Türkiye Pressing US to Rethink Kurdish Alliance in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)
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Türkiye Pressing US to Rethink Kurdish Alliance in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)

Türkiye is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive.

"We are constantly reminding our American counterparts that they need to stop the cooperation they have with the terrorist organization in Syria," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted on Monday as telling the Milliyet newspaper.

"Our contacts on this issue have increased. We see that the US side is keen on more talks and negotiations too," he added.

On Sunday, Erdogan said Türkiye could mount a new offensive into northern Syria to create new safe zones along its border, after saying on Friday that he would discuss a possible US troop withdrawal from Syria with President-elect Donald Trump.

Strains in US-Türkiye ties include US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG group, Washington's main ally against ISIS in Syria. Ankara calls it a terrorist organization and extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States also deems a terror group.

NATO member Türkiye has carried out several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years and has since threatened more.

Erdogan said on Sunday these moves established safe zones in Syria that had "thwarted attempts to surround" it from the southern borders, and Türkiye was determined to "completely cut off contact between terrorist organizations."

"God willing, we will complete the missing links of the safe zone we have established along our borders in coming period," he said.

In recent months Erdogan has also made overtures to repair severed ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government after a decade of animosity.

Ankara has complained that Damascus has not reciprocated its attempts at rapprochement, after Erdogan said in July he wanted to invite Assad for talks. Assad said those attempts have yielded no results and Damascus wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syrian territories.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.