Syrian Kurds claim Turkey broke ceasefire, killing 5 civilians, 13 fighters
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey “did not abide” by the US-brokered temporary ceasefire that was to halt Ankara’s incursion into northern and northeastern Syria, local Kurdish officials claimed on Friday, adding that 18 people had been killed in attacks since it went into effect.
Turkish bombardment “targeted the village of Bab al-Khair, southeast of Ras al-Ain [Serekaniye],” the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) said in a statement. It did not say at what time the attacks had occurred.
Read More: Turkish airstrikes continue on Syria’s Serekaniye despite ceasefire
Reuters reported that Turkish shelling had only lasted until mid-morning Friday, citing their journalists based in the area. In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Friday, his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan had claimed there had been “minor” attacks, but they had been promptly stopped.
The truce was brokered by the US early into the second week of Turkey’s military incursion into areas in northern Syria that are run by the SDC and its armed wing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Ankara wants the Kurdish elements of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), to withdraw from the Turkish border up to about 32 kilometers southward.
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As per the purported ceasefire, the YPG, whom Turkey considers an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and therefore a terrorist organization, has 120 hours to make its withdrawal, which started on Friday. Turkey has said it aims to settle close to 3.5 million Syrian refugees into the 32-kilometer deep and 440-kilometer wide so-called safe zone.
The Turkish shelling, according to Friday's SDC statement, resulted in the deaths of several SDF members and civilians and ongoing attacks had hindered the delivery of aid to the wounded.
SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel relayed a similar statement, specifying that Ankara’s offensive had “slowed down” since the deal but that Turkish “artillery and drone attacks” and “harassment fire by Turkish-supported groups continued.”
Gabriel reported that 13 SDF fighters in total and five civilians had been killed in Serekaniye since 10 p.m. Oct. 17 amid the temporary ceasefire. He called on Turkey to abide by the terms of the agreement, affirming that his group would not refrain from using its “right to legitimate self-defense in case of an attack by Turkish-backed militias.”
The SDC called on the international community to work “to maintain the temporary ceasefire agreement and make it permanent” in a way that would lead to a “complete withdrawal” of the Turkish forces and proxy militias.
“[T]he quickest way to end the Syrian crisis is [the] UN's sponsorship of a genuine Syrian dialogue based on [a] political solution and the relevant international resolutions.”
Editing by John J. Catherine
