the Turkish Armed Forces does have its legal and administrative bodies to probe any wrongdoing. This is being done and if it is proven that a crime is committed, then necessary actions will be taken," he said.
Deal with Russia implemented
On the question of whether the Turkish-Russian deal is in place and implemented in the right way, Akar said there were no problems so far in regards to the Ankara-Moscow agreement.

"The agreement we have brokered with Russia terminates at 6.00 p.m. on Oct 29. We will move in accordance with the developments in the field but we see that it is being implemented in the right way and in line with the deal," he recalled.

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Turkey told NATO allies it's ready to cooperate for safe zone in North Syria - Turkey News

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Turkey is ready to cooperate with NATO allies in turning northeastern Syria into a safe and habitable environment where the refugees may voluntarily return, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said, highlighting the Turkish government's willingness to study a proposal tabled by Germany to that end.

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"Now the Kurds are under attack."

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CLOSE

WASHINGTON - Two days before President Trump announced that he would pull U.S. military back from the border zone in Syria, Americans and their Kurdish allies had removed senior ISIS fighters from the battlefield, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The capture of the two fighters occurred as part of daily regular commando raids U.S. forces had been running with Kurdish soldiers, the official said.

Trump's abandonment of Kurdish allies fighting ISIS has shocked members of the U.S. military and left it scrambling to protect American forces in Syria - and to look on as those they worked with side by side only a few days ago are now under attack as Turkey's military continues to step up assaults on the region.

Thursday marked the second day of Turkey's assault on Kurdish forces in the region. Turkey launched the assault because it views a Kurdish militia that dominates the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, as a terrorist group.

Earlier this week, Trump said he was delivering on a campaign promise to remove U.S. troops from "ridiculous endless wars." Trump also defended his decision on Wednesday to end U.S. support for the Kurds, saying they had failed to fight with Americans in World War II.

CLOSE

Casualties reported: Turkish strikes hit civilians as Syria offensive intensifies

The Pentagon has issued few statements since Trump's decision, blaming Turkey for acting unilaterally and calling for a "safe zone" to be established in northeastern Syria.

'None of our allies can trust us'

The Kurds formed the backbone of the counter-ISIS ground force, backed by the U.S.-led air war, that has retaken virtually all the land seized by Islamic State fighters since 2014. The Kurds have lost 11,000 troops in the fighting and have seen another 20,000 wounded. Their bloodshed and support has led to a kinship understood by many U.S. troops who view the U.S. withdrawal of support as a betrayal of a dedicated ally, the official said.

Who are the Kurds?: A Middle Eastern people with 'no friends but the mountains'

"None of our allies can trust us anymore," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. "The biggest loss here apart from the slaughter of innocent and loyal fighters on our side is the shattering of trust. The loss of our word as a bond. No one can rely on the United States if we abandon our fiercest most loyal allies who have literally shed blood for us."

Smoke rising from targets inside Syria during bombardment by Turkish forces at Ras al-Ein town, in Ceylanpinar, in Sanliurfa, Turkey on October 10, 2019. Turkey has launched an offensive targeting Kurdish forces in north-eastern Syria, days after the US withdrew troops from the area. (Photo: Sedat Suna, EPA-EFE)

Trump's decision has led to ad hoc measures to protect U.S. troops and attempts to mitigate losses to ISIS, the official said. Among them:

A hotline established with Turkey to notify U.S. commanders of areas where bombs will be dropped to ensure American troops are out of harm's way.

The movement of 50 U.S. troops from the area contested by Turkey and the Kurds to two American outposts in Syria. Drones are being flown over the area to protect U.S. forces.

Kurds continue to guard about 30 prison camps holding about 10,000 ISIS detainees. About 2,000 of those prisoners are foreign fighters from 50 countries, from China to Canada.

U.S. forces are safe, the official said, and the 50 troops relocated to outposts represent a fraction of the 1,000 remaining in Syria.

'A reckless gamble': Four reasons critics decry Trump's 'impulsive' Syria withdrawal

Deaths in Syria, but may be inflated

Turkey launched the assault because it regards a Kurdish militia within the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, as a terrorist group. About 30,000 Kurdish fighters and civilians have been displaced by Turkey's offensive.

Turkey is expected to turn over the fighting to local forces it backs, the official said. A second U.S. official said Turkey, a NATO ally, has been cut off from receiving U.S. intelligence on the region.

The Syrian Observatory for Human rights estimates that 16 SDF fighters have been killed and dozens wounded. Erdogan has said "109 terrorists" have been killed. The U.S. official cautioned that both sides may be exaggerating losses or gains for propaganda purposes.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/10/turkey-attacks-kurds-who-battled-isis-us-forces-just-days-ago/3934503002/

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U.S. and Kurdish soldiers: Side by side just days ago, battling ISIS, now the Kurds are under attack

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CLOSE WASHINGTON - Two days before President Trump announced that he would pull U.S. military back from the border zone in Syria, Americans and their Kurdish allies had removed senior ISIS fighters from the battlefield, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

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"ISIS is regaining strength in Iraq and Syria"

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Soldiers at a checkpoint in April on the outskirts of Manbij, Syria, where an ISIS suicide bombing killed four Americans this year. Credit... Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

WASHINGTON - Five months after American-backed forces ousted the Islamic State from its last shard of territory in Syria, the terrorist group is gathering new strength, conducting guerrilla attacks across Iraq and Syria, retooling its financial networks and targeting new recruits at an allied-run tent camp, American and Iraqi military and intelligence officers said.

Though President Trump hailed a total defeat of the Islamic State this year, defense officials in the region see things differently, acknowledging that what remains of the terrorist group is here to stay.

A recent inspector general's report warned that a drawdown this year from 2,000 American forces in Syria to less than half of that, ordered by Mr. Trump, has meant the American military has had to cut back support for Syrian partner forces fighting ISIS. For now, American and international forces can only try to ensure that ISIS remains contained and away from urban areas.

Although there is little concern that the Islamic State will reclaim its former physical territory, a caliphate that was once the size of Britain and controlled the lives of up to 12 million people, the terrorist group has still mobilized as many as 18,000 remaining fighters in Iraq and Syria. These sleeper cells and strike teams have carried out sniper attacks, ambushes, kidnappings and assassinations against security forces and community leaders.

The Islamic State can still tap a large war chest of as much as $400 million, which has been hidden in either Iraq and Syria or smuggled into neighboring countries for safekeeping. It is also believed to have invested in businesses, including fish farming, car dealing and cannabis growing. And ISIS uses extortion to finance clandestine operations: Farmers in northern Iraq who refuse to pay have had their crops burned to the ground.

Over the past several months, ISIS has made inroads into a sprawling tent camp in northeast Syria, and there is no ready plan to deal with the 70,000 people there, including thousands of family members of ISIS fighters. American intelligence officials say the Al Hol camp, managed by Syrian Kurdish allies with little aid or security, is evolving into a hotbed of ISIS ideology and a huge breeding ground for future terrorists. The American-backed Syrian Kurdish force also holds more than 10,000 ISIS fighters, including 2,000 foreigners, in separate makeshift prisons.

At Al Hol, the Syrian Kurds' "inability to provide more than 'minimal security' at the camp has allowed the 'uncontested conditions to spread of ISIS ideology' there," said the inspector general's report, which was prepared for the Pentagon, the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development. The military's Central Command told the report's authors that "ISIS is likely exploiting the lack of security to enlist new members and re-engage members who have left the battlefield."

A recent United Nations assessment reached the same conclusion, saying that family members living at Al Hol "may come to pose a threat if they are not dealt with appropriately."

These trends, described by Iraqi, American and other Western intelligence and military officials, and documented in a recent series of government and United Nations assessments, portray an Islamic State on the rise again, not only in Iraq and Syria, but in branches from West Africa to Sinai. This resurgence poses threats to American interests and allies, as the Trump administration draws down American troops in Syria and shifts its focus in the Middle East to a looming confrontation with Iran.

"However weakened ISIS may now be, they are still a truly global movement, and we are globally vulnerable," Suzanne Raine, a former head of Britain's Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, said in an interview this month with West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. "Nothing should surprise us about what happens next."

One significant indicator that points to the Islamic State's resurgence is the amount of ordnance dropped by American aircraft in Iraq and Syria in recent months. In June, American warplanes dropped 135 bombs and missiles, more than double what they had in May, according to Air Force data.

Defense officials in the region say the Islamic State is now entrenched in mostly rural territory, fighting in small elements of roughly a dozen fighters and taking advantage of the porous border between Iraq and Syria, along with the informal border between Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of the country, where security forces are spread thin and responsibilities for public safety are sometimes disputed.

For Iraqis in northern and western provinces where the Islamic State was active in the past, the sense of threat never disappeared, as the attacks slowed but never halted. In just the first six months of this year, there were 139 attacks in those provinces - Nineveh, Salahuddin, Kirkuk, Diyala and Anbar - and 274 people were killed. The majority of the dead were civilians but also included Iraqi security forces and popular mobilization forces, according to reports by Iraqi security forces and civilians gathered by The New York Times.

A particularly brutal episode of the kind not seen since the Islamic State was in control of territory in northern Iraq occurred in early August when armed men claiming ISIS allegiance held a public beheading of a policeman in a rural village south of the city of Samarra in Salahuddin Province, about two hours north of Baghdad.

The area has seen repeated attacks over the past two years, and the police who lived in the village had received warnings to leave their job. Most, like Alaa Ameen Mohammad Al-Majmai, the beheaded officer, worked for the security forces because there are few jobs other than farming, which is seasonal, and occasional construction work.

He was kidnapped at night when he and his brother Sajid went to check on their uncle's land after work, according to accounts from Sajid and other family members. Five armed men - some masked - grabbed the brothers, took them to an empty farmhouse and questioned them until the dawn prayer.

Then they said they would let Sajid go, but instructed him "to tell the people to quit their jobs working for the police force," he recalled. They beheaded Alaa Ameen, leaving his body on his uncle's land.

He became the 170th member of the force to be killed by Islamic State attackers in the area, said Major Zowba Al-Majmay, the director of an Iraqi emergency battalion for the area south of Samarra.

This month, a United States Marine Raider, Gunnery Sgt. Scott A. Koppenhafer, 35, was killed in northern Iraq during an operation with local forces. Marine Raiders, who are special forces, often fight alongside Kurdish Peshmerga, or the Iraqi Special Operations forces, when deployed to Iraq.

His death marked the first American killed in combat in Iraq this year. In January, four Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in Manbij, Syria.

Reports like these fill several new, sobering assessments of the Islamic State's resilience and potency. A July report by United Nations analysts on the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee said that Islamic State leaders, despite their military defeat in Syria and Iraq, are "adapting, consolidating and creating conditions for an eventual resurgence" in those countries.

A new inspector general's report assessing ISIS activities from April through June concluded the group was "resurging in Syria" and had "solidified its insurgent capabilities in Iraq."

Despite these reports, Mr. Trump has continued to claim credit for completely defeating the Islamic State, contradicting repeated warnings from his own intelligence and counterterrorism officials that ISIS remains a lethal force.

"We did a great job," Mr. Trump said last month. "We have 100 percent of the caliphate, and we're rapidly pulling out of Syria. We'll be out of there pretty soon. And let them handle their own problems. Syria can handle their own problems - along with Iran, along with Russia, along with Iraq, along with Turkey. We're 7,000 miles away."
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With 5,200 troops in Iraq and just under 1,000 in Syria, the American military's role in both countries has changed little despite the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in both countries.

After the fall of Baghuz, the Islamic State's last holdout in Syria near the Iraqi border, what remained of the group's fighters dispersed throughout the region, starting what American officials now say will be an enduring insurgency.

The Islamic State is well equipped, the officials said, though its leadership is mostly fractured, leaving most cells without guidance from higher-ranking commanders. Also gone is the Islamic State's heyday, when the group could mass produce roadside bombs, munitions and homemade weapons.

The Islamic State's change in tactics has forced the Americans and other international troops to change theirs, ensuring they can fight a guerilla-style campaign against insurgents who fight among and disappear into local populations.

The Iraqi Army and its counterterrorism forces have run multiple campaigns against the Islamic State, focusing primarily on the triangle where Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salahuddin Provinces come together in a rocky and hilly area known as the Makhoul mountains.

Though Islamic State fighters are present, the pace of operations in Syria has dropped significantly. Army Special Forces soldiers, alongside conventional troops, often sit on their outposts for long stretches of time and only occasionally go after the low-ranking Islamic State fighters hiding in nearby villages, according to one defense official who recently returned from the country.

One of the greatest challenges, the official said, was the constant ferrying of American troops to and from Syria in an effort to keep the overall troop presence at the military's official deployment of just under 1,000. Sometimes, the official said, troops are brought into the country for specific missions and then sent out.

"Coupled with a U.S. drawdown, it's setting the conditions for ISIS to retake pockets of territory while coercing local populations," said Colin P. Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center, a research organization for global security issues and an author of a new study by the RAND Corporation on the Islamic State's financing.

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ISIS Is Regaining Strength in Iraq and Syria

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WASHINGTON - Five months after American-backed forces ousted the Islamic State from its last shard of territory in Syria, the terrorist group is gathering new strength, conducting guerrilla attacks across Iraq and Syria, retooling its financial networks and targeting new recruits at an allied-run tent camp, American and Iraqi military and intelligence officers said.

# data[].attributes.body
"ISIS reaps gains of U.S. pullout from Syria."

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The troop withdrawal ends American operations against the terrorist group conducted jointly with a Kurdish-led militia.

Video

Residents throwing vegetables at American troops. Russian and Syrian forces taking control. This is a picture of the U.S. withdrawal from northeastern Syria. Credit Credit... Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

American forces and their Kurdish-led partners in Syria had been conducting as many as a dozen counterterrorism missions a day against Islamic State militants, officials said. That has stopped.

Those same partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces, had also been quietly releasing some Islamic State prisoners and incorporating them into their ranks, in part as a way to keep them under watch. That, too, is now in jeopardy.

And across Syria's porous border with Iraq, Islamic State fighters are conducting a campaign of assassination against local village headmen, in part to intimidate government informants.

When President Trump announced this month that he would pull American troops out of northern Syria and make way for a Turkish attack on the Kurds, Washington's onetime allies, many warned that he was removing the spearhead of the campaign to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Now, analysts say that Mr. Trump's pullout has handed the Islamic State its biggest win in more than four years and greatly improved its prospects. With American forces rushing for the exits, in fact, American officials said last week that they were already losing their ability to collect critical intelligence about the group's operations on the ground.

"There is no question that ISIS is one of the big winners in what is happening in Syria," said Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, a research center in London.

Image

Syrian Democratic Forces standing guard at the Syrian border with Iraq on Wednesday. Credit... Hadi Mizban/Associated Press

Cutting support for the Syrian Democratic Forces has crippled the ability of the United States and its former partners to hunt down the group's remnants.

News of the American withdrawal set off jubilation among Islamic State supporters on social media and encrypted chat networks. It has lifted the morale of fighters in affiliates as far away as Libya and Nigeria.

And, by removing a critical counterforce, the pullout has eased the re-emergence of the Islamic State's core as a terrorist network or a more conventional, and potentially long-lasting, insurgency based in Syria and Iraq.

Although Mr. Trump has repeatedly declared victory over the Islamic State - even boasting to congressional leaders last week that he had personally "captured ISIS" - it remains a threat. After the loss in March of the last patch of the territory it once held across Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State dispersed its supporters and fighters to blend in with the larger population or to hide out in remote deserts and mountains.

The group retains as many as 18,000 "members" in Iraq and Syria, including up to 3,000 foreigners, according to estimates cited in a recent Pentagon report. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliph, is still at large.

"Our battle today is one of attrition and stretching the enemy," Mr. al-Baghdadi declared in a video message released in April. Looking comfortable and well fed, he sat on the floor of a bare room, surrounded by fighters, with an assault rifle by his side.

"Jihad is ongoing until the day of judgment," he told his supporters, according to a transcript provided by SITE Intelligence Group.

Against the benchmark of the Islamic State's former grip on a broad swath of geography, any possibility of a comeback to that extent remains highly remote.

Changes in the political context in Syria and Iraq have diminished the Islamic State's ability to whip up sectarian animosity out of the frustrations of Sunni Muslims over the Shiite or Shiite-linked authorities in Syria and Iraq - the militants' trademark.

The government in Baghdad has broadened its support among Sunni Iraqis. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, by crushing the revolt against him, has left Sunni militants less space to mobilize. And many Syrians and Iraqis who lived under the harsh dominion of the Islamic State strongly oppose its return.

Listen to 'The Daily': Trapped in Syria, Part 1: A Father's Fight

He says his daughter was tricked by her husband into joining ISIS. We hear about one man's battle to bring his family home from a war zone.

Back to The Daily

transcript

Listen to 'The Daily': Trapped in Syria, Part 1: A Father's Fight

Hosted by Michael Barbaro, produced by Lynsea Garrison, Michael Simon Johnson and Austin Mitchell, and edited by Lisa Tobin

He says his daughter was tricked by her husband into joining ISIS. We hear about one man's battle to bring his family home from a war zone.

[music]

livia albeck-ripka

Over the past few months, I've been getting to know a group of families in Australia, who've been organizing, providing solace to one another, because they are members of this strange club of people whose daughters and mothers and sisters are the family members of ISIS fighters. The person who I've gotten to know the best is Kamalle Dabboussy.

kamalle dabboussy

I wanted to be an engaged father.

Wanted her to grow up with people around her that loved her and that she could find solace with, that she could find friendships with. That's really the expectations that I'd had. I, you know, never had the expectations that Mariam was going to be a future doctor, or chemist, or engineer. That wasn't in my thoughts. It was really just making her a happy, well-rounded child and hopeful that she can achieve whatever she wanted to achieve. And I tried.

[music]

michael barbaro

In the months since the United States defeated ISIS in Syria, ISIS militants and their family members have been held in prison camps controlled by the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces. And in that time, parents around the world have been trying to get their daughters and grandchildren back to their home countries. But in the two weeks since President Trump abruptly recalled U.S. troops from the Syrian border, the fate of these women and children has become an urgent and unknown question. The Kurdish forces that had been guarding the camps have turned to defending themselves from the Turkish military coming across the border. And their new allies in Syria are now poised to take control of the camps. Today on "The Daily," my colleague Livia Albeck-Ripka follows one father as he fights to get his daughter home.

It's Monday, October 21.

Livia, tell me about Mariam.

livia albeck-ripka

Mariam was Kamalle's first child. She was born in 1991. He describes her as this really -

livia albeck-ripka

- stubborn, lively toddler. And she kind of ran rings around her parents.

livia albeck-ripka

She's really boisterous, strong-willed. And from pretty early on, she starts to express to Kamalle that she really wants a little brother or sister. It's kind of like from the very beginning, she knows that she wants to have a big family. So Kamalle and his wife have a little girl, Mariam's sister. They kind of adored each other. They just had this wonderful sibling relationship.

michael barbaro

So this very much sounds like the kind of childhood that Kamalle was hoping for Mariam.

livia albeck-ripka

It was, but it didn't last. Kamalle's marriage wasn't working out. Eventually, the two separate, and they split up the girls. Mariam is about 12, 13 at this time. She's really upset about the split. But a decision is made. She's going to go and live with Kamalle. And at first, it's tough.

livia albeck-ripka

They have Sunday morning pancakes together. And they become closer and closer. They kind of, they tell each other everything.

livia albeck-ripka

One day, Mariam meets a boy. His name is Khaled. And she's only 16. So it takes a little while for Kamalle to get to know this guy. But he likes him. He says -

livia albeck-ripka

Khaled also has this really big, stable family that it's clear Mariam is drawn to.

livia albeck-ripka

But they're a little more strict and conservative than Kamalle's practice of Islam, which is more philosophical, more based on his interpretation of what he thinks the laws mean, rather than ritualistically practicing them. But he says these people are really good people. He likes them. So eventually, Mariam comes to Kamalle. And she is barely 18. She tells him she wants to marry Khaled.

livia albeck-ripka

Kamalle says, no way. She kind of accepts it. And she asks him again and again and again. And finally, Kamalle relinquishes. He says, O.K. Who am I to stand in the way of this?

kamalle dabboussy

She wanted a family. And she wanted children. And that's really what her want was. So I just made sure that that was her choice, not that she was being bullied into it, basically. That's what it was, really making sure with her, and that was her choice. And, yeah, that was the next phase of her life. And I was very happy for her.

I had hoped that she had remained close to me. But circumstances were that she wasn't going to stay close to me that long after that.

livia albeck-ripka

After Mariam marries Khaled, she moves in with him to a little granny flat at the back of his parents' home. They eventually have a baby. And Kamalle starts noticing Mariam changing. It's nothing extreme at first. It just seems to him that they're adopting the views of Khaled's family, becoming a little more conservative, praying more often. But it's when Mariam puts on the scarf -

livia albeck-ripka

- that he has questions.

livia albeck-ripka

And eventually, he accepts it, because he believes it's her choice. Then they all go on this extended family trip. It's really fun and exciting. Khaled's never been overseas before. He and Mariam have this new baby girl. And they go to Malaysia. And then they go to Dubai. And -

livia albeck-ripka

It's all really good. But Kamalle does notice Khaled drawing a little bit away from him. And he tries to talk to him. He says that Khaled, who he calls K., was doing all these extra prayers. Kamalle kind of questions it. But K. won't engage with him. There's this block.

livia albeck-ripka

So Kamalle has to get back to Australia for work. He leaves his daughter and his son-in-law in Dubai. And they go on to Lebanon. And they're supposed to go on from there to Greece and then come home to Australia. But while they're in Lebanon, Khaled suggests a trip to Turkey. Kamalle doesn't really read too much into this. Turkey is a beautiful country, a beautiful place to visit. But then communications started to dissipate. And then it kind of goes quiet for a couple of weeks.

And then, there's a knock on his door. It was the police. They told him, your daughter is in Syria.

livia albeck-ripka

Kamalle really starts to worry. He starts trying to call his contacts. He starts trying to find Mariam, and he can't.

[music]

livia albeck-ripka

And a month goes by before he does. Some text messages, some phone calls start to come in from Mariam. She says, I'm safe. She doesn't tell her father where she is. And she says, don't do anything stupid.

livia albeck-ripka

She was with ISIS.

[music]

michael barbaro

We'll be right back.

Livia, this would have been 2015, so the year after ISIS declared the caliphate and started to call on Muslims around the world to join them there. In these early days, what's Kamalle's understanding of Mariam's role in ISIS? Did he think that she might be a combatant? Did he think she was kind of a passive supporter, who was suddenly in the midst of these true believers? I mean, what was his sense of this?

livia albeck-ripka

He didn't know. He was sort of surviving on this drip feed of information that was coming to him via sporadic texts and calls. Sometimes he didn't even know if the text messages were from Mariam herself. Or she would be on a call. And she'd say, Dad, don't talk. I'll talk. And it was clear to him that somebody was watching her and controlling her. And so he really - he doesn't know. But he does have doubts.

livia albeck-ripka

Once they had made initial contact, Kamalle and Mariam kept talking as much as they could, given the censorship, all of the monitored communication. And it's some time after this that Kamalle learns that Khaled has been killed. And here and there, Mariam starts to suggest that she no longer wants to be there. Kamalle said she would sneak away without any guards and text Kamalle a few words. During one of these private moments, she told him, I was forced. And finally, she tells Kamalle, she's going to make a break for it.

[music]

livia albeck-ripka

After that, Kamalle didn't hear from her for 19 months, not a word.

kamalle dabboussy

And it was absolutely an awful time in my life. I didn't know whether she was alive or dead. I didn't know whether she had made it safe. I didn't know the condition of the kids. I, you know, went into a depression. I sought medical help. I sought professional help as the days and the months passed.

And I had started to think towards the end of that period of time that she may have succumbed, that actually she may never be coming home.

And then -

livia albeck-ripka

One day he goes into his bedroom. And he looks at his phone.

livia albeck-ripka

He says she tells him it's too dangerous to try again. But by 2018, ISIS is under siege. And in the months that have passed, they're down to virtually no territory at all. And the bombing is intensifying. Mariam says her second husband is also killed. And then she's forced into a third marriage.

livia albeck-ripka

Some time after her third husband is captured, Kamalle gets advice that Mariam should surrender to Kurdish forces, who have been key allies to the U.S. in this fight against ISIS, and who hold territory in northeastern Syria. And then in early 2019, she contacts her father. And she lets him know she's ended up in the Al Hol camp, where the families of ISIS fighters are being held, which is where she meets the other Australian women. They begin to forge friendships with one another. They kind of connect their tents up to protect themselves from the more radicalized women, who have been known to beat and even mutilate other women in the camp who they perceive to be nonbelievers. And then Mariam thinks to herself, hey, we should get our parents to talk to one another. And so she texts her dad and says, you and the other family members need to talk to one another. You need to get us out of here.

[music]

livia albeck-ripka

So Kamalle starts making contact with the family members of these women. And this strange club starts to form. For so long - for years, in most cases - these families have been keeping a secret that their sisters, their daughters are in Syria. And suddenly, they have a forum where they can connect with one another, and talk about how hard it's been, and also begin to organize and discuss how they might get them out. They're having meetings. They're writing letters to politicians. They're stressing to government that if they're to get these women and children out, now is the time to do it. The Kurds are running the camp. Things are relatively stable. But the families sense that this isn't going to last for that long. And it's at this time that Kamalle is also planning a trip to Syria. He thinks, well, even if he can't get his daughter out, he wants to see her. And it's also an opportunity to make contact with the Kurds and the Americans to try to figure out the logistics of what it might look like to get her and the other women and children out. So earlier this year, he goes. He visits her in the Al-Hol camp.

livia albeck-ripka

It is 50 degrees Celsius, or more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

[music]

livia albeck-ripka

Mariam then takes Kamalle to see the camp. But after only a few hours, he has to leave. They hug each other goodbye. Kamalle is trying to stay strong for his daughter and is grappling with the fact that he's physically there with her, and he can't take her with him. The Australian government hasn't made up its mind what to do with Mariam and the other women and children. So he goes home, alone.

So after that visit, Kamalle returns to Sydney. He's driving from Sydney to Melbourne. It's about a 10-hour drive. And he's going to Melbourne to meet with some family members of the women and children. He's on the road, and he gets a call. It's a journalist who tells him, did you see Trump's tweet? The U.S. has just given Turkey permission to cross the border. It dawns on Kamalle in this moment that everything they had been pressing the government for for months, their worst fears, could come true, that a Turkish incursion would sow instability in the region, which could ultimately cost the lives of his daughter and his grandchildren. And he knows this window to get them out is suddenly growing very, very short. So he pulls over on the side of the road, and he weeps.

[music]

kamalle dabboussy

It's shifting hour by hour. The Syrian forces coming into that space, I don't know what it means for everyone. I really don't know what it means for everyone.

So I'm going to try - sorry, even though it's 3 o'clock in the morning there, try and ring through -

livia albeck-ripka

To Mariam? Would you mind putting it on speaker?

[phone ringing]

kamalle dabboussy

Hello? Hello?

O.K.

[music]

michael barbaro

Tomorrow, Part 2 of Kamalle's story.

We'll be right back.

Here's what else you need to know today.

archived recording (john bercow)

Order.

Order.

archived recording

The ayes to the right, 322. The nos to the left, 306. [CHEERS]

michael barbaro

Parliament has rejected an agreement between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union for Britain to leave the E.U. by the end of October, likely requiring yet another delay in the Brexit process, possibly until January. Despite skepticism of the agreement, Johnson had hoped that enough lawmakers fed up with previous delays would approve it over the weekend.

michael barbaro

As Parliament voted, an estimated 1 million people demonstrated against Brexit on the streets of downtown London, arguing for a new referendum to keep Britain in the E.U.

michael barbaro

And President Trump has reversed course on his decision to hold the next G7 summit of world leaders at his own resort in Florida, which both Democrats and Republicans had called an illegal act of self-dealing by the president.

michael barbaro

In a tweet over the weekend, Trump cited the criticism, and said he would immediately begin searching for an alternate location.

archived recording (mick mulvaney)

I think it's the right decision to change. We'll have to find someplace else. And my guess is we'll find someplace else that the media won't like, either, for another reason.

archived recording

I just have to pick up -

michael barbaro

That's it for "The Daily." I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

But as an underground insurgency, the Islamic State appears to be on the upswing.

Militants have been carrying out "assassinations, suicide attacks, abductions, and arson of crops in both Iraq and Syria," according to a report this summer by the Pentagon inspector general for operations against the Islamic State. It is establishing "resurgent cells" in Syria, the report said, and "seeking to expand its command and control nodes in Iraq."

The militants have been burning crops and emptying out whole villages. They have been raising money by carrying out kidnappings for ransom and extorting "taxes" from local officials, often skimming a cut of rebuilding contracts.

Their attacks on village headmen - at least 30 were killed in Iraq in 2018, according to the Pentagon report - are an apparent attempt to scare others out of cooperating with Baghdad.

"The high operational tempo with multiple attacks taking place over a wide area" may be intended to create the appearance that the Islamic State can strike anywhere with "impunity," the report said.

Mr. Trump first said last December that he intended to withdraw the last 2,000 American troops from Syria; the Pentagon scaled that back, pulling out about half of those troops.

Military officials, though, say that helping the Syrian Democratic Forces hunt down underground cells and fugitive fighters required more training and intelligence support than an open battle for territory. Even the partial drawdown, the Pentagon inspector general's report found, could be "detrimental" to the American mission in Iraq and Syria.

Last month, as if to prove its continued vitality,the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a minibus bombing that killed a dozen people near the entrance to a Shiite pilgrimage site in the Iraqi city of Karbala. It was its deadliest attack since the loss of its last territory.

And within hours of Mr. Trump's announcement almost two weeks ago that American forces were moving away from the Syrian border with Turkey, two ISIS suicide bombers attacked a base of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

"The crusaders have given up," Islamic State supporters crowed, according to Laith Alkhouriof the business risk consulting company Flashpoint Global Partners, who monitors the group's online messages.

Other messages "urged ISIS 'soldiers' everywhere to double their efforts," Mr. Alkhouri said.

The missions against the Islamic State conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces - sometimes as many as two dozen a day - had included both counterterrorism patrols and raids on militant cells. Some were carried out jointly with American soldiers, others alone, according to United States officials.

But the Kurds, an ethnic minority sometimes disparaged by Arab Syrians, faced resentment among the Arab residents of northeastern Syria.

In part to try to win support from those communities, the Kurdish-led forces pardoned and released hundreds of detained ISIS fighters or supporters in so-called reconciliation deals, relying on informal relationships with community leaders to handle their reintegration.

The Kurdish-led militia even incorporated some of the released Islamic State detainees into its own forces, said Dareen Khalifa, a researcher with the International Crisis Group who has traveled to the region extensively and documented the "reconciliation" pardons in a report last summer.

The Kurdish militia leaders said: "What do you want us to do, kill them all? Imprison them all? The best way forward is to keep a close eye on them by keeping them within the S.D.F.," Ms. Khalifa said in an interview. She said that those enlisted had not been Islamic State leaders and that so far there had been no recidivism.

But nowthe American withdrawal and the Turkish incursion are threatening the informal supervision of those former prisoners, Ms. Khalifa said, creating a risk that some might gravitate back to fighting for the Islamic State.

Turkey, which has battled Kurdish separatist militants at home for decades, launched the invasion primarily to push back the Kurdish-led forces in Syria. Without American protection, the Kurdish leaders are now switching sides to ally with Mr. al-Assad.

In Iraq, too, some say opportunities may be emerging for the Islamic State to revive its appeals to Sunni resentments in the areas it once controlled. Promises of postwar reconstruction have gone unfilled. And Shiite militias that rose up to defeat the Islamic State remain in place, sometimes seeking to profit off the local populations.

"People in the liberated areas say: 'Why are all these armed groups still around? Why do they still call us all ISIS, and why are they taxing us or extorting us and taking all of our money?'," said Renad Mansour, the director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House.

The campaign against the Islamic State, he said, "was a military solution to what is a social and political problem."

Mr. Trump, for his part, has insisted repeatedly that Turkey should take over the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. "It's going to be your responsibility," Mr. Trump said he told the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

But current and former United States officials say the Turkish military has a bleak track record at counterterrorism and little hope of filling the void left by the Americans and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

"That is wishful thinking as far as I can tell," said Dana Stroul, co-chairwoman of the congressionally sponsored Syria Study Group and a former Pentagon official.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ISIS Reaps Gains of U.S. Pullout From Syria

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The troop withdrawal ends American operations against the terrorist group conducted jointly with a Kurdish-led militia. American forces and their Kurdish-led partners in Syria had been conducting as many as a dozen counterterrorism missions a day against Islamic State militants, officials said. That has stopped.

# data[].attributes.headline
Zander Ganz .                         New York Times

# data[].attributes.subject
Zander Ganz .                         New York Times

# data[].attributes.body
"Syria Faces Brittle Future, Dominated by Russia and Iran

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/world/middleeast/syria-future.html

# data[].attributes.body
BBC

"Turkey Syria offensive: Your questions answered"

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50004203

# data[].attributes.body
Al-Jazeera

Erdogan: Turkey-Russia patrols in Syria to begin on Friday

10.30.19

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/erdogan-turkey-russia-patrols-syria-friday-191030175450740.html

# data[].attributes.body
Al Jazeera
10.30.19
"Trump may be making the same mistake Obama did"
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trump-making-mistake-obama-191030123450491.html

# data[].attributes.body
Haaretz
10.30.19
"Live Updates: Syria Kurds Begin Withdrawing From Turkish Border"

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/syria-turkey-kurds-trump-1.7973896

# data[].attributes.body
Al Jazeera
10.29.19
"World reacts to death of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi"
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/world-reacts-death-isil-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-191027145053140.html

# data[].attributes.body
BBC
10.15.19
"Turkey's Syria offensive explained in four maps"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49973218

# data[].attributes.body
Syrian Arab News Agency

"Army carries on fierce clashes with Turkish occupation forces"

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=177224

# data[].attributes.body
Yeni Safak

"Mothers in SE Turkey continue protesting YPG/PKK terrorists"

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/mothers-in-se-turkey-continue-protesting-ypg-pkk-terrorists-3504122

# data[].attributes.body
BBC
10.15.19
"Who are the Kurds?"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440

# data[].attributes.body
New York Times
10.23.19
"Turkey Halts Syrian Incursion, Hours After Deal With Russia"

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/world/middleeast/turkey-russia-syria.html

# data[].attributes.body
BBC
"U.S. House Says Armenian Mass Killing Was Genocide"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50229787

# data[].attributes.body
Financial Times
"Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid in Syria"
10.27.19

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the militant group Isis, was killed on Saturday in a US special forces raid in north-western Syria, President Donald Trump announced from the White House on Sunday.

"The United States brought the world's number one terrorist leader to justice," Mr Trump said at a televised press conference. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead."

The killing of the militant leader, who for years unleashed terror across Syria, Iraq and further afield, came just weeks after Mr Trump faced bipartisan criticism for withdrawing US forces from north-east Syria and allowing Turkey to invade.

Opponents of the pullout say it betrayed the Syrian Kurds who had been US allies in the fight against Isis and that it could allow the jihadi group to surge back after its defeat and expulsion from most of the territory it held in Syria and Iraq.

Mr Trump said Baghdadi was the target of a commando operation in Idlib province, which borders Turkey in north-west Syria. Though analysts had viewed the area as too hostile for the Isis leader, Mr Trump said Baghdadi had been attempting to rebuild the terror group from there. Idlib is dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaeda linked group that has previously clashed with Isis.

The US president said the operations had been weeks in the planning and said the Isis leader was killed after trying to flee US forces in a tunnel "whimpering and crying and screaming all the way".

Baghdadi, accompanied by three of his children, detonated a suicide vest, Mr Trump said, adding that no US personnel, other than a dog, were injured. "His body was mutilated by the blast," said the US president. "The tunnel had caved in on it, in addition."

However, Russia's defence ministry cast doubt on the operation's success and said its forces had not provided the US any assistance.

"The escalating number of direct participants and countries that supposedly took part in this 'operation', each one with completely contradictory details, justifiably raises questions and doubts about whether it happened, never mind succeeded," said Igor Konashenkov, Russia's army spokesman, according to Interfax.

Russia did not observe any US air strikes near Idlib on Saturday and denied that it had helped the operation, Mr Konashenkov added.

Baghdadi has topped the list of most-wanted terrorists for years and has been the subject of manhunts by US intelligence and other international security agencies.

Isis, which captured a third of Iraq and a huge swath of Syria in a lightning sweep in 2014, set up what it called an Islamic state in an attempt to revive the Caliphate of the early days of Islam.

Over the years, there had been numerous, ultimately false, reports that Baghdadi had been killed or severely injured. Mr Trump said "test results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification. It was him."

Isis imposed its harsh and often murderous rule on local populations and attracted thousands of foreign fighters from numerous countries in the Arab region, Europe and America, lured by the appeal of resurgent Islam conquering the world and going back to its purist roots.

Over the years the group has been accused of a long list of atrocities including suicide bombings, beheadings, rapes and enslavement of women.

Mr Trump used the announcement on Sunday to evoke the fearsome might of the US military. "The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic, and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him," he said.

He suggested that video of Baghdadi's death should be released to serve as a message to people tempted to join the terrorist group. "They should see how he died. He didn't die a hero, he died a coward," said Mr Trump.

The US president watched the operation from the White House's situation room, just as Barack Obama in 2011 had watched the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader. Mr Trump said the video quality was "absolutely perfect, as though you were watching a movie".

The mission on Saturday came after US forces had been surveilling Baghdadi for weeks, according to Mr Trump, adding that two or three attempts had been cancelled after the Isis leader, known for taking extreme security precautions including not using a cell phone for years, had changed his plans at the last minute.

Baghdadi's compound had tunnels leading from it, though all but one were dead ends, Mr Trump said, adding that US forces had blown holes in the walls of the compound to gain entry because the main entrances were booby-trapped. He said US forces were in the compound for approximately two hours and retrieved "highly sensitive material" about the origins of Isis and its future plans.

Eight helicopters participated in the raid, flying low for more than an hour over dangerous territory as they went in, some of it controlled by Russian forces, said Mr Trump. He said the helicopters were met with "local gunfire" going in, that was "immediately terminated".

"Russia treated us great, they opened up, we had to fly over certain Russia-held areas," said Mr Trump. US forces had also flown over Turkish territory with permission, he added. He also thanked Syria, Iraq and the Syrian Kurds who "gave us some info that turned out to be helpful".

On Sunday morning, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces posted a tweet about a "successful and historical operation due to a joint intelligence work with the United States of America".

Mr Trump on Saturday tweeted that "something very big has just happened", without elaborating. He said on Sunday the tweet had been posted after US forces had completed the mission and landed safely in a friendly country, which he did not name.

The US president said information about the mission had been kept to a small group of officials. Democratic congressional leaders were not briefed in advance, he said.
Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley and Max Seddon in Moscow

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Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid in Syria

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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the militant group Isis, was killed on Saturday in a US special forces raid in north-western Syria, President Donald Trump announced from the White House on Sunday. "The United States brought the world's number one terrorist leader to justice," Mr Trump said at a televised press conference.

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Turkey v Syria's Kurds: The short, medium and long story - Chloe

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Turkey v Syria's Kurds: The short, medium and long story - Chloe

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BBC
10.23.19
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49963649

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Who Are the Kurds, and Why Is Turkey Attacking Them in Syria? - Chloe

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Who Are the Kurds, and Why Is Turkey Attacking Them in Syria? - Chloe

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New York Times
10.14.19
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/world/middleeast/the-kurds-facts-history.html

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BBC
"Syria conflict: Trump's withdrawal plan shocks allies"
12.20.18

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President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw all US troops from Syria has been met with strong criticism.

Mr Trump made the announcement on Wednesday, asserting that the Islamic State (IS) group had been defeated.

But major allies, including senior Republicans and foreign powers, have disputed the claim and say the move could lead to a resurgence of IS.

US troops have helped rid much of Syria's north-east of the jihadist group, but pockets of fighters remain.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is one of Mr Trump's supporters, called the withdrawal decision a "huge Obama-like mistake".

And the UK government pushed back on the president's assurance that IS had now been defeated.

Trump's Syria troop removal prompts questions

After the caliphate: What next for IS?

The Pentagon said it was transitioning to the "next phase of the campaign" to eliminate IS but did not provide further details.

President Trump, who has long promised to pull American troops out of Syria, said on Twitter that it was time to bring them home after their "historic victories".

The White House would not give a timescale for the withdrawal but defence officials quoted by the New York Times said President Trump wanted it done within 30 days.

What has the reaction been?

Senator Graham, who sits on the armed services committee, warned that the withdrawal would have "devastating consequences" both in Syria and beyond.

He said that he feared it would mean ceding influence in the region to Russia and Iran.

"An American withdrawal at this time would be a big win for ISIS [IS], Iran, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, and Russia," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the UK government distanced itself from President Trump's assertion that IS had now been defeated.

"Much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose," a statement from the Foreign Office said.

Israel said it had been told the US had "other ways to have influence in the area" but would "study the timeline [of the withdrawal], how it will be done and of course the implications for us".

Striking a different tone, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US decision could result in "genuine, real prospects for a political settlement" in Syria.

A spokesman for Kurdish-led authorities in north-eastern Syria, Aldar Xelil, said no-one was yet clear on details of the withdrawal "including US commanders here"

However, the US decision would have an impact on the entire region, he told Ronahi TV.

US allies concerned
By James Robbins, diplomatic correspondent, BBC News
The British government is stopping just short - at least in public - of condemning President Trump's decision to pull US forces out of Syria.

It said that IS remains a threat despite the "important advances" that have been made in recent days.

In Syria, Kurdish forces fighting IS feel abandoned, just as Turkey is vowing to step up attacks against the Kurds.

And the most powerful allies of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and Iran, are pleased by the decision.

They hope it will mean they can increase their power in Syria and beyond.

What is the US presence in Syria?

Some 2,000 US troops have largely been stationed in the Kurdish region in northern Syria.

A partnership with an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, is credited with playing a major role in the virtual elimination of IS after it overran large swathes of Syria four years ago.

However, the militant group has not disappeared entirely.

A recent US report said there were still as many as 14,000 IS militants in Syria and even more in neighbouring Iraq - and there is a fear they will shift to guerrilla tactics in an attempt to rebuild their network.

But the partnership between the US and the Kurds has enraged neighbouring Turkey, which views the Kurdish YPG militia - the main fighting force in the SDF - as an extension of a banned Kurdish group fighting for autonomy in Turkey.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country might soon start a new military operation against the YPG in Syria.

Mr Erdogan added that he had discussed his plan with Mr Trump by telephone and that he had given a "positive response".

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Trump's Syria withdrawal plan stuns allies

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President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw all US troops from Syria has been met with strong criticism. Mr Trump made the announcement on Wednesday, asserting that the Islamic State (IS) group had been defeated. But major allies, including senior Republicans and foreign powers, have disputed the claim and say the move could lead to a resurgence of IS.

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Breitbart

"Bernie Sanders Acknowledges ‘Kurds and Other U.S. Allies’ After al-Baghdadi Raid, Not U.S. Forces or Trump"

10.27.19
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/27/bernie-sanders-acknowledges-kurds-other-u-s-allies-after-al-baghdadi-raid-not-u-s-forces-trump/

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Mother Jones
"A Stab in the Back”: How Trump and Turkey Blew Up Syria’s Most Stable Region"
10.16.19

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/trump-syria-mother-jones-podcast-turkey-invasion/

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Donald J Trump --- Twitter
Pinned Tweet about killing of ISIS leader
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1188909031403900928

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Al Jazeera
"With Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gone, what next for ISIL?"
10.29.19

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World leaders and regional analysts have warned of the remaining threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group - even after the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

According to US President Donald Trump, the ISIL chief died during a night-time raid by US special forces in Barisha, a village in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib. Al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after running into a dead-end tunnel beneath a compound, killing himself and three of his children, Trump said on Sunday.

More:

Under al-Baghdadi's command, ISIL became one of the most brutal armed groups in modern history and, at its peak, its self-declared caliphate covered territory across Iraq and Syria roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom.

Harnessing the internet and encouraging followers from different parts of the world to join them, ISIL fighters carried out mass killings, beheadings and rape campaigns in Iraq and Syria, and inspired attacks beyond the Middle East. In the following years, a series of offensives gradually stripped the group of its territory, with its fighters losing their final scrap of land in Syria in March this year.

Andreas Krieg, assistant professor at the Defence Studies Department of King's College London, said al-Baghdadi's death was "mostly of symbolic importance".

"I've said for years that this organisation has become somewhat of a virtual caliphate; a franchise that other groups can buy into and basically sell around the world," he told Al Jazeera, describing ISIL as a "virtual community" that has been "leaderless".

"The killing of the so-called self-proclaimed caliph doesn't make any difference in that because the different groups that existed and continued to exist after the collapse of the physical caliphate will continue to fight in the underground in Syria and Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere," he said.

While details surrounding the operation that led to al-Baghdadi's death are still emerging - and his death has been announced many times before - the US declaration has brought up the question of his succession.

ISIL social media channels have not confirmed Trump's announcement, nor alluded to potential successors, but Iraqi political analyst Hiwa Osman said it would not be long before the name of a new leader emerged.

"Looking at the track record of these radical groups, when [al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab] al-Zarqawi was killed, the group was very quick in appointing another person to be in charge; when Osama bin Laden was killed, al-Qaeda was also very quick to appoint someone else in his place - I think we will hear the same thing from ISIL," he told Al Jazeera.

Analysts said the list of potential successors appeared to be short, with Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi expert on ISIL, noting that two potential candidates stand out: Abu Othman al-Tunsi and Abu Saleh al-Juzrawi, who is also known as Hajj Abdullah.

The first - a Tunisian national - heads ISIL's Shura Council, a legislative and consultative body, al-Hashemi told AFP news agency.

The second - a Saudi - runs the group's so-called Delegated Committee, an executive body, he said.

These "possible options" would nonetheless be controversial, according to al-Hashemi, because neither is a Syrian or Iraqi national, who make up the bulk of ISIL's landless fighting force.

"This could lead to defections," he said.

Aymenn Jawad Tamimi, an academic and expert on armed fighters, also identified the elusive Hajj Abdullah as a potential successor.

"He turns up in leaked ISIL documents as a deputy of Baghdadi and to my knowledge, he is not dead," Tamimi told AFP.

"Apart from some texts that mention Hajj Abdullah, not much is known about him except that he was the emir of the Delegated Committee which is the general governing body of ISIL."

Abdullah Qardash

Speculation has abounded around a senior ISIL figure known as Abdullah Qardash - a former Iraqi military officer jailed with al-Baghdadi in the US-run Iraqi prison of Camp Bucca.

Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Turkey's Reyhanli on the Syrian border, referred to a months-old statement attributed to the ISIL propaganda arm Amaq but never officially adopted by the group that said Qardash had been selected as leader even before Trump declared al-Baghdadi dead.

"But we don't know yet of how much of ISIL's inner circle - the Shura - remains, if Abdullah Qardash is still alive, whether there is infighting," he said.

"Much of ISIL's leadership has already been wiped out from Iraq and Syria. Many analysts have suggested that this is going to be a very different kind of succession that al-Baghdadi has probably envisioned," he added.

Tamimi and al-Hashemi both said the statement on Qardash's promotion was fake.

Citing Iraqi intelligence sources, al-Hashemi said that Qardash had been dead since 2017.

"Qardash's daughter is currently held by Iraqi intelligence," he said. "Both her and other relatives have confirmed that he died in 2017."

Al-Hashemi also said that Qardash - a Turkmen from Iraq's Tal Afar region - would not qualify as "caliph" because he is not from the Quraysh tribe - the same tribe as Prophet Muhammad.

He said belonging to the Quraysh tribe is seen as a prerequisite for becoming a caliph - a brief biography of al-Baghdadi posted to online forums in 2014 had traced his lineage to the Quraysh tribe.

'A burden'

Whoever emerges as leader will inherit the difficult task of leading a frayed organisation that has been reduced to scattered sleeper cells.

Divisions have widened within ISIL ranks in recent months, with some supporters blaming al-Baghdadi for the demise of the "caliphate" in March and for being absent when it died.

Hasan Haniyeh, an Amman-based analyst, said al-Baghdadi's death will not result in "any substantive change" for ISIL, arguing it might even bring some relief to the group because of the difficult task of protecting him.

"Al-Baghdadi, as a figurehead, had become a burden on the organisation since the group's defeats in Iraq and Syria," he told Al Jazeera. "I think ISIL will continue on but will revert to being an organisation, not a state or caliphate ... The group's multiple structures will survive him and will transform itself in the aftermath of his death."

Nate Rosenblatt, a researcher and expert on armed groups, said with al-Baghdadi removed, "ISIL affiliates have a chance to switch allegiances or simply not re-pledge their allegiance to Baghdadi's successor."

This may give a boost to rival armed groups in Syria such as Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham and the Hurras al-Deen group, he told AFP. Both have been trying to root out ISIL locally.

Fight goes on

Meanwhile, world leaders warned that the fight against the armed group was not over yet.

Russia on Monday offered guarded praise of the US military operation, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declining to say if Washington had informed Moscow about it in advance: "If this information is confirmed, we can talk about a serious contribution by the president of the United States to the fight against international terrorism."

French President Emmanuel Macron said al-Baghdadi's death was a major blow against ISIL but "the fight continues to finally defeat this terrorist organisation".

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We will work with our coalition partners to bring an end to the murderous, barbaric activities of Daesh [Arabic acronym for ISIL] once and for all."

In Southeast Asia, an important focus for ISIL, officials said security forces were preparing for a long battle to thwart the group's ideology.

The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, home to some of Asia's most organised armed groups, said they were braced for retaliation by ISIL loyalists, including "lone wolf" attacks.

Though al-Baghdadi's death will unsettle ISIL, it remains capable and dangerous, said Delfin Lorenzana, defence secretary of the Philippines, where the group's influence has taken hold in its troubled Mindanao region.

"This is a blow to the organisation considering al-Baghdadi's stature as a leader. But this is just a momentary setback considering the depth and reach of the organisation worldwide," Lorenzana said. "Somebody will take his place."

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With Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gone, what next for ISIL?

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World leaders and regional analysts have warned of the remaining threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group - even after the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. According to US President Donald Trump, the ISIL chief died during a night-time raid by US special forces in Barisha, a village in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

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BBC

"Turkey-Syria offensive: US sanctions Turkish ministries"

10.15.19

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50050264

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"Turkey says YPG terrorists still in Syria border area as deadline looms"

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/turkey-says-ypg-terrorists-still-in-syria-border-area-as-deadline-looms-3503989

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European Council on Foreign Relations
"The Economic War on Syria: Why Europe Risks Losing"
2.11.19

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Sanctions can never be 'smart'; new EU and US measures on Syria are only likely to strengthen the regime, not weaken it

As the frontlines in Syria largely fall silent and the Syrian government works on reasserting its control across the country, a new war is in the making: that of the West on the Syrian economy.

Over the last few months several new punitive measures have been inflicted on the Syrian state. In November the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new advisory threatening sanctions on ships transporting oil and gas to Syrian ports. And this month the European Union issued new sanctions against several Syrian businessmen and companies operating inside the country. In the United States an expansive bill is awaiting Senate approval, one which would see crushing sanctions not just against Syrian government entities and affiliates, but also third parties and states that take part in reconstruction. These are on top of the numerous sanctions imposed over the last eight years. The new measures aim to ensure that Western actors do not play any role in strengthening the reconstituted Assad order; they seek to pressure the Syrian government into changing its behaviour in return for sanctions relief and reconstruction aid.

These targeted sanctions criminalise the Syrian government as a whole, and consequently those who do any work in government-held territories

Yet this policy reveals a dangerous and fundamental misreading of both the Syrian government's proven history of seeking to withstand pressure - at the expense of the Syrian population - and the extent to which the government's allies will step in to ease the pressure - increasing their own influence within the country in the process. Not only will this policy prove ineffective in shifting the government's behaviour towards the West's desired goal, it will also have a hugely detrimental impact on the most vulnerable members of Syria's population, significantly increasing the likelihood of further flight from Syria to countries with more opportunities and stability.

Sanctions often serve as an expression of moral outrage for Western policymakers. And certainly, moral outrage is justified. The Syrian regime has committed enormous crimes against its own people. But outrage is not a strategy and Western sanctions as currently envisioned reveal a scorched earth policy that indiscriminately and arbitrarily punishes ordinary Syrians and threaten legitimate businesses.

Sanctions impact

While the government's behaviour plays a central role in creating the desperate conditions on the ground, the sanctions on Syria have also exacerbated this suffering, as UN officials point out. Described by experts as the "most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed", the mixture of targeted, financial, and sectoral sanctions has created a situation today where Syrians are being punished twice: once by an authoritarian and corrupt government, and again by the international community through the imposition of inhumane and destructive sanctions.

And this is only getting worse. The latest OFAC advisory led to Syria's most serious gas crisis in recent years, in the peak of winter. Within 48 hours of its issue, insurance companies cut their ties with vessels going to Syria, ships stopped sending their cargo, and the gas all but dried up. In an effort to deal with the crisis, the Syrian government asked prominent businessmen to buy vessels and transport gas from Iran and Russia, uninsured, which is highly risky and expensive. The cost of shipping has now soared due to the risk.

Inside the country today, ordinary Syrians are queueing for hours to buy a canister of gas to heat and cook with. Electricity cuts are plaguing the country. There is growing and very public discontent among the population. The situation has become so dire that government officials are acknowledging it and warning the population to brace themselves for 'storms ahead'. As one Syrian official pointed out to this author, "the economic war is far worse than the military one, as the economic one enters into every single household and no one is untouched by it."

Sanctions have left a larger and, in some cases, fatal impact beyond their intended goals: much has been reported about critical medical equipment and pharmaceuticals still being prevented from reaching Syria, including life-saving cancer medication and hospital equipment, because of the terms stipulated in the sanctions.

After eight years of conflict it is clear that sanctions have made absolutely no impact on shifting government positions. Meanwhile, sanctioned figures remain the dominant business actors in Syria today and, where it closes off opportunities for some, other government-affiliated figures quickly rise up in their place. The recent visit to the United Arab Emirates by a large delegation of Syrian businessmen and officials to drum up investment in Syria's private sector was headed by Mohammad Hamsho - who has been on the sanctions list since 2011. Some actors are now profiting as a direct result of the sanctions-based economy, while average Syrians are forced to find alternative - and increasingly expensive - ways to bring in basic materials in order to survive.

A major flaw in the recent EU sanctions and the proposed US sanctions is that they fail to distinguish between the regime, the government, and non-official institutions. They do not define what the regime is, and what behaviour and business practices they accept as legitimate. Essentially these targeted sanctions criminalise the Syrian government as a whole, and consequently those who do any work in government-held territories.

The most recent instance saw several wealthy Syrian businessmen, including prominent Samer Foz, named in the recent EU sanctions. Foz rose to prominence when he became one of the very few businessmen to stay in Syria in 2012 following massive flight of the Syrian business community. Foz is listed because he is one of several developers who has invested in the Marotta Project, which is frequently conflated with Law 10, a recently introduced measure which is seen as an 'anti-opposition' bill that legalises the deliberate displacement of opposition supporters from certain areas.

In theory, Law 10 is based on an international practice that has been widely used across continents for decades. This provides a model through which countries affected by war and destruction can rebuild, using minimal state investment and depend instead on the private sector to invest. Meanwhile, the Marotta City project is a luxury real estate development project based on the notion of buying plots of land in return for shares in the project. It is not a project based on Law 10 - it was developed prior to the law's creation. While it has bought out those who lived there, it is not an anti-opposition political project, rather a project that should be defined as neoliberal, serving upper-class investors at the expense of the lower classes.

What the Syrian government did was take the international practice and develop it into very poorly constructed legislation; it saw the Marotta City project as a viable redevelopment project that could be applied across the country in order to extract money from private investors and limit its own funding in reconstruction. What subsequently came out was a bill that discriminates against the poor and sees all land seized for small entitlements that will not be enough to secure their access to the newly developed residential areas.

For the government, Foz and others are useful as their businesses and investments inside the country contribute towards keeping the economy running. But at the same time, there is no friendship or loyalty to the top businessmen. Like the population as a whole - rich or poor - they are viewed as a resource to plunder.

In this context the sanctioning of Foz effectively represents a European attempt to crack down on business activity in government-held territories, equating it with "regime" efforts. It also implies that Syrian businessmen are guilty of regime crimes simply for participating in business opportunities inside Syria, warning them it is now illegal to work with local governing bodies and institutions. Such targeted sanctions also fuel the businesses of less savoury characters who are wholly embedded with the regime.

This may, in part, be the Western objective, but it risks debilitating the entire economy for which the wider population will pay the largest price. Foz and others like him represent an important source of wider economic activity and jobs, which risk now being curtailed.

The view from Damascus

The perspective from Damascus is that the Syrian state, and the population living under its control, will weather the sanctions storm. Not because people necessarily support the government, but because there is no alternative - both the state and the population know this. Indeed, this provides an easy alibi for the government to blame its own shortcomings on the actions of hostile external actors. In fact, the government's control of patronage networks means that increased shortages caused by sanctions will help further solidify its control.

The Syrian government will continue to seek out partners to help alleviate the pressure, and today there are more actors willing to work with it, with few or no preconditions, in an effort to secure their own interests and get a slice of the post-conflict Syria pie. There are now ongoing talks between Iran, Iraq, and Syria to boost energy links between the three countries across their land borders. Within a week of the new EU sanctions, the Syrian government signed nine memoranda of understanding with Iran. If successful, all these business ventures will address a number of the economic issues inside the country, including the gas shortage, removing this pressure from the government, while also giving Iran more access to the Syrian market.

The Syrian government has been under various sanctions since the 1980s and is therefore used to them. These new sanctions, and the possibility of even wider sanctions that would place punitive measures on partners who are looking to participate in reconstruction and investment opportunities in the country, will only strengthen interdependence between actors in Syria that the West considers to be problematic.

Moving forward

Sanctions are not 'smart'. They create and empower oligarchs who, when targeted by sanctions, double down, become more powerful, and multiply in number. Sanctions also force the worst impulses of economic interaction across the entire market and destroy legitimate businesses while strengthening illegitimate ones. And many small- and medium-sized enterprise owners in Damascus are today suffering because of the rise of war profiteers, who have been enabled by the sanctions. These sanctions are likely to make life miserable for the ordinary Syrian, which in turn will feed ongoing instability and the prospect that some may choose to migrate to Europe.

In recognition of the dilemma of how to deal with Syria's post-conflict phase with the Assad government still in place, the West clearly does not need to actively do business with Assad or "regime" elements. Nor does it need to actively fund reconstruction. But, even as it maintains this distance, it needs to be far more honest about the counter-productiveness of a tool, and particularly sectoral sanctions, which will produce little in its stated intentions and instead have a detrimental impact on the wider population.

The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. This commentary, like all publications of the European Council on Foreign Relations, represents only the views of its authors.

Read more on: The Middle East and North Africa, Syria / Iraq / Lebanon, Syria

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The economic war on Syria: Why Europe risks losing

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Sanctions can never be 'smart'; new EU and US measures on Syria are only likely to strengthen the regime, not weaken it As the frontlines in Syria largely fall silent and the Syrian government works on reasserting its control across the country, a new war is in the making: that of the West on the Syrian economy.

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"Turkey says Kurdish YPG has not fully withdrawn from Syria border"

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/turkey-kurdish-ypg-fully-withdrawn-syria-border-191028121846544.html

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BBC
"Why is there a war in Syria?"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35806229

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A peaceful uprising against the president of Syria 12 years ago turned into a full-scale civil war. The conflict has left half a million people dead, devastated cities and drawn in other countries.

Even before the conflict began, many Syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and a lack of political freedom under President Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father, Hafez, after he died in 2000.

In March 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the southern city of Deraa, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring countries against repressive rulers.

When the Syrian government used deadly force to crush the dissent, protests demanding the president's resignation erupted nationwide.

The unrest spread and the crackdown intensified. Opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to rid their areas of security forces. Mr Assad vowed to crush what he called "foreign-backed terrorism".

The violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. Hundreds of rebel groups sprung up and it did not take long for the conflict to become more than a battle between Syrians for or against Mr Assad. Foreign powers began to take sides, sending money, weaponry and fighters, and as the chaos worsened extremist jihadist organisations with their own aims, such as the Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaeda, became involved. That deepened concern among the international community who saw them as a major threat.

Syria's Kurds, who want the right of self-government but have not fought Mr Assad's forces, have added another dimension to the conflict.

The United Nations Human Rights Office estimated last year that 306,887 civilians - 1.5% of the total pre-war population - were killed between March 2011 and March 2021 due to the conflict.

It said 143,350 civilian deaths were individually documented by various sources with detailed information, and that a further 163,537 deaths were estimated to have occurred using statistical techniques. At least 27,126 of those estimated to have been killed were children.

The then-UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stressed that the fatalities were the "direct result of war operations", adding: "This does not include the many, many more civilians who died due to the loss of access to healthcare, to food, to clean water and other essential human rights."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground, had documented the deaths of 503,064 people by March 2023. It said at least 162,390 civilians had been killed, with the Syrian government and its allies responsible for 139,609 of those deaths.

The group estimated that the actual toll from the war was more than 613,400, with an additional 55,000 civilians believed to have died of torture in government-run prisons.

Another monitoring group, the Violations Documentation Center, which relies on information from activists across the country, had documented 240,215 battle-related deaths, including 145,765 civilians, as of March 2023.

The government's key supporters have been Russia and Iran, while Turkey, Western powers and several Gulf Arab states have backed the opposition to varying degrees during the conflict.

Russia - which had military bases in Syria before the war - launched an air campaign in support of Mr Assad in 2015 that has been crucial in turning the tide of the war in the government's favour.

The Russian military says its strikes only target "terrorists" but activists say they regularly kill mainstream rebels and civilians.

Iran is believed to have deployed hundreds of troops and spent billions of dollars to help Mr Assad.

Thousands of Shia Muslim militiamen armed, trained and financed by Iran - mostly from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, but also Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen - have also fought alongside the Syrian army.

The US, UK and France initially armed what they considered "moderate" rebel groups. But they have prioritised non-lethal assistance since jihadists became the dominant force in the armed opposition.

A US-led global coalition has also carried out air strikes and deployed special forces in Syria since 2014 to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture territory once held by IS militants in the north-east and stop the jihadist group rebuilding.

Turkey is a major supporter of the opposition, but its focus has been on using rebel factions to contain the Kurdish YPG militia that dominates the SDF, accusing it of being an extension of a banned Kurdish rebel group in Turkey.

Turkish troops and allied rebels have seized stretches of territory along Syria's northern border and intervened to stop an all-out assault by government forces on the last opposition stronghold of Idlib.

Saudi Arabia, which is keen to counter Iranian influence, armed and financed the rebels at the start of the war. Having refused to engage with President Assad for more than a decade, it is now discussing how to facilitate Syria's "return to the Arab fold".

Israel, meanwhile, has been so concerned by what it calls Iran's "military entrenchment" in Syria and shipments of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and other Shia militias that it has conducted air strikes with increasing frequency in an attempt to thwart them.

Twelve years of war have inflicted immense suffering on the Syrian people.

In addition to the bloodshed, more than half of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million have had to flee their homes. Some 6.8 million are internally displaced, with more than two million living in tented camps with limited access to basic services.

Another 6 million are refugees or asylum-seekers abroad. Neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, which are hosting 5.3 million of them, have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history.

At the start of 2023, the UN said 15.3 million people inside Syria were in need of some form of humanitarian assistance - an all-time high since the war began - and 12 million did not know where their next meal was coming from.

The already dire humanitarian situation in north-western Syria - the location of the last opposition stronghold - was made significantly worse by the huge earthquake that struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, about 80km (50 miles) from the Syrian border, on 6 February 2023.

More than 5,900 people were killed across Syria and another 8.8 million were affected, according to the UN. Thousands of homes and critical infrastructure were destroyed, leaving many families without food, water and shelter. Deliveries of life-saving aid to opposition-held areas were also delayed for days because of what a UN panel described as "shocking" failures by the warring parties as well as the international community.

The disaster happened at a time when the prices of food and fuel in Syria were already skyrocketing because of runaway inflation and the collapse of its currency, as well as the global crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

Syria has also been one of the countries in the Middle East worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic - although the true extent is not known because of limited testing - and is now also having to deal with a deadly cholera outbreak that was made worse by the earthquake.

Access to medical care is severely restricted for the sick and injured because only half of the country's hospitals are fully functional.

Despite their protected status, 601 attacks on at least 400 separate medical facilities had been documented by Physicians for Human Rights as of February 2022, resulting in the deaths of 942 medical personnel. The vast majority of the attacks were blamed on government and Russian forces.

Entire neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure across the country also remain in ruins. UN satellite analysis suggested that more than 35,000 structures were damaged or destroyed in Aleppo city alone before it was recaptured by the government in late 2016.

Much of Syria's rich cultural heritage has likewise been destroyed. All six of the country's Unesco World Heritage sites have been damaged significantly, with IS militants deliberately blowing up parts of the ancient city of Palmyra.

A UN commission of inquiry has concluded that the warring parties "have cumulatively committed almost every crime against humanity... and nearly every war crime applicable in a non-international armed conflict".

"Syrians," a February 2021 report says, "have suffered vast aerial bombardments of densely populated areas; they have endured chemical weapons attacks and modern day sieges in which perpetrators deliberately starved the population along medieval scripts and indefensible and shameful restrictions on humanitarian aid".

The government has regained control of Syria's biggest cities, but large parts of the country are still held by rebels, jihadists and the Kurdish-led SDF. There have been no shifts in the front lines for three years.

The last remaining opposition stronghold is in the north-western province of Idlib and adjoining parts of northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces.

The region is dominated by a jihadist alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), but is also home to mainstream rebel factions backed by Turkey. An estimated 2.9 million displaced people, including a million children, are living there, many of them in dire conditions in camps.

In March 2020, Russia and Turkey brokered a ceasefire to halt a push by the government to retake Idlib. That led to an extended lull in violence, but there continues to be sporadic clashes, air strikes and shelling.

In the country's north-east, Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels launched an offensive against the SDF in October 2019 to create a "safe zone" clear of Kurdish YPG militia along the Syrian side of the border, and have occupied a 120km (75 miles) long stretch since.

To halt the assault the SDF struck a deal with the Syrian government that saw the Syrian army return to the Kurdish-administered region for the first time in seven years. Despite the presence of Syrian troops, there are still regular clashes between the SDF and Turkish-led forces along the front line.

IS sleeper cells also continue to carry out frequent and deadly attacks.

It does not look like it will anytime soon, but everyone agrees a political solution is required.

The UN Security Council has called for the implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, which envisages a transitional governing body "formed on the basis of mutual consent".

Nine rounds of UN-mediated peace talks - known as the Geneva II process - failed to make progress, with President Assad apparently unwilling to negotiate with political opposition groups that insist he must step down as part of any settlement.

Russia, Iran and Turkey set up parallel political talks known as the Astana process in 2017.

An agreement was reached the following year to form a 150-member committee to write a new constitution, leading to free and fair elections supervised by the UN. But little progress has been achieved after eight rounds of talks.

As the conflict entered its 13th year, UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said the situation in Syria was "untenable" and that "to carry on in the same manner, defies humanity and logic".

But he also expressed hope that the devastating earthquake could be a "turning point", noting the "humanitarian steps from all sides that have moved beyond previous positions, even if temporarily".
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While the world's attention is focused on Ukraine, Syria is still suffering in its long war.

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The Sydney Morning Herald "Behind the front lines of the Syrian war with the Kurds defending their homes"

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The Sydney Morning Herald "Behind the front lines of the Syrian war with the Kurds defending their homes"

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10/26/19

https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/behind-the-front-lines-of-the-syrian-war-with-the-kurds-defending-their-homes-20191025-p5345h.html

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'My people are being killed': the Australian Kurds betrayed by the US withdrawal in Syria The Kurdish community in Australia fears a genocide under Turkey’s military operation
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/26/my-people-are-being-killed-the-australian-kurds-betrayed-by-the-us-withdrawal-in-syria

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"Who are the Kurds and Why is Turkey Attacking them?

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Before U.S. troops pulled out of northern Syria, clearing the way for a Turkish invasion, The Post went there and met Kurds who feared the looming assault. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post)

Kurdish fighters in northern Syria have served as a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State. But U.S. troops stepped aside last week as Turkey launched an offensive against the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.

President Trump has faced pressure even from Republicans as he has defended his decision not to intervene against the Turkish incursion, which many see as abandoning an ally in the face of extreme danger. Kurdish forces have described the U.S. departure as "a stab in the back."

Russia and Turkey reach deal to push Kurdish forces out of zone in northern Syria

"Some want us to send tens of thousands of soldiers to the area and start a new war all over again," Trump tweeted Thursday. "Others say STAY OUT and let the Kurds fight their own battles. I say hit Turkey very hard financially with sanctions if they don't play by the rules."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to move into northeastern Syria for months. Here's why he went ahead with it.

Who are the Kurds?

The Kurds are members of a large, predominantly Muslim ethnic group. They have their own cultural and linguistic traditions, and most speak one of two major dialects of the Kurdish language. After World War I, Western powers promised Kurds their own homeland in the agreement known as the Treaty of Sèvres. But a later agreement instead divided them among Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

Today, there are about 30 million Kurds living across the region, with about half of them in Turkey. Iraq is the only country in the region to have established an autonomous Kurdish region, known as Iraqi Kurdistan. Its parliament was founded in 1992.

"The Kurds have been suppressed in all sorts of ways, often very violently," said Henri Barkey, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "They have really suffered at the hands of the four states."

Omer Taspinar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that for decades Turkey has had a policy of "assimilating the Kurds into Turkish ethnic identity, denial of Kurdish ethnic identity and denial of Kurdish linguistic rights."

Kurds in Turkey are free to be Kurds, he said, only if they accept that they're Turkish citizens. "The problem begins when they want a hyphenated identity," Taspinar said.

Why is the United States allied with Syrian Kurds?

The United States needed a reliable ally in northeastern Syria in the fight against the Islamic State. In 2015, with Washington's support, Kurdish forces belonging to the Kurdish People's Protection Unit, or YPG, joined forces with Arab groups and created the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. The United States, Britain, France and other countries provided the SDF with weapons. Since then, Kurdish fighters have led the alliance, which was crucial in toppling the Islamic State.

Why did Erdogan launch the offensive now?

As the SDF became crucial to the U.S. mission to defeat the Islamic State, Turkey grew fearful that the Kurdish forces were gaining influence close to the Turkish border, establishing institutions and gaining clout with the Americans, experts said.

Inside its own borders, Turkey has for years tried to counter the threat of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a militant group that has regularly launched attacks across the country in the name of Kurdish nationalism. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in that conflict over the past few decades.

For Erdogan, countering the PKK takes precedence over fighting the Islamic State. "There is no real nationalist anger against ISIS, but there is nationalist anger against PKK," Taspinar said. (The Islamic State is also known as ISIS.) Erdogan sees the Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria as terrorists linked to the PKK.

For years, Turkey has hosted millions of refugees from the Syrian civil war. Now, as Turkey faces a severe economic crisis, Erdogan is facing pressure to resolve the refugee and unemployment crises in one go.

Erdogan has pledged to clear this corner of Syria of Kurdish fighters and then set up a "safe zone" to which Turkey will return at least a million Syrian refugees. That plan has raised alarm in humanitarian circles, where advocates fear that refugees will be forcibly returned to a conflict zone in violation of international law. Kurdish forces are guarding a network of Islamic State prisons in the region, raising fears that if they were to abandon their posts to escape the Turkish offensive, those prisoners could escape.

What about the Syrian government?

Until now, the Kurdish forces had restricted their military action to fighting the Islamic State and rebel groups in an effort to avoid clashes with the Syrian government -- another foe. But on Sunday, the Kurds struck a deal with the Syrian government after finding themselves unable to stop the Turkish onslaught. On Monday, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took up positions in previously Kurdish-controlled towns across northeastern Syria.

The deal was reached only after Russia intervened and held three days of negotiations between the Syrian government and SDF -- a major coup for Russia-backed Assad and a blow to Kurdish and U.S. influence.

It's also significant as Kurdish groups had struggled against the authoritarian rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for years before.

When popular uprisings swept across Syria in 2011, the Kurds saw an opportunity. In July 2012, Kurdish-led forces drove the regime out of their areas. After that, Syrian Kurds created local councils to replace government establishments, and promoted public ownership of land, water, and other resources, as well as gender equality. Many Kurdish fighters are women.

They have also faced some accusations of abuse. In 2014, Human Rights Watch reported that arbitrary arrests and killings were taking place in Kurdish-controlled areas. And last year, the advocacy group said Kurdish forces were forcibly recruiting children to join their ranks. The SDF has repeatedly denounced these accusations.

What has happened so far?

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes on both the Syrian and Turkish sides of the border, with the United Nations reporting Thursday that at least 70,000 Syrians were already displaced because of the latest escalation in the conflict. Days into the Turkish offensive, dozens of civilians and fighters have reportedly been killed on both sides.

On Saturday, the official SDF Twitter account stated that more than 200 people had been killed and wounded since Wednesday. "Today we are fighting on two fronts, one against the Turkish invasion and one against the ISIS mercenaries," the group said.

Over the weekend, gruesome videos circulated online that purported to show Turkish-aligned Syrian fighters committing execution-style killings.

Then on Sunday, a Turkish air strike hit a convoy in the Syrian border town of Ras al Ain, killing at least 14 people and wounding 10 more, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The SDF said the convoy included civilians and journalists.
Asser Khattab contributed to this report from Beirut. Read more: A brief history of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led alliance that helped the U.S. defeat the Islamic State Actually, President Trump, some Kurds did fight in World War II Turkey plans a Syrian 'safe zone.' Advocates fear a 'death trap.'

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Who are the Kurds, and why is Turkey attacking them?

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Kurdish fighters in northern Syria have served as a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State. But U.S. troops stepped aside last week as Turkey launched an offensive against the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.

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New York Times
"The Evolution of ISIS: From Rogue State to Stateless Ideology"

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When the Islamic State raised its black flag over the Syrian city of Raqqa in early 2014, it began its transformation from fringe regional player to fearsome global threat. By the end of that year, it had seized large stretches of territory in Iraq and Syria, creating a rogue state the size of Britain.

Now, the last of that territory - a sliver of land along the Euphrates River in southeastern Syria - has been retaken. Thousands of fighters remain in the region, but they have gone underground, carrying out quick strikes in the region and continuing to promote their ideology worldwide.

Here are some of the major moments in the group's evolution:

The Islamic State traces its roots to Al Qaeda in Iraq, an offshoot of the terrorist group that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The Iraqi affiliate started an insurgency that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007, before it suffered defeat at the hands of American troops and local militias.

By 2013, remnants of the Qaeda affiliate had rebranded themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and had identified opportunities in Syria, which was in the third year of its civil war. The Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi, was the architect of the group's push to seize territory and declare its own state.

In Syria, the group exploited the power vacuum created when rebels wrested large parts of the country's north and east from the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic State pushed out moderate rebels, easily seizing strategic territory.

The group pushed into the northeastern Syrian city of Raqqa that year and consolidated control by January 2014, making the city its capital.

Even then, many in the Western world had not heard of the group. That would not last long.

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A man said to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State's leader, speaking at a mosque in Mosul, Iraq, in an image posted on a militant group's website in 2014. Credit... via Reuters

In the spring and summer of 2014, the Islamic State rampaged across eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq, seizing city after city, including Mosul, Iraq's second largest. The Islamic State officially declared its "caliphate" in June of that year and urged foreign fighters to come to the region to take up arms.

Days later, Mr. al-Baghdadi, who had not been seen in public for years, delivered remarks in the Great Mosque of Mosul, reaffirming himself as the leader, or caliph, of the self-declared state.

As the Islamic State grew, it lured recruits to the region for its jihad and attracted supporters who carried out attacks worldwide. At the height of its power, the Islamic State had an estimated 40,000 recruits from 100 countries.
[On April 29, 2019, ISIS released a video of a man it said was its reclusive leader. It was Mr. al-Baghdadi's first appearance in five years.]
The group's propaganda reach grew with its territorial ambitions. In 2014, it began publishing a slick online magazine, Dabiq, to bolster support for its ideology and activities.

The world watched in horror as the Islamic State released a stream of videos showing the killings of international journalists and aid workers seized in Syria. It began in August 2014 with footage of the beheading of James Foley, an American journalist who had been held by the group for two years. The clips appeared to be a response to the start of American airstrikes against the group.

The executions were a small fraction of the atrocities the Islamic State carried out. Violence against local residents was widespread and systematic. Photos and videos of gruesome crucifixions, mass beheadings and stonings regularlysurfaced online at the height of the group's power.

The Islamic State also targeted minority religious groups, including the Yazidi, taking thousands captive and making sex slaves of women and girls.

Rampaging across Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State destroyed churches, shrines and sites, including the ancient Roman city of Palmyra. It looted areas for profit and defaced others for fame as part of a campaign targeting places of religious and historical value.

The Islamic State extended its reach into Europe with a series of terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016.

While most of the group's attacks still occurred in Syria, Iraq and neighboring nations, the violence in Europe demonstrated the Islamic State's ability to reach Western targets. Some were directed by the group, though most were simply inspired by its ideology. The expansion of the group wasn't just a geographic one but a tactical one that allowed ISIS to extend its reach at little cost or risk to the group.

and A hostage-taking at a kosher supermarket in a Paris suburb in 2015 was linked to the group. In November 2015, coordinated attacks on a nightclub and several cafes in Paris that killed 130 people were traced to the group. Months later, attacks on the airport and subway system in Brussels that killed dozens were attributed to the Islamic State.

Dozens of later attacks - on a Christmas market in Berlin; a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France; an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England; two locations in London within three months; the Istanbul airport; a nightclub in Orlando, Fla.; and a San Bernardino, Calif., office building, among others - were inspired by the group, even as it began losing territory at home.

Beginning in 2016, the Islamic State lost ground nearly as quickly as it had captured it.

In Iraq, security forces backed by the United States, and elsewhere Iranian-backed Shiite militias, ousted the group, retaking Mosul in mid-2017 and officially declaring the group defeated in the country by the end of the year.

American-backed, Kurdish-led forces regained territory in Syria, including Raqqa in October 2017. Along Syria's eastern border, forces backed by the Assad government and Russia also took back territory. But many of the cities once held by the Islamic State are shells of their former selves. In Raqqa, two-thirds of the city was destroyed in the coalition fight against the group. In Mosul, centuries-old mosques and markets were reduced to rubble.

But even as territory has been wrested from the Islamic State, the group has continued to spread its ideology online and encouraged supporters to carry out attacks worldwide. While the state it once declared has largely disappeared, it remains a significant threat, experts say.

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The Evolution of ISIS: From Rogue State to Stateless Ideology

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When the Islamic State raised its black flag over the Syrian city of Raqqa in early 2014, it began its transformation from fringe regional player to fearsome global threat. By the end of that year, it had seized large stretches of territory in Iraq and Syria, creating a rogue state the size of Britain.

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FOX NEWS
"Al-Baghdadi informant was inside compound at the time of raid, Kurdish general tells Fox News"
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The U.S. raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was months in the making and involved significant intelligence from Kurdish allies in Syria - including a rare informant at the heart of ISIS who was in the compound at the time of the raid, Fox News has learned.

Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander, told Fox News how they tracked al-Baghdadi after the caliphate fell.

The general said the informant "told us that he moved west to Idlib, and to a specific house. We told American intelligence on May 15, and together set up a secret cell, which had three Americans in it."

The SDF informant told them about the tunnels under the compound, how many people were with al-Baghdadi, and that he was planning to move, having been at that location for months. That's when the U.S. carried out the attack at the compound Saturday, and brought out the informant safely.

Informants within ISIS are extremely rare. To have one so close to the leader is unheard of, and a remarkable achievement for Kurdish forces.

Mazloum said the raid could not have been possible without Kurdish intelligence.
PICTURED: MILITARY DOG THAT HELPED U.S. FORCES TAKE DOWN AL-BAGHDADI
He also talked about the aftermath of President Trump's recent decision to pull troops from northeastern Syria -- a move critics say left Kurds who'd faithfully helped the U.S. contain ISIS vulnerable to a Turkish invasion.

"After the Americans pulled out, the Turks invaded, and we had no choice but to do a deal with the Syrian government and Russians. They were able to protect us. So, the Syrians moved to the border in place of the Americans."

Fox News saw this, along with numerous cease-fire violations at the northern Syria front on Sunday. Syrian government forces took up their positions right opposite Turkish forces, which were just over half a mile away.

The Kurds said in the long run, they just couldn't push back the Turkish Army themselves.
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Gun battles raged, and Turkish drone strikes and gunfire were regularly observed.

Mazloum also opened up about the future in Syria, saying it wasn't too late for the U.S. to come back and protect the Kurds. "Our relationship with President Trump depends on him fulfilling his promise of protecting us."

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Al-Baghdadi informant was inside compound at time of raid, Kurdish general tells Fox News

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The U.S. raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was months in the making and involved significant intelligence from Kurdish allies in Syria - including a rare informant at the heart of ISIS who was inside the compound at the time of the raid, Fox News has learned.