Türkiye Destroying NE Syria Oil, Power Facilities, Say Kurds

Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during an interview with AFP on October 10, 2023 in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh. (AFP)
Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during an interview with AFP on October 10, 2023 in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh. (AFP)
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Türkiye Destroying NE Syria Oil, Power Facilities, Say Kurds

Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during an interview with AFP on October 10, 2023 in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh. (AFP)
Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during an interview with AFP on October 10, 2023 in Syria's northern city of Hasakeh. (AFP)

Turkish bombardment has damaged more than half of Kurdish-held northeast Syria's power and oil infrastructure, dealing a blow to its energy-dependent economy, the Kurds' top commander said.

Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), also criticized Washington for failing to do more to prevent the strikes, during an interview with AFP in the northern city of Hasakeh.

On October 5, Türkiye launched a bombing campaign in Syria's northeast after it said militants who were behind an attack in Ankara came from and were trained in Syria.

The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration has denied the claim, and says at least 44 people, including security personnel and civilians, have been killed in the attacks.

"More than half of oil and electricity facilities were damaged" as Türkiye struck dozens of sites including power plants and gas infrastructure, Abdi said.

His forces spearheaded the battle to dislodge ISIS fighters from their last scraps of Syrian territory in 2019.

The assault has left residents without power since Thursday, in a region already struggling to provide just 10 hours of electricity per day.

"The Unites States' position has been weak" in the face of the attacks, Abdi said.

"American forces limited their action to protecting their positions... but did nothing to stop" the onslaught, he said.

'Directly targeted'

Ankara views the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) that dominate the SDF as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against Türkiye for decades.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday to intensify strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq.

A branch of the PKK -- listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies -- claimed responsibility for the Ankara bombing, the first to hit the Turkish capital since 2016.

Abdi said Türkiye "directly targeted infrastructure, services and resources" used by Kurdish authorities in order to cut off sources of income and "prevent the SDF from carrying on".

"They couldn't target the SDF directly, so funding sources were targeted," he said in Tuesday evening's interview.

Last Thursday, the United States shot down a Turkish drone deemed a threat to American forces in northeast Syria.

Hundreds of US personnel are stationed in the country's north and northeast as part of an international coalition fighting ISIS, alongside the SDF.

"Forces present in the region, be they Russia, American or the (international) coalition, must... keep these attacks from happening" and help rebuild damaged facilities, Abdi demanded.

'Lukewarm'

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out successive ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from Syrian border areas, and it has maintained a military presence and proxies in parts of northern Syria.

Ankara has long condemned its NATO ally Washington's support for the SDF.

In March 2020, Türkiye and the Syrian government's ally Russia agreed to establish a security corridor in the region, with joint Turkish-Russian patrols along designated Kurdish-held areas.

The SDF is the largest armed force in Syria after the country's army, and controls roughly a quarter of Syrian territory and most of its oil resources, largely located in the Arab-majority Deir Ezzor province.

In recent years, Kurdish authorities have held several unsuccessful rounds of talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government, which rejects their self-rule and accuses them of "separatism".

The two sides never cut ties, but Abdi described their latest meetings as "lukewarm".

In September, days of clashes between Arab fighters, some of them formerly part of the SDF, and Kurdish-led forces in Deir Ezzor province left dozens dead.

Although security in the area has since improved, Deir Ezzor still suffers from a multitude of problems "that have yet to be resolved", Abdi said, citing administrative and service issues.

The SDF has denied any tensions with Arab tribes in the area, and has instead accused the Syrian government of supporting local fighters and sending reinforcements.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents said they feared new air and ground attacks and forced evacuations were aimed at emptying areas in the enclave's north to create buffer zones against Hamas fighters.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said Israel was scaling back the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, compounding shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies.

Israel denied this. But it said separately on Monday it had officially notified the United Nations that it was ending its relations with UNRWA, which has been a vital provider of aid to Palestinian civilians during the 13-month-long war between Israel and Hamas.

In the latest bloodshed, medics said seven people were killed in an attack on two houses in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahia on Monday. Five more were killed in separate strikes in central and southern parts of the enclave, medics told Reuters.

Several people were wounded in the attacks, they said, adding that Israeli forces had sent tanks into the northeast of Nuseirat camp earlier on Monday.

Israel deployed tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia on Oct. 5, saying it intended to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and had injured many staff and patients.

"The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital," it said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on that situation.

Palestinians said the new offensives and orders for people to leave were "ethnic cleansing" aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is combating Hamas fighters who launch attacks from there.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since Oct. 5 at 1,800. It said 4,000 others were wounded.

There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory's health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating the figures of the dead.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war erupted after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

'UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING'

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel has scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time. This represented only 6 percent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.

"This cannot meet the needs of 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said on X.

An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.

Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.

Earlier on Monday, Israel's foreign ministry said it had officially notified the United Nations it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with UNRWA since 1967 - effectively banning it.

"Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering," Lazzarini said.