Turkey Continues its Drone War in Northern Syria

A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)
A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)
TT

Turkey Continues its Drone War in Northern Syria

A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)
A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)

A Tal Tamr Military Council member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed by a Turkish drone strike in Tal Jumaa on Thursday.

The areas east of the Euphrates witnessed an increase in Turkish drone attacks, which killed leaders and prominent fighters of the People’s Defense Units.

The new development comes after the Tehran summit between the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Observers believe that Turkey is following a new strategy to weaken the SDF after failing to secure international support that would allow it to carry out a military operation in northern Syria.

They considered that the Turkish escalation came after the Tehran summit, where Turkey may have obtained a green light from Russia and Iran to weaken the SDF by targeting its leaders instead of launching the military operation aimed at establishing safe areas 30 kilometers inside Syrian territory south of the Turkish border.

On July 24, Turkey announced the killing of the commander of military operations in Ain al-Arab, and a week later, the intelligence announced the death of Arhan Arman, a member of the Executive Council in Ain al-Arab.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the Turkish armed drones killed at least ten SDF fighters, including prominent leaders.

The Observatory recounted 43 Turkish drone attacks in the areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and Northeastern Syria.

Since the beginning of the year, 35 soldiers and one civilian were killed and 80 others injured.

The Turkish forces and the Syrian National Army (SNA) factions bombed the SDF locations in al-Hasakah, where several artillery shells fell on Tawila village in Tal Tamr.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement Thursday that it eliminated two SDF members who were preparing to launch an attack on the Spring of Peace area, which is controlled by Ankara and its loyal factions in northeastern Syria.

The statement said that the Turkish army continues its pre-emptive operations against terrorists in northern Syria.

Syrian regime forces directly targeted a vehicle of the Turkish troops on the Efes axis in the eastern countryside of Idlib. They shelled the vicinity of Maklabis village in the western countryside of Aleppo, coinciding with the flyover of a Russian warplane in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria.



UN Investigative Team Says Syria’s New Authorities ‘Very Receptive’ to Probe of Assad War Crimes

A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)
A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

UN Investigative Team Says Syria’s New Authorities ‘Very Receptive’ to Probe of Assad War Crimes

A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)
A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)

The UN organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria said Monday the country’s new authorities were “very receptive” to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus, and it is preparing to deploy.

The visit led by Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, was the first since the organization was established by the UN General Assembly in 2016. It was created to assist in evidence-gathering and prosecution of individuals responsible for possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since Syria’s civil war began in 2011.

Petit highlighted the urgency of preserving documents and other evidence before it is lost.

Since the opposition overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the opening of prisons and detention facilities there have been rising demands from Syrians for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities and killings while he was in power.

“The fall of the Assad rule is a significant opportunity for us to fulfill our mandate on the ground,” Petit said. “Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the material they hold.”

UN associate spokesperson Stephane Tremblay said Monday the investigative team “is preparing for an operational deployment as early as possible and as soon as it is authorized to conduct activities on Syrian soil.”

The spokesperson for the organization, known as the IIIM, who was on the trip with Petit, went further, telling The Associated Press: “We are preparing to deploy on the expectation that we will get authorization.”

“The representatives from the caretaker authorities were very receptive to our request for cooperation and are aware of the scale of the task ahead,” the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of not being named. “They emphasized that they will need expertise to help safeguard the newly accessible documentation.”

The IIIM did not disclose which officials in the new government it met with or the site that Petit visited afterward.

“Even at one facility,” Petit said, “the mountains of government documentation reveal the chilling efficiency of systemizing the regime’s atrocity crimes.”

He said that a collective effort by Syrians, civil society organizations and international partners will be needed, as a priority, “to preserve evidence of the crimes committed, avoid duplication, and ensure that all victims are inclusively represented in the pursuit of justice.”

In June 2023, the 193-member General Assembly also established an Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic to clarify the fate and whereabouts of more than 130,000 people missing as a result of the conflict.