BEIRUT: A powerful Syrian Kurdish militia announced on Sunday it had cleared Daesh group fighters from key territory east of the winding Euphrates River.
In a surprising announcement, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) also said the victory in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province came with logistical and air support from Russia, as well as the US-led coalition, its traditional backer.
The YPG was spearheading a US-backed offensive to oust Daesh from territory east of the Euphrates River, which cuts diagonally across Deir Ezzor, while rival Russian-backed Syrian troops battled Daesh on the western bank.
It appears to the first time Syria’s Kurds acknowledge receiving direct Russian support.
On Sunday, YPG officials met with a Russian military delegation in a town on the eastern bank of Deir Ezzor province, according to the Kurdish-run ANHA news agency.
“The eastern countryside of the city has been fully liberated from Islamic State... with the international coalition and Russia’s support,” YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmoud said in a statement referring to Daesh.
“We thank the international coalition and the Russian forces for their air, logistical, advisory support and coordination on the ground.”
Mahmoud said the YPG “hoped for an increase in support and the provision of air defense and required cover.”
Daesh jihadists once held most of oil-rich Deir Ezzor, but now control only a tiny sliver of the province, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.
On Sunday, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Daesh still held several villages in the province, on both banks of the Euphrates River.
The YPG formed the bulk of the Syrian Democratic Forces, an Arab-Kurdish alliance that ousted Daesh from swathes of northern and eastern Syria, with help from the US-led coalition.
In September, the SDF began its assault on Daesh positions in the eastern half of Deir Ezzor province, as Russian-backed government troops squeezed Daesh in the western half.
The SDF accused Moscow of striking its forces several times during the drive, which makes Sunday’s announcement of Russian support all the more surprising.
Last week, the White House said it would be making “adjustments” to its military support of militia in Syria.
The US-led coalition has provided air support, weapons, and advice to the YPG and SDF in their push against Daesh.
Kurds announce Daesh losses in east Syria with US, Russia help
Kurds announce Daesh losses in east Syria with US, Russia help
UNESCO fears for fate of historical sites during Iran war
- “UNESCO is deeply concerned by the first impact that the hostilities are already having on many world heritage sites,” Assomo said
- Tehran’s Golestan palace, damaged in US–Israeli strikes, is testimony to the grandeur of Iran’s civilization in the 19th century
PARIS: UNESCO said it is deeply concerned about the fate of world heritage sites in Iran and across the region, after Tehran’s Golestan palace, often compared to Versailles, and a historic mosque and palace in Isfahan were damaged in the war.
The United Nations’ cultural agency on Wednesday urged all parties to protect the region’s outstanding cultural sites, saying four of Iran’s 29 world heritage sites had been damaged since the start of the US and Israeli war with Iran.
“UNESCO is deeply concerned by the first impact that the hostilities are already having on many world heritage sites,” Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the World Heritage Center, told Reuters, adding he was also concerned for sites in Israel, Lebanon and across the Middle East.
Tehran’s Golestan palace, damaged in US–Israeli strikes, is testimony to the grandeur of Iran’s civilization in the 19th century, he said.
The palace was chosen as the Persian royal residence and seat of power by the Qajar family and shows the introduction of European styles in Persian arts, according to the UNESCO website. The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, held a coronation ceremony there in 1969.
“We sometimes even compare it with the Versailles Palace in France, for instance, and it has suffered, unfortunately, some damage. We don’t know the extent for the moment. But clearly, with the images that we have been able to receive, we can confirm ... it has been affected,” Eloundou Assomo said.
Photos of the interior of the palace have shown piles of smashed glass and shards of wood on the floor, and shattered woodwork.
Isfahan was one of Central Asia’s most important cities and a key point on the Silk Road trading route. Its Masjed-e Jame (Jameh Mosque) is more than 1,000 years old and shows the development of Islamic art through 12 centuries.
Buildings close to the buffer zone of the prehistoric sites of the Khorramabad Valley have also been damaged, UNESCO said.
UNESCO has shared coordinates of key cultural sites to all parties, Eloundou Assomo said, and was monitoring damage.
“We are calling for the protection of all sites of cultural significance ... everything that tells the history of all the civilizations of the 18 countries in the region,” he said.
