ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The co-chair of northeast Syria’s (Rojava) ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) on Friday criticised Russians for failing to condemn Turkey’s attacks against Kurdish forces and civilians in northern Syria. Turkey has recently upped its attacks against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northern city of Tal Rifaat where Russian forces are dominant. A suspected Turkish drone killed at least three civilians and injured nine others, including children and women, in the city. An an interview with the Arabic service of Russia Today, aired on Friday, Salih Muslim Co-chair of the PYD slammed Russian troops and officials for their silence regarding Turkish attacks. “When Tal Rifaat was bombarded, weren't the Russian forces there? Yes. Did they not see what happened? They [Russians] did not defend them,” said Muslim. He added that Americans are not present in the city but they still condemned the attack. “At least the Americans say that they are sorry for the bombardments and they express their condemnation. However, the Russians did not even publish a statement. Neither the Russian army nor Russian leaders have condemned the attacks on the civilians although they [attacks] take place in front of their eyes because they are present there,” he noted. Tal Rifaat is controlled by Kurdish forces. Russia has refrained from condemning attacks by its Turkish allies but its top officials have warned against Turkey’s recent threats to carry a military operation against Kurdish forces in Tal Rifaat and Manbij. Turkey has carried out two offensives against the SDF in northern Syria since 2018, invading three Kurdish key cities of Afrin, Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) and Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain). Russia has conducted joint patrols with Turkish forces on the Syria-Turkey border since 2019 following a deal between them. PYD is the political arm of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) - the backbone of the US-allied SDF. Muslim also blamed Western countries for not mentioning Turkey when condemning the August 18 drone attack against a United Nations-funded learning centre for girls. Kurdish officials blamed Turkey for the attack which killed four children and injured 11 others.
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