Turkey Begins Offensive Against Kurds in Northern Syria

National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin and VOA’s Kurdish and Turkish Services contributed to this report.The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Thursday to discuss the military operation in northeastern Syria that Turkey says is a “measured and responsible” anti-terror operation, while the mainly Kurdish fighters in the region appeal for help to “save our people from genocide.”Turkey launched its long-planned operation Wednesday aimed at taking out the Kurdish forces it sees as terrorists, but which most of the West views as key partners in the fight against Islamic State militants.Turkish forces began with airstrikes and later sent in ground troops, with the country’s defense ministry claiming it “hit 181 targets.”Mustefa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said the group’s fighters had repelled a ground attack by Turkish forces in the Tal Abyad region.”No advance as of now,” Bali wrote on Twitter.Ahead of the U.N. Security Council meeting, Reuters quoted a letter sent to the council by Turkey’s U.N. Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu saying the operation “will only target terrorists and their hideouts, shelters, emplacements, weapons vehicles and equipment.”The Turkish Defense Ministry said the offensive is being undertaken in line with Security Council resolutions and international law provisions allowing Turkey a “right of self defense.”In a Washington Post op-ed published late Wednesday, Hemin Kobane, the SDF’s liason with the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, accused the United States of casting aside the Kurds and “leaving them to their fates at the hands of their mortal enemies.”Kobane cited the years of cooperation between U.S. and SDF forces in taking back territory from Islamic State, calling U.S. forces “our friends and brothers” against a common enemy.”We hoped that the stability and freedom of the area under our control would offer a strategic stronghold for the future of the entire region.  Our fellowship was a light of hope for the citizens of all of Syria.  Unfortunately, yet once more, our foes in the region are conspiring to destroy our people.”A Syrian Democratic Forces tweet Thursday thanked a number of governments for “acting with honor” toward the people of northeastern Syria, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Britain, France and Germany.  The United States was not included. We are grateful to Arab governments for acting with honor towards people of NE Syrians flee shelling by Turkish forces in Ras al Ayn, northeast Syria, Oct. 9, 2019. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday the start of a Turkish military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.A source in Turkey told the VOA Turkish Service that mortar shells fired from Tal Abyad, Syria, damaged homes in Akcakale, Turkey.  No one was injured or killed in the attack.South African Ambassador to the United Nations Jerry Matjila, currently president of the Security Council, said the council was monitoring the situation.”At this stage we call on all the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to ensure the protection of civilians particularly,” Matjila told reporters Wednesday.The Arab League said regional foreign ministers will meet in Cairo Saturday after Egypt called an emergency meeting to discuss Turkey’s “blatant aggression.”Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have strongly criticized the U.S. pull-out that paved the way for the Turkish operation, saying the United States would be abandoning Syrian Kurds who had fought the Islamic State terror group alongside U.S. troops.”Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration. This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Twitter Wednesday, using an acronym for Islamic State. He added that he will lead an “effort in Congress to make Erodgan pay a heavy price.”‘Big trading partner’Trump has insisted he is not abandoning Kurds who fought with U.S. and coalition partners against Islamic State. At the same time, he has also praised Turkey, inviting President Erdogan to visit the White House next month, while calling Ankara a “big trading partner” and crediting the Turkish government with “helping me to save many lives at Idlib Province.”WATCH: US to stay out of conflict 
Trump Insists US Must Get Out of Syria, Other Wars video player.
Embed” />CopyIn his statement Wednesday, Trump said Turkey is now “responsible for ensuring all ISIS fighters being held captive remain in prison and that ISIS does not reconstitute in any way, shape, or form.”U.S. military officials confirmed that they repositioned about 50 U.S. special force members, who had been operating along the Turkey-Syria border, out of harm’s way.
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