Page 10 - AT

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 10 OcTOber 2019
Turkey launches offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria

By LEFTERIS PITARAKIS and vowing to repel an in-
BASSEM MROUE cursion. Although it blamed
Associated Press some Kurdish groups for
AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) what is happening, saying
— Turkey launched a mili- they were being used as
tary operation Wednesday a tool to help an alleged
against Kurdish fighters in "American project," it said
northeastern Syria after U.S. Syria is ready to welcome
forces pulled back from back its "stray sons if they
the area, with a series of return to their senses," refer-
airstrikes hitting a town on ring to the pro-U.S. Kurdish
Syria's northern border. fighters.
Turkish President Re- Russian Foreign Minister Ser-
cep Tayyip Erdogan an- gey Lavrov accused Wash-
nounced the start of the ington of playing "very dan-
campaign, which followed gerous games" with the Syr-
an abrupt decision Sun- ian Kurds, saying that the
day by U.S. President Don- U.S. first propped up the
ald Trump that American Syrian Kurdish "quasi state"
troops would step aside to in northeastern Syria and
allow for the operation. is now withdrawing its sup-
Trump's move represented port.
a shift in U.S. policy that es- Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, front center, flanked by Turkish army's top commanders "Such reckless attitude to
sentially abandoned the before he speak at the National Defence University, in Istanbul, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. this highly sensitive subject
Syrian Kurdish fighters who Associated Press can set fire to the entire re-
have been America's only gion, and we have to avoid
allies on the ground in Syria. ed positions of Syrian Kurd- saw Turkish forces crossing sian President Vladimir Pu- it at any cost," he said dur-
They were longtime U.S. al- ish forces in the town of Ras into Syria in military vehicles tin. Erdogan's office said ing a visit to Kazakhstan.
lies in the fight against the al Ayn, according to Turkish Wednesday. the Turkish leader told his Russian news media said
Islamic State group. media and Syrian activists. Expectations of an invasion Russian counterpart by Moscow communicated
After Turkey's offensive The sound of explosions increased after Trump's an- phone that the planned that position to Washing-
began, there was sign of could be heard in Turkey. nouncement, although he military action in the re- ton.
panic in the streets of Ras A photograph released to also threatened to "totally gion east of the Euphrates Earlier Wednesday, IS mili-
al-Ayn— one of the towns Turkish media showed Erdo- destroy and obliterate" Tur- River "will contribute to the tants targeted a post of the
under attack with residen- gan at his desk, reportedly key's economy if the Turkish peace and stability" and Kurdish-led Syrian Demo-
tial areas close to the bor- giving orders for the start of push into Syria went too far. also "pave the way for a cratic Forces in the northern
ders. Cars raced to safety, the operation. Turkey has been massing political process" in Syria. Syrian city of Raqqa, which
although it was not clear if It was difficult to know what troops for days along its bor- In its call for a general mo- was once the de facto IS
they were leaving the town was hit in the first hours of der with Syria and vowed it bilization, the local civilian capital at the height of the
or heading away from bor- the operation. would go ahead with the Kurdish authority known as militants' power in the re-
der areas. Near the town of Mustafa Bali, a spokes- military operation and not the Autonomous Admin- gion.
Qamishli, plumes of smoke man for the U.S.-backed bow to the U.S. threat. istration of North and East The SDF, which is holding
were seen rising from an Kurdish-led Syrian Demo- Trump later cast his deci- Syria, also asked the inter- thousands of IS fighters in
area close to the border af- cratic Forces, said Turkish sion to pull back U.S. troops national community to live several detention facilities
ter activists reported sounds warplanes were targeting from parts of northeast Syr- up to its responsibilities as "a in northeastern Syria, has
of explosion nearby. "civilian areas" in northern ia as fulfilling a campaign humanitarian catastrophe warned that a Turkish in-
The Kurdish forces have Syria, causing "a huge pan- promise to withdraw from might befall our people." cursion might lead to the
warned of a "humanitarian ic" in the region. the "endless war" in the The Kurds also said that they resurgence of the extrem-
catastrophe" that could Before Turkey's attack, Syr- Middle East. Republican want the U.S.-led coalition ists. The U.S.-allied Kurdish-
potentially unfold because ian Kurdish forces that are critics and others said he to set up a no-fly zone in led force captured the last
of the Turkish military opera- allied with the United States was sacrificing an ally, the northeastern Syria to pro- IS area controlled by the
tion. issued a general mobiliza- Syrian Kurdish forces, and tect the civilian population militants in eastern Syria in
"Our mission is to prevent tion call, warning of a "hu- undermining Washington's from Turkish airstrikes. March.
the creation of a terror cor- manitarian catastrophe.". credibility. The U.S.-backed Syrian In the IS attack, three sui-
ridor across our southern The Turkish operation meant Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish Kurdish group urged Mos- cide bombers struck Kurd-
border, and to bring peace to create a so-called "safe presidency's communica- cow to broker and guar- ish positions in Raqqa. There
to the area," Erdogan said zone" carries potential tions director, called on the antee talks with the Syrian was no immediate word on
in a tweet. gains and risk for Turkey by international community in government in Damascus casualties.
He added that Turkish getting even more deeply a Washington Post op-ed in light of Turkey's planned An activist collective
Armed Forces, together involved in the Syria war. It published Wednesday to military operation. The Syr- known as Raqqa is being Si-
with Turkish-backed Syrian also would ignite new fight- rally behind Ankara, which ian Kurdish-led administra- lently Slaughtered reported
fighters known as the Syrian ing in Syria's 8-year-old war, he said would also take tion said in a statement it an exchange of fire and an
National Army, had begun potentially displacing hun- over the fight against the is responding positively to explosion.
what they called "Opera- dreds of thousands. Islamic State group. calls from Moscow encour- The Observatory said the
tion Peace Spring" against Turkey has long threatened Turkey aimed to "neutral- aging the Kurds and the attack involved two IS
Kurdish fighters to eradi- to attack the Kurdish fight- ize" Syrian Kurdish militants Syrian government to settle fighters who engaged in a
cate what Erdogan said ers whom Ankara considers in northeastern Syria and their difference through shootout before blowing
was "the threat of terror" terrorists allied with a Kurd- to "liberate the local popu- talks. themselves up.
against Turkey. ish insurgency in Turkey. As- lation from the yoke of the Syria's Foreign Ministry con- IS claimed responsibility,
Minutes before Erdogan's sociated Press journalists on armed thugs," Altun wrote. demned Turkey's plans, saying one of its members
announcement, Turkish jets the Turkish side of the bor- Erdogan discussed plans calling it a "blatant viola- killed or wounded 13 SDF
began pounding suspect- der overlooking Tal Abyad for the incursion with Rus- tion" of international law members.q