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Syria
Head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) press office Mustafa Bali speaks to Rudaw in Hasaka, northern Syria on October 11, 2019. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Fighting off a “genocidal attack” by Turkey, a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they can no longer be responsible for the ticking time bomb that is the thousands of Islamic State (ISIS) militants and their supporters held in Kurdish jails.
“We are currently subject to a genocidal attack. There is a project to make a demographic change and eradicate Kurds. Therefore, our first duty is the protection of our people, border and soil,” head of the SDF press office Mustafa Bali told Rudaw in Hasaka, northern Syria.
“All our forces are focusing on this now. Our prisons, which have about 12,000 ISIS gangs, and camps, which have more than 90,000 families of ISIS fighters and migrants, are like detonated bombs. We do not know when they will explode. However, this is no longer our responsibility,” he said.
The Turkish Army and its Syrian proxies launched Operation Peace Spring against the SDF on Wednesday after appearing to get a green light from US President Donald Trump who pulled American troops back from two outposts on the Turkey-Syria border.
Turkey considers the Kurdish forces in northern Syria to be a terrorist organization and Ankara repeatedly threatened a military incursion to push the SDF away from the border and establish a “safe zone” up to 30 kilometres deep.
The SDF and Kurdish officials warned such military action would create a global security crisis if they could no longer hold the detained ISIS fighters.
Bali said they have done their best to hold the militants on behalf of the world, but now they have to take care of themselves. “We are facing eradication and genocide. We have to defend ourselves,” he said.
On the third day of the conflict, the ongoing risk from ISIS was clear. Five militants escaped from Jirkin prison in Qamishli. The SDF blamed Turkish shelling for the security breach.
ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bomb in Qamishli that killed four civilians and injured nine.
At Al-Hol camp, a group of nearly 100 ISIS women tried to escape by attacking guards.
There have been 274 escape attempts at the infamous camp in the last 30 days, Sheikhmus Ahmed, head of the internal displaced persons (IDP) and refugee office for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), told Rudaw English.
In Kobane, Turkish fire reportedly hit close to an ISIS prison and US special forces. Newsweek broke the story that Turkish forces had mistakenly bombed US special forces.
It was also confirmed by CNN, which reported that artillery shells came within several hundred metres of US forces stationed near the city of Kobane that sits on the border with Turkey.
“It’s right, they struck there,” a military source in Kobane confirmed to the Rojava Information Centre. “There was an ISIS [Islamic State] prison there, they struck around the prison. There are French and American bases around there.”
There is no immediate confirmation of casualties.
Earlier in the day, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley had told reporters that the US informed Turkey of the location of their forces in Syria as a precaution. The US withdrew its troops from two outposts ahead of Turkey launching the operation, now in its third day.
The Turkish Defense Ministry denied they had directed fire at the US post. The ministry said their forces in Turkey came under fire from a position about a kilometre southwest of an American observation post. The Turkish army returned fire, taking “all precautions… in order to prevent any harm to the US base,” read a statement from the ministry. “As a precaution, we ceased fire upon receiving information from the US.”
With reporting from Hunar Ahmed
“We are currently subject to a genocidal attack. There is a project to make a demographic change and eradicate Kurds. Therefore, our first duty is the protection of our people, border and soil,” head of the SDF press office Mustafa Bali told Rudaw in Hasaka, northern Syria.
“All our forces are focusing on this now. Our prisons, which have about 12,000 ISIS gangs, and camps, which have more than 90,000 families of ISIS fighters and migrants, are like detonated bombs. We do not know when they will explode. However, this is no longer our responsibility,” he said.
The Turkish Army and its Syrian proxies launched Operation Peace Spring against the SDF on Wednesday after appearing to get a green light from US President Donald Trump who pulled American troops back from two outposts on the Turkey-Syria border.
Turkey considers the Kurdish forces in northern Syria to be a terrorist organization and Ankara repeatedly threatened a military incursion to push the SDF away from the border and establish a “safe zone” up to 30 kilometres deep.
The SDF and Kurdish officials warned such military action would create a global security crisis if they could no longer hold the detained ISIS fighters.
Bali said they have done their best to hold the militants on behalf of the world, but now they have to take care of themselves. “We are facing eradication and genocide. We have to defend ourselves,” he said.
On the third day of the conflict, the ongoing risk from ISIS was clear. Five militants escaped from Jirkin prison in Qamishli. The SDF blamed Turkish shelling for the security breach.
ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bomb in Qamishli that killed four civilians and injured nine.
At Al-Hol camp, a group of nearly 100 ISIS women tried to escape by attacking guards.
There have been 274 escape attempts at the infamous camp in the last 30 days, Sheikhmus Ahmed, head of the internal displaced persons (IDP) and refugee office for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), told Rudaw English.
In Kobane, Turkish fire reportedly hit close to an ISIS prison and US special forces. Newsweek broke the story that Turkish forces had mistakenly bombed US special forces.
It was also confirmed by CNN, which reported that artillery shells came within several hundred metres of US forces stationed near the city of Kobane that sits on the border with Turkey.
“It’s right, they struck there,” a military source in Kobane confirmed to the Rojava Information Centre. “There was an ISIS [Islamic State] prison there, they struck around the prison. There are French and American bases around there.”
There is no immediate confirmation of casualties.
Earlier in the day, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley had told reporters that the US informed Turkey of the location of their forces in Syria as a precaution. The US withdrew its troops from two outposts ahead of Turkey launching the operation, now in its third day.
The Turkish Defense Ministry denied they had directed fire at the US post. The ministry said their forces in Turkey came under fire from a position about a kilometre southwest of an American observation post. The Turkish army returned fire, taking “all precautions… in order to prevent any harm to the US base,” read a statement from the ministry. “As a precaution, we ceased fire upon receiving information from the US.”
With reporting from Hunar Ahmed
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