BERLIN: The top US military officer in Europe raised concerns about Turkish airstrikes in Syria and Iraq during a meeting last week with Ankara’s chief of general staff in Turkey, a US official said on Tuesday.
Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told Gen. Hulusi Akar last Friday that the strikes were not properly coordinated with the US and its allies in their fight against Daesh, a spokesman for US European Command told Reuters.
US military officials said last week that Turkey gave the US-led coalition less than an hour of advance notice about the airstrikes, an insufficient amount of time to ensure the safety of coalition forces on the ground.
“I can tell you Gen. Scaparrotti did express his concern about recent airstrikes conducted by Turkey in northern Syria and northern Iraq without proper coordination with the US and coalition,” Capt. Danny Hernandez said. “No more details will be provided in order to keep the discussions private.”
Turkey remains a strategic ally of the US and a vital partner in the fight against violent extremist organizations, added Hernandez, who is based in Stuttgart, home of the US European Command.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said the partners had been informed through both military and diplomatic channels.
Russia has also criticized the airstrikes, which it said violated fundamental principles of intergovernmental relations.
The airstrikes are part of Turkey’s widening campaign against groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey for Kurdish autonomy and are also fighting in Syria and Iraq.
On Tuesday of last week, Turkish planes bombed Kurdish targets in Iraq’s Sinjar region and northeast Syria, killing about 70 militants, according to a Turkish military statement.
The airstrikes in Syria targeted the YPG, a key component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are backed by the US and have been closing in on Daesh’s bastion of Raqqa.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said after those strikes that Washington had expressed its concerns to the government of Turkey, saying they “were not approved by the coalition and had led to the unfortunate loss of life of our partner forces” in the fight against Daesh.
Turkish warplanes then hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq the following day, killing six militants, the Turkish military said.
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US general told Turkey of concerns about airstrikes in Syria, Iraq
US general told Turkey of concerns about airstrikes in Syria, Iraq
Security officer arrested over Syria killings: official
DAMASCUS: Syria’s authorities have arrested an internal security officer as a suspect in the killing of four civilians in the majority-Druze Sweida province, the local internal security chief said.
Four people were shot dead and a fifth seriously wounded in the incident on Saturday, in the village of Al-Matana, said Hossam Al-Tahan, the state news agency SANA reported.
The initial investigation, carried out with the help of one of the survivors of the attack, indicated that one suspect was a member of the local Internal Security Directorate, he said.
“The officer was immediately detained and referred for investigation,” he added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that four people were killed and a fifth wounded by gunfire from unknown assailants as they were harvesting olives.
The authorities had cleared the olive pickers to be in the northern part of the province controlled by government forces, it added.
Sweida province is the stronghold of the Druze minority in the south of the country.
Violence erupted there briefly in July last year, with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin that rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces and tribal fighters from other parts of Syria.
Syrian authorities have said their forces intervened to stop the clashes, but witnesses, Druze factions and the London-based Observatory have accused them of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses against the Druze.
Although a ceasefire was reached later that month, the situation remained tense and access to Sweida difficult.
Residents accuse the government of having imposed a blockade on the province, from which tens of thousands of inhabitants have fled — a charge Damascus denies.
Several aid convoys have entered since then.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 185,000 people remain uprooted.
Four people were shot dead and a fifth seriously wounded in the incident on Saturday, in the village of Al-Matana, said Hossam Al-Tahan, the state news agency SANA reported.
The initial investigation, carried out with the help of one of the survivors of the attack, indicated that one suspect was a member of the local Internal Security Directorate, he said.
“The officer was immediately detained and referred for investigation,” he added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that four people were killed and a fifth wounded by gunfire from unknown assailants as they were harvesting olives.
The authorities had cleared the olive pickers to be in the northern part of the province controlled by government forces, it added.
Sweida province is the stronghold of the Druze minority in the south of the country.
Violence erupted there briefly in July last year, with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin that rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces and tribal fighters from other parts of Syria.
Syrian authorities have said their forces intervened to stop the clashes, but witnesses, Druze factions and the London-based Observatory have accused them of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses against the Druze.
Although a ceasefire was reached later that month, the situation remained tense and access to Sweida difficult.
Residents accuse the government of having imposed a blockade on the province, from which tens of thousands of inhabitants have fled — a charge Damascus denies.
Several aid convoys have entered since then.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 185,000 people remain uprooted.
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