SDF Accuses Turkey of Violating De-Escalation Agreements

Clock Square Roundabout in the center of Raqqa city in northern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Clock Square Roundabout in the center of Raqqa city in northern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT

SDF Accuses Turkey of Violating De-Escalation Agreements

Clock Square Roundabout in the center of Raqqa city in northern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Clock Square Roundabout in the center of Raqqa city in northern Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces revealed on Monday the outcome of the attacks of the Turkish army and its pro-Syrian armed factions on its areas during the first half of January 2022.

According to the released data, one civilian was killed and dozens were injured in 225 different attacks, while thousands were displaced from the countryside of Aleppo, Raqqa and Hasakeh governorates.

An SDF military official accused Turkey of violating all the international understandings and agreements concluded on the de-escalation in northeast Syria and committing many crimes against civilians.

The SDF said in a statement published on its official website on Monday that the Turkish army reconnaissance drones violated the airspace of Ain al-Arab (Kobani) city in the eastern countryside of Aleppo 20 times and the area between Kobani and Sirrin town, which overlooks the Euphrates River, four times.

The Turkish bombardment injured 12 civilians, including three children, killed one civilian, and led to the amputation of the foot of a child from Qarmough village, east of Kobani.

Head of the SDF Media Center Farhad Shami said the Turkish official media and army statements have distorted the facts to show that the civilians who were martyred and wounded were fighters in the ranks of the SDF forces and claimed they were killed during the clashes.

“Yet, the truth is that they are civilians who were injured during the barbaric Turkish bombardment.”

In late 2019, Ankara concluded de-escalation agreements in the areas east of the Euphrates with Washington and Moscow, and the Syrian parties cowed to commit to their implementation on the ground.

However, since then, the area saw military escalation and were bombed by Turkish artillery and rocket launchers from their bases in the areas of their operations “Peace Spring”, “Euphrates Shield” and “Olive Branch.” No significant field progress was made.

Turkish artillery, tank shells and rocket launchers shelled villages west of the Tal Abyad city in the northern countryside of Raqqa governorate, the statement added.

Ain Isa camp and the vicinity of M4 Highway along with eight other villages were bombarded, wounding three civilians.

“In the northern countryside of Hasakeh, 12 villages, which administratively follow Tel Tamr, were hit.

“Zarkan town and four of its villages were also shelled leaving material damage,” the statement read.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
TT

Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.