Moscow Pressures US-backed SDF Near Syria’s Ain Issa

The humanitarian corridor in northwestern Syria’s Saraqib empty of civilians (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The humanitarian corridor in northwestern Syria’s Saraqib empty of civilians (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Moscow Pressures US-backed SDF Near Syria’s Ain Issa

The humanitarian corridor in northwestern Syria’s Saraqib empty of civilians (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The humanitarian corridor in northwestern Syria’s Saraqib empty of civilians (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Russian forces in Syria attempted pressuring the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into giving up control of some areas near the Ain Issa subdistrict, located northeast of the war-torn country.

This coincided with Russian forces also announcing plans for opening a humanitarian corridor between areas controlled by opposition armed factions and regime-held territory in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

A UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported the death of three fighters from the Turkey-backed Suleiman Shah faction and the injury of seven others after SDF fighters fired a heat-seeking missile at frontlines in Al-Musharefah town in Ain Issa.

Turkish forces, for their part, fired several rockets on Houshan and Abu Sorrah villages, located along the M4 Motorway. They also attacked an SDF mechanized digger nearby the silos in the east of Ain Issa.

The Observatory pointed out that Russian troops that abandoned the Ain Issa military base on Sunday had returned on Monday morning.

“Eight Russian armored vehicles were seen arriving in the base where the Russian flag has been raised again,” it reported, adding that it wasn’t clear what was accomplished by the withdrawal.

“No information has been reported about the gains Russians achieved and made them return so fast,” said the Observatory, explaining that Russia frequently extorts the SDF through repeated threats of withdrawal from Ain Issa.

Russians pulling out from the military base ignited anger and discontent among locals who fear of a possible military operation by Turkey.

The Observatory also revealed that Russian forces had pulled out from the main base in Ain Issa in a bid to pressure the SDF to make a deal with the Assad government.

“Russians are attempting to put pressure on the SDF after it rejected demands of the Russians and the Syrian government, including the demand to hand over villages near Ain Issa to Turkey, which would have cut off the road from Ain Issa to Kobani,” said the human rights watchdog.

The SDF also refused to hand over wheat stored in Shirakrak silos to regime forces.



Israel Ups Bombing in Central Gaza, Strikes Kill 17 People

27 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians inspect the al-Qassam Mosque and surrounding buildings where Israeli army attacked and caused a big destruction in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy  Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
27 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians inspect the al-Qassam Mosque and surrounding buildings where Israeli army attacked and caused a big destruction in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Ups Bombing in Central Gaza, Strikes Kill 17 People

27 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians inspect the al-Qassam Mosque and surrounding buildings where Israeli army attacked and caused a big destruction in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy  Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
27 November 2024, Palestinian Territories, Nuseirat: Palestinians inspect the al-Qassam Mosque and surrounding buildings where Israeli army attacked and caused a big destruction in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Photo: Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israeli military strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as forces stepped up bombardments on central areas and pushed tanks deeper in the north and south of the enclave.
Six people were killed in two separate air strikes on a house and near the hospital of Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, while four others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle in Khan Younis in the south, Reuters said.
In Nuseirat, one of the Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, Israeli planes carried out several airstrikes destroying a multi-floor building and hitting roads outside mosques. At least seven people were killed in some of those strikes, health officials said.
Medics said at least two people, a woman and a child, were killed in tank shelling that hit western areas of Nuseirat, while an airstrike killed five others in a house nearby.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, tanks pushed deeper into the northern-west area of the city, residents said.
There has been no Israeli comment on the fighting in Gaza overnight and early Thursday.
Israel's 13-month campaign in Gaza, with the avowed intent of eradicating Hamas militants, has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the enclave's population at least once, according to Gaza officials. Vast swathes of the territory are in ruins.
The war was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed around 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has said.
Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold. Mediator Qatar has suspended its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.
A ceasefire in the parallel conflict between Israel and Hamas' Lebanese ally Hezbollah took effect before dawn on Wednesday, bringing a halt to hostilities that had escalated sharply in recent months and overshadowed the conflict in Gaza.
Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for an elusive agreement in Gaza, urging Israel and Hamas to seize the moment.