Kurdish Parties Differ over Return of Syrian Peshmerga

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. (AFP file photo)
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. (AFP file photo)
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Kurdish Parties Differ over Return of Syrian Peshmerga

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. (AFP file photo)
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. (AFP file photo)

The second round of discussions among US-sponsored Kurdish political parties tackled defense and protection affairs and how to allow Syrian Peshmerga forces to deploy in Kurdish regions in northeastern Syria, revealed informed Kurdish sources.

The Kurdish National Council and the Kurdish National Unity Parties met earlier this month at the international coalition base in al-Hasakeh. The meeting was attended by commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi.

The defense and protection file is witnessing major challenges and has raised doubts about whether the seven-month long Kurdish talks will yield positive results. This is the thorniest issue because the Peshmerga – the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish National Council – has since its formation in 2012 been deployed in the neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The Peshmerga is comprised of Kurdish defectors from the Syrian regime army and volunteers from Kurdish regions.

Leading commander of the force said it comprises some 7,000 fighters, none of whom have fired a single shot in Syria.

“We did not take part in battle inside Syria, but when ISIS attacked the Kurdistan region in mid-2014, we were forced to join the fighting and we lost several martyrs,” he added.

A prominent official in the Kurdish council said the Peshmerga are estimated at 15,000 members, including 7,000 fighters and 8,000 recruits.

The Kurdish sources described the ongoing negotiations between the Kurdish parties as “very complicated and sensitive”. They cited the difficulties in returning the Peshmerga amid the deployment of a second major Kurdish force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). The YPG are the military backbone of the SDF that controls the majority of regions east of the Euphrates River and receives support from the international coalition to fight ISIS.

Any Kurdish deployment needs to take into account threats from Turkey amid its rejection of the presence of such forces near its borders.

The return of the Peshmerga will require an international agreement between the countries deployed east of the Euphrates.

According to the Kurdish official, their return hinges on a comprehensive intra-Kurdish agreement being reached, which includes defense and protection and that they play real role as partner. It also hinges on an international agreement, with UN sponsorship, and understandings being reached between Moscow and Washington. Most importantly, regional armies involved in the war, especially Turkey, must keep out of the area.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.