Kurdish Party Accuses Russia of Granting Türkiye Green Light to Attack N. Syria

A Kurdish security forces member in Syria’s al-Hol camp in Hasakeh, August 14, 2022. (AFP)
A Kurdish security forces member in Syria’s al-Hol camp in Hasakeh, August 14, 2022. (AFP)
TT
20

Kurdish Party Accuses Russia of Granting Türkiye Green Light to Attack N. Syria

A Kurdish security forces member in Syria’s al-Hol camp in Hasakeh, August 14, 2022. (AFP)
A Kurdish security forces member in Syria’s al-Hol camp in Hasakeh, August 14, 2022. (AFP)

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) accused on Friday Russia of giving Türkiye the greenlight to attack Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Prominent member of the PYD Ahmed Khoja told Asharq Al-Awsat that despite Russian and Iranian reassurances that Ankara would not be allowed to invade northeastern Syria by land, “it appears that Russia has allowed Türkiye to resort to drone and artillery attacks.”

The intensification of attacks is a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “implicit” agreement to Türkiye’s actions, he added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been given the green light to carry out these attacks to pressure the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its autonomous administration to prevent the Kurds from obtaining their rights, Khoja continued.

Furthermore, he charged that the Syrian regime was “incapable” of carrying out attacks on and seizing the regions of the autonomous administration because these areas are well fortified and defended.

Damascus is therefore “satisfied with the Turkish attacks,” he added, noting that it has struck “secret security agreements” with Ankara.

Khoja’s remarks were the first by a Kurdish official in wake of the recent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara.

Türkiye, he said, has a “phobia of the Kurdish people.”

It is prepared to abandon all of its demands and even turn against its allies to “strike and destroy any democratic project led by the Kurds in the region,” he stressed.



Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
TT
20

Syria Arrests Assad-era Officer Accused of 'War Crimes'

Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)
Sultan al-Tinawi. (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Syrian authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former officer in the feared security apparatus of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, the latest such announcement as the new government pursues ex-officials accused of atrocities.

The interior ministry announced in a statement that security forces in the coastal province of Latakia had arrested the "criminal brigadier-general Sultan al-Tinawi", saying he was a key officer in the air force intelligence, one of the Assad family's most trusted security agencies.

The statement accused Tinawi of involvement in "committing war crimes against civilians, including a massacre" in the Damascus countryside in 2016.

It said he was responsible for "coordinating between the leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and a number of sectarian groups in Syria".

Tinawi has been referred to the public prosecution for further investigation, the statement said.

A security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Tinawi held senior administrative positions in the air force intelligence when Jamil Hassan was head of the notorious agency.

Hassan has been sentenced in absentia in France for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, while the United States has accused him of "war crimes", including overseeing barrel bomb attacks on Syrian people that killed thousands of civilians.

Tinawi had been "head of the information branch of the air force intelligence" before Assad's ouster late last year, the security source told AFP, describing the branch as "one of the most powerful and secret security agencies in the country".

Since taking power in December, Syria's new authorities have announced a number of arrests of Assad-era security officials.

Assad fled to Moscow with only a handful of confidants, abandoning senior officials and security officers, some of whom have reportedly fled to neighboring countries or taken refuge in the coastal heartland of Assad's Alawite minority community.