Turkish troops have advanced into north-eastern Syria, following airstrikes and artillery barrages aimed at US-backed Kurdish forces who control the region.
The Turkish military confirmed on Wednesday it had “launched the land operation into the east of the Euphrates river” and later said it had hit 181 “militant targets”.
Continue reading...There were signs of panic in Ras al-Ayn on Wednesday after Turkish forces launched an offensive into northern Syria. The move was triggered by Donald Trump's announcement that US troops would withdraw from the area, where thousands of captured Isis fighters and their families are held by Kurdish forces
Continue reading...Turkey has begun an offensive in an area controlled by the Kurdish-led SDF
The region makes up more than a quarter of the entire country and is the largest area outside of the control of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and his allies. Until Turkey launched its latest offensive there on 9 October, it was controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which comprises militia groups representing a range of ethnicities, though its backbone is Kurdish. The Kurds are an ethnic group of about 30 million people spread across the Middle East who have been fighting for their own state for more than a century.
Continue reading...Turkey’s president faces some difficult choices after being given green light by the US
For Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it’s a case of be careful what you wish for. By most accounts, Turkey’s president bamboozled Donald Trump into giving a green light for an invasion of north-east Syria.
Yet now, having got what he wanted, Erdoğan faces some difficult choices. How far to go? Who is the enemy? And how long can such a big operation be sustained? It may be the biggest gamble yet by a politician known for taking risks.
Continue reading...Protesters gathered outside the White House in Washington to demand Donald Trump reverse his decision to withdraw US troops from north-eastern Syria, warning that Kurds would be targeted in a Turkish offensive. The Turkish government claimed the US president had handed it the lead on the military campaign against Isis, and said its forces would be crossing into Syria 'shortly'
Continue reading...Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell lead condemnation of foreign policy move that could prove ‘disaster in the making’
Donald Trump was dangerously isolated on Monday as, in a rare rebuke, some of his most loyal allies revolted against his decision to withdraw US troops from north-eastern Syria.
Related: US withdrawal from Syria leaves fate of Isis fighters and families in detention uncertain
Continue reading...Donald Trump warned Turkey that there would be ‘big trouble’ if American troops in Syria are injured, as Turkish forces push into Kurdish lands across north-eastern Syria. On Monday the White House gave the green light to a Turkish offensive into Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon the Kurds, Washington’s longtime military partner
Continue reading...Kurdish-held territories of north-eastern Syria prepare for assault by Turkish forces – and insist they will resist
Across the Kurdish-held territories of north-eastern Syria, people are steeling themselves for a long-threatened assault by Turkish forces – which now seems imminent after Donald Trump withdrew US forces from the area.
The Kurds took advantage of the chaos which has reigned in Syria since 2011, fighting off the Damascus regime to build their own autonomous statelet, known as Rojava.
Continue reading...It is unclear whether Turkey has the will or capacity to take over detention camps
In early 2015, as Islamic State trampled over armies of the Middle East and menaced the west, the US turned to the Kurds for help. It was a familiar call, having been repeated over the decades whenever Washington needed a friend in the region. The outcome has been similar too.
Four years on, the people who helped safeguard the global order have been abandoned by the US on the eve of a Turkish push into Kurdish lands across north-eastern Syria. Betrayal has been an enduring theme whenever the US and the Kurds have partnered, but never before as nakedly as this.
Continue reading...White House reveals policy shift following conversation between Trump and Erdoğan
The White House has given the green light to a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon the Kurds, Washington’s longtime military partner.
Kurdish forces have spearheaded the campaign against Islamic State in the region, but the policy swerve, after a phone conversation between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday, means Turkey would take custody of captured Isis fighters, the White House said.
Continue reading...Emotionally powerful exhibition of Iraqi Kurdish artists will include paintings peppered by bullets
Kurdish artworks that survived Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons as well as Islamic State’s cultural vandalism will go on display at a London gallery this week.
Iraqi Kurdish artists have made paintings and art installations from artefacts including Assyrian reliefs from 700 BC peppered by Isis bullet holes and the farewell “death” notes of a charity worker smuggling aid to Isis-controlled Mosul.
Continue reading...Lack of detail and strong opposition from Kurds means plan is unlikely to provide solution to region’s problems
The announcement by Turkey and the US that they will set up a safe zone in Kurdish-run north-eastern Syria allays fears of an imminent Turkish incursion into the country, but will strain Washington’s ties with a force that helped defeat Islamic State.
The announcement came as Ankara was finalising a troop buildup along its southern border, which it shares with Syrian Kurds. On Sunday, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had threatened to invade within the next fortnight, creating a conundrum for Washington, which views both the Turks and the Kurds as allies and has increasingly struggled to keep them from conflict.
Continue reading...Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vows to find those behind attack on restaurant in city of Erbil
A gunman has killed a senior Turkish diplomat and a civilian in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, in a daytime attack inside a restaurant.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, vowed to find whoever was behind the “treacherous” attack. The dead man was identified by Iraqi media as the deputy consul for the region.
Continue reading...Since March 2015, the photographer and author Joey Lawrence has had unprecedented access to Kurdish guerrilla organisations fighting Isis, embedding himself into the Iraq and Syrian civil war. His powerful portraits of the fighters give a different perspective to the conflict
We came from fire, and we will return to fire
The war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has flooded our daily news with troubling statistics of massacres and mass migrations, yet there are faces and human stories at the heart of the conflict. Joey L wrote: “From Iraq, one crosses the Tigris River into war-torn Syria, and is catapulted into a worldview crafted by the guerrilla.”
Continue reading...More than 40 international volunteers – a third of them British – who fought in Syria against the Islamic State terror group have written to the home secretary, Sajid Javid, to condemn his plans to prosecute UK citizens who remain in the country.
Four British families whose sons or daughters were killed fighting Isis have also signed the letter, raising concerns that Javid is “criminalising” those who risked their lives supporting the US-led coalition which two months ago defeated the IS caliphate.
Continue reading...Home Office releases Najat Ibrahim Ismail, an Iraqi Kurd who faced deportation three times
A man who brought his baby niece to the UK from a French refugee camp after she sustained serious burns has been released from detention and reunited with his family.
Najat Ibrahim Ismail, 32, an Iraqi Kurd, faced three attempts by the Home Office to put him on a plane to Iraq in recent weeks. He is married to a British woman, Emma Ismail, and has three young British children, including a 10-year-old son who has autism.
Continue reading...Local elections viewed as referendum on president’s handling of economic crisis
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s grip on Turkey has been challenged by a resurgent opposition in local elections, with his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) losing control of Ankara and on track to lose Istanbul, according to unofficial local election results.
Voting in 30 cities, 51 municipal capitals and 922 districts across the country on Sunday has been viewed widely as a referendum on the president’s handling of Turkey’s economic crisis as the nation of 81 million people faces a recession for the first time since Erdoğan entered office 16 years ago.
Continue reading...Kurdish-led group says last of militants cleared from stronghold of Baghuz
After almost five years, the battle to dismantle Islamic State’s brutal “caliphate” has ended with an announcement from US-backed forces that the militants have been driven out of their last stronghold of Baghuz.
Isis had held out for months against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the small oasis town on the Euphrates river, clinging on to an area of land less than 700 sq metres wide despite fierce coalition bombing. But on Saturday an SDF spokesperson, Mustafa Bali, tweeted that the town had been liberated.
Continue reading...20 March 1991: Kurdish forces have almost completed the capture of the northern Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk
Kurdish rebels have almost completed the capture of the northern Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk, a Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) spokesman said last night.
Related: Kurds lay claim to oil riches in Iraq as old hatreds flare
Continue reading...Ilham Ahmed says Kurds want observers on the border to ensure Turkey does not attack
The leader of the Syrian Kurds has called for a small international observer force to be stationed on the Turkey-Syria border to protect Kurds from what she says is the threat of crimes against humanity committed by Turkish forces.
Ilham Ahmed is co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council – the political arm of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have been responsible for liberating much of north-eastern Syria from Islamic State.
Continue reading...