MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday voiced concern and urged restraint over a new Turkish operation to oust Kurdish militia from a northern Syrian enclave, with Moscow responding by withdrawing its troops from the zone in question.
“Moscow is concerned at this news. We call on the opposing parties to show restraint,” the foreign ministry said after the launch of an operation which has also drawn US warnings.
The Turkish incursion prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the issue with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Lavrov’s ministry said.
They discussed “measures to take aimed at securing stability in the north of the country,” it said on Facebook and agreed .
Moscow said the conversation was a US initiative.
The Russian defense ministry said its troops were withdrawing from around Afrin “to prevent potential provocation and exclude the threat to the life and wellbeing of Russian military” after Ankara launched a new air and ground operation to oust People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia.
Turkey deems the group a terror organization.
Reacting to the offensive, the Russian military criticized Washington for having “provoked an extremely negative reaction from Ankara” with “uncontrollable arms deliveries” to the US-backed rebel group.
Ankara had over recent days expressed fury over a US plan to train a 30,000-strong body of local fighters, including the YPG, as a “border security force.”
Pentagon officials backtracked midweek, insisting the force will operate within Syria to protect areas liberated from Islamic State after Turkish foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned of “irreversible damage” to Turkish-US relations.
A Russian army statement blasted what it termed “irresponsible acts on the part of the Americans in Syria (which) threaten to undermine the process of a peaceful resolution” of the conflict.
A defense ministry statement said Russia seeks a resolution “based on territorial integrity and respect for the country’s sovereignty.”
Following a partial December withdrawal of its troops from Syria, where Russia intervened on behalf of the regime in September 2015, “the main objective of Russian forces remaining in the country is to ensure respect of the truce in de-escalation zones,” the ministry said.
Moreover, a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament’s security committee said Saturday Moscow will support Syria diplomatically and will demand in the United Nations that Turkey halt its military operation in Syria’s Afrin.
“It is not only Syria that will demand this operation to stop. Russia will support this demand as well and will provide Syria with diplomatic assistance,” RIA quoted Franz Klintsevich as saying.
Russia voices concern over Turkey operation in Syria
Russia voices concern over Turkey operation in Syria
Death toll in Iran protests over 3,000, rights group says
- The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule
- President Donald Trump, who had threatened ‘very strong action’ if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings
DUBAI: More than 3,000 people have died in Iran’s nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a “very slight rise” in Internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.
The US-based HRANA group said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, after residents said the crackdown appeared to have broadly quelled protests for now and state media reported more arrests.
The capital Tehran has been comparatively quiet for four days, said several residents reached by Reuters. Drones were flying over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday, said the residents, who asked not to be identified for their safety.
A resident of a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets there also appeared calm.
The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic, culminating in mass violence late last week. According to opposition groups and an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Metrics show a very slight rise in Internet connectivity in #Iran this morning” after 200 hours of shutdown, the Internet monitoring group NetBlocks posted on X. Connectivity remained around 2 percent of ordinary levels, it said.
A few Iranians overseas said on social media that they had been able to message users living inside Iran early on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump, who had threatened “very strong action” if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been canceled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” he posted on social media.
Iran had not announced plans for such executions or said it had canceled them.
Indian students and pilgrims returning from Iran said they were largely confined to their accommodations while in the country, unable to communicate with their families back home.
“We only heard stories of violent protests, and one man jumped in front of our car holding a burning baton, shouting something in the local language, with anger visible in his eyes,” said Z Syeda, a third-year medical student at a university in Tehran.
India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Friday that commercial flights were available and that New Delhi would take steps to secure the safety and welfare of Indian nationals.
