PHOTO: Smoke rises from claimed Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish positions in northern Syria on Wednesday

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“Russia Bringing in Bombers for Final Aleppo Assault”

Turkey’s warplanes have bombed Kurdish militia for the first time in Syria’s conflict.

The Turkish military acknowledged early Thursday that jets carried out 26 airstrikes on 18 positions of the YPG, the military branch of the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD), in northern Aleppo Province on Wednesday night. It said 160 to 200 fighters were killed.

The attacks concentrated on villages captured earlier this year by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces from the Islamic State, such as al-Hasiya, Um al-Qura, and Um Hosh.

The Turkish military also said that it shelled villages in the Afrin canton in northwest Syria. Syrian Kurdish outlets said 100 shells were fired over seven hours.

And Turkish troops moved 500 meters inside the Turkish-Syrian border to establish a new crossing for rebels moving back-and-forth between Idlib and Aleppo Provinces.

The incursion was in the area of Aqrabat in northern Idlib Province.

A “military source” said, “The aim of the planned new passage is to keep the Free Syrian Army fighters away from Atmeh crossing where [there are] many camps…and so they avoid civilian casualties and monitor explosions.”

More than 35 people were killed, most of them fighters, in an Islamic State bombing at Atmeh earlier this month.

On Thursday, about 20 people were killed or injured by a car bomb near the border town of Azaz.

Turkey v. Kurdish PYD and YPG

The Turkish Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claims that the PYD and YPG are linked to the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which has battled Ankara for more than 30 years.

As the Kurdish-led SDF pushed back the Islamic State last autumn in northeast Syria, Turkey declared a “red line” at the Euphrates River. However, the SDF crossed the river in December and moved west into Aleppo Province. The offensive culminated in the capture of the Islamic State’s main position in the province, the city of Manbij, in early August.

A few weeks later, Turkey intervened alongside rebels in northern Syria, carrying out airstrikes and putting in tanks and special forces. The offensive quickly took a 55-km (34-mile) strip along the Turkish-Syrian border from ISIS, and it also moved south into areas taken by the SDF before political pressure — notably from the US — checked the advance.

The continuing retreat of the Islamic State has opened up further possibilities of conflict, with both the Turkish-rebel offensive and the SDF considering an assault on another key ISIS position, the town of al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo.

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The Race for Al-Bab: Kurdish area yellow, opposition area green, regime area pink

Rebels also promised on Tuesday that they will begin reclaiming areas lost to the YPG in northwest Syria in early 2016. They said they would attack the town of Tel Rifaat within 48 hours.

Tel Rifaat is near Azaz, a key town near the Turkish-Syrian border for the movement of rebels and supplies.

The faction Jaish al-Thuwar, allied with the Kurdish YPG, in Hasiyah in northern Aleppo Province:

Hours later, rebels said they had taken the village and pushed out Jaish al-Thuwar:

Video: Assad to Swiss TV “We Have No Barrel Bombs”

In his latest interview with broadcast media, President Assad has told Swiss TV that the regime does not have the barrel bombs which have killed thousands of Syrian civilians:

The remarks are preceded by Assad’s standard rhetoric — in response to a question about claims of the regime’s “war crimes” — about his defense of the Syrian nation against foreign-supported terrorism.

Pressed by the interviewer, “The people are not only fleeing because of ISIS or the rebels, they are fleeing because of you,” Assad responds:

What do you mean by me? I am not asking people to leave Syria. I am not attacking people. I am defending people.

Questioned about the Russian-regime attacks on medical facilities, Assad tries to claim that it is “mendacious” that scores of hospitals and other facilities have been damaged or destroyed, with hundreds of staff and patient casualties: “Why would the Syrian Government kill civilians?”

Russian-Regime Attacks Target Civil Defense Centers

Russian-regime attacks have targeted more civil defense centers in Idlib Province, killing and injuring volunteers.

The Kafranbel center was damaged on Wednesday night. Three volunteers were injured, one of them critically.

This morning, as warplanes attacked across Idlib Province, the Ma’arat al-Numan center was hit. One volunteer was killed and five wounded:

Since 2013, about 150 White Helmets volunteers have been killed, almost all of them by Russian and regime assaults.

A volunteer mourns his colleague, Bassam Hadleh, slain in the Ma’arat al-Numan bombing:

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Assad Military Proclaims Brief “Ceasefire” and “Exit Corridors” in Aleppo

The Syrian military has proclaimed a brief ceasefire in Aleppo, saying it will allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the beseiged opposition areas.

Moscow said earlier this week that it would observe an eight-hour pause on Thursday for “humanitarian corridors” for those exiting east Aleppo. It then declared a 48-hour halt to bombing on Tuesday.

Russia and the Assad regime also declared exit corridors in late July, after initially imposing a siege on east Aleppo. However, beyond staged interviews just after the declaration, near the crossing point between regime and opposition areas, there was no evidence of the corridors. Residents in east Aleppo said those who moved toward regime districts risked being shot by pro-Assad snipers.

Pro-opposition activists claim that there is no evidence of departing residents today:

Syrian State media carried out another PR exercise on Thursday, showed images of green buses near the Bustan al-Qasr crossing point on Thursday.

“We guarantee a safe exit, seize the opportunity and save your families,” an army loudspeaker blared.

Germany and France Call for End to Russia’s Bombing

The leaders of Germany and France have pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the “criminal” bombardment of civilians in and beyond Aleppo.

“We are talking here about criminal activities, about crimes against the civilians,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after a “difficult” discussion with Putin about the Syrian crisis.

Appearing alongside Merkel after the meeting that included Putin, French President Francois Hollande repeated Paris’s description, made soon after the Russian-regime resumption of bombing of Aleppo last month, of “war crimes”.

He criticized Russia’s attempt to divert political pressure with a 48-hour “pause” in bombing, announced on Tuesday: “A respite of a few hours makes no sense. The main point is that the population of Aleppo…cannot continue to live in conditions that are unbearable.”

Merkel explained:

We agree that terrorism must be combatted, but not at the price that 300,000 people there must lose their lives and suffer without all necessary supplies.

We made it very, very clear tonight that Russia has a great responsibility that extends far beyond the bombardment. It will decide whether humanitarian supplies can be delivered (and) whether a political process can be begun.

The two leaders will discuss the situation at an European Union summit meeting on Thursday evening.

Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers pushed back France’s proposal for pursuit of protected areas. They also stepped away from any sanctions on Russia, although they said about 20 Syrians might be added to the EU’s sanctions blacklist.

See Syria Daily, Oct 18: EU Says Russia “May Be Guilty of War Crimes” — But Takes No Action v. Moscow

The Kremlin indicated that there would be no further “pause” beyond Thursday. Spokesman Dmitri Peskov saying that Putin told other leaders that the extension was “possible and desirable, but not if this pause is used for strengthening, rearming and re-equipping terrorists”.