25 Apr 2024
Sunday 13 October 2019 - 16:45
Story Code : 361276

Turkish troops seize Syria's Suluk; Daesh families flee camp

Turkish troops seize Syria
Press TV - Turkish forces haveseizedlarge parts of the northern Syrian town ofSuluk on the fifth day of aninvasion which also sawfamilies of Daesh members escapea camp held by Kurdish forces.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring groupsaid Sunday Turkish troops and their militant allies had entered Suluk, some 10 kmfrom Turkey's border.

Suluk is southeast of the Syrian border town of Tel Abyad. The seizure came a day after Turkey's defense ministry saiditsforces hadtaken control of the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain.

Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad have been the primary focus of Turkey's incursion launched on Wednesday. They have come underheavy bombardment, prompting tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

The UN said SundayTurkey's deadly invasion ofnortheastern Syria has forced 130,000 people to flee their homes.

"We have moved into a planning scenario where up to 400,000 people could be displaced within and across the affected areas," Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told AFP news agency.

It said concerns remain grave around the risks facing thousands of vulnerable displaced persons, including women and children in various displacementcamps.

Kurdish authorities said the Turkish offensive is now taking place near a camp in Ain Issa, where there are thousands of peoplefrom families of Daesh."Some were able to escape," they said.

On Saturday, Kurdish officialssaid theTurkish invasion hasrevived Daesh and called on the US and its alliesto close off the airspace to Turkish warplanes.

"The Turkish invasion is no longer threatening the revival of Daesh, rather it has revived it and activated its cells in Qamishli and Hasaka and all the other areas,"Redur Xelil, a senior official of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said.

The SDF urged US allies to assume their "moral obligations" to protect the Kurdish militants from thecross-border Turkish offensive.

"Our allies had guaranteed us protection ... but suddenly and without warning they abandoned us in an unjust decisions to withdraw their troops from the Turkish border," it said in a statement.

Turkeylaunchedits military campaign, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, in northeast Syria on Wednesday,just days after the US out pulled its forces and abandoned its Kurdish allies there.

Ankara says the operation is meant to purge the Syrian region of YPG militants, which Turkey views as terrorists linked to local autonomy-seeking militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that a total of 480 YPG militants had been "neutralized" since the operation began.

Syrian army to take over Manbij: Sputnik

The Syrian military is reportedly poised to take over Manbijfrom Kurdish militants in an attempt to prevent the northern city's fall to the Turkish army.

A source told Russia's Sputnik news agency on Saturday that Syrian government forces will enter Manbij in Aleppo Provinceunder an agreement reached between Russia and Syria on the one side and Russia, the US and the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the other.

The deal includes the deployment of Syrian army units with heavy and medium weapons in Manbij, where they would raise the national flag over government buildings as well as entrances to the city, he added.

The Syrian army build-up in Manbij is meant to prevent theinvasion of the city by Turkish forces and their allied militants, who have been attacking Syria's northeast over the past few days.

Earlier on Saturday, the US reportedly withdrew its last military equipment from Manbij.

Manbij was liberated from the Daesh terrorist group in 2016. Since then, it has been controlled by theSDF.
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