Syrian Kurds say Turkish bombardment violating truce
Turkey bombs Syrian Kurds in Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain) town, Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), October 18, 2019. Photo: AFP
TEL TAMR, Syrian Kurdistan,— Turkey is violating an hours-old ceasefire in Syrian Kurdistan (northeastern Syria) and still targeting civilians with air strikes and artillery fire, a Kurdish military spokesman said on Friday.
“Despite the agreement to halt the fighting, air and artillery attacks continue to target the positions of fighters, civilian settlements and the hospital” in the battleground border town of Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain), Mustefa Bali said.
Turkish air strike kills five civilians in Syrian Kurdistan: monitor
A Turkish air strike on a village near the battleground border town of Serêkaniyê in Syrian Kurdistan killed five civilians on Friday, a war monitor said.
“Five civilians were killed in Turkish air strikes on the village of Bab al-Kheir, east of Ras al-Ain,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.
A Syrian ceasefire brokered by Vice President Mike Pence in Turkey had already been broken by Friday morning as gunfire and shelling was heard in the border city of Serêkaniyê in Syrian Kurdistan.
Sporadic clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish forces were ongoing in a battleground Serêkaniyê on Friday, a monitor said, despite Ankara’s announcement of a five-day truce.
Serêkaniyê has been a major goal of the Turkish offensive since its launch on October 9, 2019 but the town’s Kurdish defenders have put up fierce resistance.
Turkey agreed on Thursday to pause its offensive in Syrian Kurdistan for five days to let Kurdish forces withdraw from a “safe zone” Ankara had sought to capture.
Syrian Kurdish forces said they were “ready to abide by the ceasefire” in the border strip between Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî (Tel Abyad).
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | AFP
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