ISTANBUL: Women affiliated with IS and their children fled en masse from a camp where they were being held in northern Syria on Sunday after shelling by Turkish forces in a five-day-old offensive, the region’s Kurdish-led administration said.
Turkey’s cross-border attack in northern Syria against Kurdish forces widened to target the town of Suluk which was hit by Ankara’s Syrian rebel allies. There were conflicting accounts on the outcome of the fighting.
Turkey is facing threats of possible sanctions from the United States unless it calls off the incursion. Two of its Nato allies, Germany and France, have said they are halting weapons exports to Turkey. The Arab League has denounced the operation.
Ankara launched the assault against the Kurdish YPG militia after US President Donald Trump withdrew some US troops from the border region. Ankara says the YPG is a terrorist group aligned with Kurdish militants waging an insurgency in Turkey.
Turkey’s stated objective is to set up a “safe zone” inside Syria to resettle many of the 3.6 million Syrian war refugees it has been hosting. President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to send them to Europe if the EU does not back his assault.
But the Turkish incursion has raised international alarm over large-scale displacements of civilians and, amidst the upheaval, the possibility of IS militants escaping from prisons run by the Kurdish-led authorities.
The Kurdish-led forces have been the main regional ally of the United States against IS in Syria.
The region’s Kurdish-led administration said in a statement that 785 IS-affiliated foreigners had fled the camp at Ain Issa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing sources in the camp, said around 100 people had escaped.
In apparent reference to rebels, the Kurdish-led administration said “mercenaries” attacked the camp where “IS elements” in turn attacked camp guards and opened the gates.
TURKISH-LED ADVANCE
Along the front lines, Turkish forces and Syrian rebels entered Suluk, some 10 km from Turkey’s border, the Observatory said on Sunday.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said the rebels seized complete control of Suluk. But the SDF’s Qamishlo said SDF forces had repelled the attack and were still in control.
Suluk is southeast of the Syrian border town of Tel Abyad, one of the two main targets in the incursion, which was bombarded by Turkish howitzers on Sunday afternoon, a witness in the neighbouring Turkish town of Akcakale said.
Machinegun fire resounded around the Syrian frontier town of Ras al Ain, 120 km to the east of Tel Abyad, while Turkish artillery continued to target the area, a reporter across the border in Turkey’s Ceylanpinar said.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, known as the National Army, advanced into Ras al Ain on Saturday but by Sunday there were still conflicting reports on which side was prevailing in the town.
130,000 CIVILIANS DISPLACED
More than 130,000 people have been displaced from rural areas around Tel Abyad and Ras al Ain as a result of the fighting, the United Nations said on Sunday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said OCHA and other relief agencies estimated up to 400,000 civilians in the Syrian conflict zone may require aid and protection in the coming period.
Erdogan has dismissed the growing international condemnation of the military operation, saying Turkey “will not stop it, no matter what anyone says”.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday 480 YPG militants had been “neutralised” since the operation began. The SDF said 76 of its fighters have been killed.
The SDF on Saturday urged the US-led coalition to close air space to Turkish jets, saying SDF fighters were “being martyred by Turkish warplanes in front of the eyes of the allies”.
IS claimed responsibility for a car bomb on Friday in Qamishli, the largest city in the Kurdish-held area, where some IS militants fled from a jail.
US WITHDRAWS MORE TROOPS
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Sunday that President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria.
US troops came under artillery fire from Turkish positions on Friday, the Pentagon said, warning that the US was prepared to meet aggression with “immediate defensive action.”
— Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
