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Syria
From left: US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel speaking to reporters on October 4, 2023 and a suspected Turkish drone strike in Hasaka on the same day. Photo: handout/Ronahi TV
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Wednesday said Washington "remains concerned" about escalation in northern Syria, calling for the implementation of the 2019 ceasefires. This comes amid fresh threats by Turkish officials to target key energy facilities in the Kurdish-held areas of Syria due to their alleged link to the recent explosion in Ankara.
Two armed men on Sunday attacked the Turkish interior ministry in Ankara, injuring two police officers. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. Since then, the Turkish army has intensified its airstrikes against the alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region and against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Patel told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Wednesday that Washington “remains concerned about military escalation in northern Syria, and [in] particular, we're concerned about the impact on civilian populations and the effectiveness that it can place on the efforts that have been ongoing to defeat ISIS,” referring to the Islamic State (ISIS).
The YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been the main ally of the US-led global coalition against ISIS in Syria on the ground.
PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara. Turkey also considers the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
“We continue to advocate for de-escalation and the maintenance of ceasefires as a key pillar of our policy in the region and we continue to coordinate with Turkey and that they should coordinate its actions with Iraq in a way that supports and respects Iraqi sovereignty,” added Patel.
US and Russia separately signed ceasefires with Turkey to suspend its military operations against the SDF in northern Syria in 2019 after Ankara invaded the Kurdish towns of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) with the support of its Syrian proxies.
The Turkish defense ministry has said that about 60 alleged PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region have been targeted since Sunday, adding that numerous PKK fighters have been “neutralized.”
Turkey uses the term “neutralized” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed on Wednesday that the two perpetrators of the Ankara attack entered Turkey from Syria.
“Following the latest incident, as a result of the work of our intelligence and security units, we have found out that the two terrorists came from Syria and were trained here,” said the minister during a press conference in Ankara.
He warned that all infrastructure and energy facilities linked to the YPG in Rojava will be his country’s “legitimate targets,” indirectly calling on US troops to “stay away” from individuals and facilities linked to the Kurdish group.
There are some 1,000 US troops in Rojava, training SDF and assisting them in the fight against ISIS. They also protect key oil fields in SDF-held areas in eastern Syria.
Kurdish authorities said on Wednesday that a Turkish drone construction materials factory in Hasaka, injuring four civilians.
Ankara has not commented on Wednesday’s drone strike. However, Turkish state media reported that the country’s intelligence killed a YPG member in Hasaka, accusing him of planning an explosion in Istanbul last year.
Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the SDF, on the same day denied the Turkish minister’s claim that the Ankara attackers came from Rojava.
“Ankara's attack perpetrators haven't passed through our region as Turkish officials claim, and we aren't party to Turkey's internal conflict nor we encourage escalation,” said Abdi in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Turkey is looking for pretexts to legitimize its ongoing attacks on our region and to launch a new military aggression that is of our deep concern. Threat to target the region's infrastructure, economic resources, and populated cities is a war crime, the thing we have witnessed before,” added the Kurdish commander.
Abdi called on the international community, especially the guarantors of the 2019 ceasefires US and Russia, to “take appropriate positions to these frequent threats and to ensure peace and stability in the region.”
PKK identified the Ankara attackers as Rojhat Zilan and Erdal Sahin. They were respectively from Turkey’s Kurdish provinces of Van and Mersin.
Additional reporting by Azhi Rasul
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