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)
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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.



Israeli Ground Troops in Lebanon Reach the Litani River

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Al-Khiam, as seen from northern Israel, 26 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Al-Khiam, as seen from northern Israel, 26 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Ground Troops in Lebanon Reach the Litani River

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Al-Khiam, as seen from northern Israel, 26 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Al-Khiam, as seen from northern Israel, 26 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

The Israeli military says its ground troops have reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River — a focal point of the emerging ceasefire.

In a statement Tuesday, the army said it had reached the Wadi Slouqi area in southern Lebanon and clashed with Hezbollah forces.

Under a proposed ceasefire, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Israeli border.

The military says the clashes with Hezbollah took place on the eastern end of the Litani, just a few kilometers (miles) from the border. It is one of the deepest places Israeli forces have reached in a nearly two-month ground operation.

The military says soldiers destroyed rocket launchers and missiles and engaged in “close-quarters combat” with Hezbollah forces.

The announcement came hours before Israel’s security Cabinet is expected to approve a ceasefire that would end nearly 14 months of fighting.