PHOTO: Advancing Turkish-supported rebels at the Sajur River in northern Syria on Sunday

LATEST

MONDAY FEATURES

Syria Developing: Rebels Advance Quickly in North Hama Offensive
Russia Feature: Social Media and the Weapon of Disinformation

Jump to Original Entry

UPDATE 1715 GMT: Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş has said the US should force the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia to withdraw to the east of the Euphrates River.

“The US knows Turkey’s sensitivity on this issue. A promise was given: The PYD won’t stay west of the Euphrates river,” Kurtulmuş told journalists in Istanbul.

The remarks bolster statements from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu that Ankara is determined to keep the YPG away from the Turkish border west of the Euphrates.

On Sunday, Erdoğan targeted both the PYD and the Islamic State, “Without discriminating among terror organizations, Turkey is determined to take the steps necessary to ensure the security of its citizens both in the country and in neighboring countries where terror organizations nestle.”

Kurtulmus’s follow-up is also a response to a Pentagon statement that the Turkish-supported rebel offensive is “unacceptable” because it is now clashing with the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces and taking territory from it (see 0915 GMT).

Kurtulmuş vowed that Turkey will “protect itself from future attacks” and said it “cannot sit back and watch” such an assault: “If the whole region falls under control of a single group, the PYD, then Syria will be divided. We are in favor of [maintaining] Syria’s territorial integrity.”

The YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they would withdraw of the Sajour River — reached by the rebel advance on Sunday — “to preserve the lives of civilians and so that no pretext remains for continued strikes on villages and civilians”.

However, the SDF military council made no commitment to pull back to the east or to leave Manbij, the city south of Jarablus taken from the Islamic State last month.

UPDATE 0955 GMT: The Kurdish YPG militia has accused Turkey of seeking to seize Syrian territory with its support of a rebel offensive.

The chief spokesman for the YPG militia, Redur Xelil, denied that any YPG fighters were attacking the rebels:

There are no YPG military reinforcements being sent towards Manbij [the city captured by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month]. Turkey’s claims that it is fighting the YPG west of the Euphrates have no basis in truth and are merely flimsy pretexts to widen its occupation of Syrian land.

UPDATE 0915 GMT: The US has criticized the Turkish-supported rebel offensive as “unacceptable” because of the clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that Washington is monitoring reports of TUrkish airstrikes and the fighting.

Cook said, “We call on all armed actors to stand down and take appropriate measures to deconflict and open channels of communication.” He asked for “unity of focus on ISIL [the Islamic State], which remains a lethal and common threat”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Turkish-supported rebels advanced in northern Syria on Sunday, taking a series of villages from both the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Islamic State.

On the fifth day of the offensive, the rebels moved through SDF territory to reach the Sajur River, 15 km south of the border city of Jarablus, the initial objective which was quickly captured from the Islamic State last Wednesday.

The river is about one-third of the way to the SDF-held city of Manbij. The rebels reportedly took one village on the Manbij side, as one commander said that the offensive would press ahead to the city, which the SDF took from ISIS last month.

Rebels also took more villages from the Islamic State between Jarablus and al-Rai to the west.

SYRIA REBEL ADVANCE 28-08-16

Meanwhile, there were conflicting claims over a deadly incident near Jarablus, with 19 SDF fighters and 28 civilians killed and another 59 people wounded in a Turkish airstrike on a house.

Kurdish outlets claimed a “massacre”, while pro-rebel outlets claimed that the house was being used as a firing position with civilians used as shields for the troops. The Turkish daily Daily Sabah, close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said 25 “terrorists” were killed, with five buildings destroyed, and did not report any civilian casualties.

Turkey said it carried out 57 strikes on 16 targets in the past 24 hours. Officials did not specify how many were on the SDF and how many on the Islamic State.

The immediate effect of the offensive — begun on Wednesday as rebels crossed into Syria, accompanied by Turkish armor and special forces — was to continue the erosion of ISIS in the north of the country. The Islamic State had been pushed out of many of its positions in central and northern Syria this year, and is now reliant on its central area in the city of Raqqa.

However, the conflict soon shifted to one between rebels and the SDF, which has been backed by the US since its creation last autumn to fight the Islamic State.

Rebels have fought with the Kurdish YPG militia, which leads the SDF and also seized opposition territory in northwest Syria early this year. Turkey is opposed to the YPG and its political umbrella, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), because it believes the group is part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.

After months of discussion with the US, Ankara relented to an SDF advance west of the Euphrates River, culminating in the offensive against Manbij from late May.

However, the quick success of the Turkey intervention and rebel offensive has revived the prospect of a “safe haven” — proposed by Ankara in 2014 — along the border from the northwest corner of Syria to Jarablus, extending about 40 km (25 miles) into Syrian territory.

NORTHWEST SYRIA 28-08-16

(Map: IUC Analysts)

British Newspaper Uses Video of Regime’s Aleppo Attack for “Turkish Airstrike”

The Independent of London has added to the confusion over the deadly Turkish strike near Jarablus, mistakenly using video of a regime attack on Aleppo city as the supposed images of Turkey’s bombing.

The original video was posted by Syria’s White Helmets civil defense organization on Saturday. It shows the destruction in the al-Ma’adi neighborhood of Aleppo, where dozens of civilians were killed and wounded.

The Independent uses the footage under the headline, “Turkish Air Strikes ‘Kill At Least 40 Civilians’ in Syria”. Its version has no White Helmets logo — although White Helmets rescuers can clearly be seen moving through the rubble, retrieving bodies and rescuing survivors.

The newspaper bolsters its error by basing its story on the claims of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which recycles unconfirmed claims as fact.

48-Hour Ceasefire in Besieged al-Wa’er in Homs City

A 48-hour ceasefire began on Monday in the besieged opposition-held district of al-Wa’er in Homs city.

The truce followed regime airstrikes — the first in about a year — for two days, raising fears that the regime was trying to force a surrender in the last opposition area in Homs. The strikes began just after last Thursday’s capitulation in the Damascus suburb of Darayya, besieged since November 2012.

Despite a December 2015 truce including the evacuation of some rebels, the regime has continued to bombard al-Wa’er and cut off supplies. Full implementation has been held up over a dispute about surrender of weapons by remaining rebels.

Al-Waer has an estimated 50,000 civilians and several thousand fighters.

Claimed Video: Russian Airstrike Hits Aid Convoy Near Aleppo City

Pro-opposition activists claim Russian airstrikes have hit an aid convoy using the Ramouseh corridor, southwest of Aleppo, to move into the city.

The activists posted video of casualties and damage:

Rebels opened the corridor, breaking a month-long pro-Assad siege, in early August as they advanced on the front southwest of Aleppo.

Rebel Offensive Begins in Northern Hama Province

Rebels have launched an offensive in northern Hama Province, hoping to extend their success this month in attacks near Aleppo city.

The offensive began overnight with the seizure of four checkpoints. The initial frontline for the offensive was reportedly about 21 km (13 miles) from Hama Airbase, which rebels are shelling with howitzers.

Now see Syria Developing: Rebels Advance Quickly in North Hama Offensive

Map: Fighting for Artillery Base on SW Aleppo Front

A map of the large artillery base on the southwest Aleppo base, which pro-Assad forces have repeatedly attacked — without success so far — since rebels took the complex in early August:

RAMOUSEH BASE 28-08-16

The Syrian military and foreign allies have launched a series of assaults from the northeast corner of the 1070 housing complex on the base. Up to Sunday, they had failed to advance beyond a few buildings in the base — the regime’s third-largest before it was overrun — and had suffered heavy casualties. Videos showed massed troops being blown up on repeated occasions at the base’s perimeter wall.

Yesterday the pro-Assad forces attacked with their largest concentration of armor to date. Rebels claimed that they repelled the initial attack, destroying at least one BMP armored vehicle.

Rebel video of the destruction of a tank near the base:

Meanwhile, regime and opposition outlets reported that the commander of the artillery base, Brigadier General Asif Kheirbek, was killed in the fighting.