SDF Commanders Flee to Turkey, Finance Officer Killed

File photo: Fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (AFP Photo/Delil Souleiman)
File photo: Fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (AFP Photo/Delil Souleiman)
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SDF Commanders Flee to Turkey, Finance Officer Killed

File photo: Fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (AFP Photo/Delil Souleiman)
File photo: Fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (AFP Photo/Delil Souleiman)

Kurdish commanders from the Syrian Democratic Forces, carrying the Turkish nationality, have been recently escaping to Turkey, reports said Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a Turkish Kurd SDF finance official was killed while attempting to cross the border to Turkey.

The official "serves as a finance officer in the Syrian Democratic Forces. He was trying to escape to Turkey with large sums of money in his possession, while another person was escorting him,” the Observatory said.

It said the official planned to cross into Turkey through Jatli village and Qarmani town on the border where Turkish vehicles were waiting for him.

“However, after repeated visits to the area, he was tracked by SDF intelligence members and was shot dead while attempting to escape. There were no further details on the fate of the person escorting him,” SOHR said.

The London-based watchdog said it recently monitored similar incidents, which suggest that the escape of SDF commanders from Turkey’s Kurds is on the rise.

“In the past few days, another finance official in al-Derbasiyah managed to escape with large sums of cash after coordinating with Turkey,” the Observatory said.

It added that a Turkish-born woman, who serves as an SDF commander in Raqqa, and another official responsible for tunnels in Kobani have also managed to flee to Turkey.

Separately, an armed clash erupted Sunday among Turkish-backed factions in north Hasaka.

The fighting took place between “Al-Hamzat Division” faction and “Sultan Suleiman Shah” faction in the area between the villages of Al-Dadoya and Al-Arisha in rural Ras al-Ain, north of Hasaka province.

No casualties were reported.

The Observatory said the residents demanded the demilitarization of their city.



US Military Shows Reporters Pier Project in Gaza as It Takes Another Stab at Aid Delivery 

An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Military Shows Reporters Pier Project in Gaza as It Takes Another Stab at Aid Delivery 

An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)

With US soldiers within shouting distance of Gaza's bombed-out coast, the American military is taking another stab at delivering aid to hungry Palestinians by sea.

After several fits and starts, a $230 million pier is up and running again. The US military invited reporters for a tour of it on Tuesday, marking the first time international media has witnessed its operations firsthand.

International journalists have not been allowed to enter Gaza independently since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7.

The project, which first launched in mid-May, resumed operations last week after a recent pause due to rough seas.

As journalists looked on Tuesday, US soldiers with machine guns directed the pier's operations. US vessels carrying trucks loaded with humanitarian aid docked at the pier.

Israeli and Cypriot drivers drove the trucks off the vessels and headed down the 400-meter (437-yard) causeway to the beach, where they unloaded pallets of aid.

The trucks then returned to the vessels to be ferried to large cargo ships and reloaded. The cargo ships travel across the Mediterranean Sea from Cyprus.

Col. Samuel Miller, the commander of a joint task force, US Army 7th Transportation Brigade, said the vessels can ferry aid to the pier at least five times a day.

“Our mission out here is to receive those humanitarian assistance pallets offshore from a larger vessel onto that floating pier,” he said, shouting over waves crashing against the pier. “Over time, we are learning organization and we've gotten better.”

The floating pier was anchored back on Gaza’s shoreline on June 19 after heavy seas and high winds led the military to disconnect it from the beach. In May, similar conditions forced a two-week pause in operations after the pier broke apart and four US Army vessels ran aground, injuring three service members, one critically.

Since coming back online, the pier has been delivering hundreds of pallets of aid a day to the shore, Miller said.

From the pier, Associated Press journalists could see aid piling up against a backdrop of near-total destruction. Israeli army vehicles slowly moved between blown-out buildings along the coast. Tents stood on beaches in the distance.

The US military said about 6,200 metric tons (6,800 tons) of aid have so far been delivered from the project to Gaza’s shore.

While aid from the pier is reaching the beach, it's still difficult to get it to Palestinians in Gaza. The UN World Food Program has suspended aid delivery from the pier due to security concerns after the Israeli military appeared to use the area in a June 8 hostage rescue. Lawlessness around the pier, with hungry Palestinians seizing aid off trucks headed to delivery zones, also is a major concern.

The US launched the project to bring relief to Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive against Hamas has displaced over 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million people and unleashed a humanitarian disaster. International officials say hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of famine.

UN and other international aid officials have voiced skepticism over the pier, saying its effectiveness is limited and it is no substitute for Israeli-controlled land crossings into the territory.

UN officials told the AP on Tuesday that they are considering suspending all aid operations across Gaza unless steps are taken to better protect humanitarian workers. That would plunge Gaza into an even deeper humanitarian catastrophe.

Palestinians in Gaza are heavily reliant on UN aid, which has only trickled into the territory since Israel's incursion in early May into Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, shut down a major land crossing and slowed deliveries from another major crossing.

Still, the soldiers operating the pier Tuesday were hopeful.

“I talk to my sailors on a daily basis,” said US Navy Capt. Joel Stewart. “They understand that our aid is necessary for the people of Gaza that are suffering under the conditions of war.”