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.



Migrant Boat Sinks off Tunisia with at Least Eight Dead, 29 Rescued

Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)
Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)
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Migrant Boat Sinks off Tunisia with at Least Eight Dead, 29 Rescued

Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)
Representation photo: Refugees and migrants are rescued by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Sergi Camara, File)

Tunisia's coast guard on Monday recovered the bodies of eight African migrants after their boat sank off the country's coast as it sailed towards Europe, a security official told Reuters, adding that 29 other people were rescued.

The boat sank in waters off the city of Abwabed near Sfax, a departure point often used by African migrants.

Search operations were underway for possible missing persons, said Houssem Eddine Jebabli, an official in the national guard.

Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as a major departure point for both Tunisians and others in Africa seeking a better life in Europe.