Syria’s Kurds call on global allies to stop Turkish attacks

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Friday called on the international community to bring an end to Turkey’s attacks on the region following a series of deadly bombardments that it says are hampering efforts to combat the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

There is a “need for a clear position from the global coalition [against ISIS] and the guarantors of the ceasefire,” the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) said in a statement, referring to 2019 truces Turkey signed with Russia and the United States to end its cross-border operation against Kurdish forces. Under the terms of the deals, Moscow and Washington committed to act as guarantors.

Turkey has made several military incursions into northern Syria to fight Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its umbrella Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), both of which Ankara considers terror groups with ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and says they pose a security threat to Turkey.

Recently, Turkey has stepped up its drone attacks on the Kurdish forces. The SDF announced on Thursday that four of its fighters were killed as a result of a Turkish drone strike in Qamishli.

Bedran Ciya Kurd, co-president of NES external affairs department, said in a statement that it is “better to take a deterrent stance towards these Turkish practices… as well as putting an end to the continuous bombardment carried out by Turkish drones on safe areas, which causes instability and pushes civilians to leave their areas and migrate abroad.” 

The Rojava administration also warned that Turkey’s attacks are affecting the fight against ISIS. The SDF is the main partner of the US-led global coalition against ISIS on the ground in Syria. There are around a thousand US troops in the Kurdish areas. 

In its latest report on operations against ISIS released on Thursday, the Pentagon said “ISIS would move quickly to exploit any SDF easing of counterterrorism pressure if Turkey launches an incursion into Syria.”