BEIRUT: A US official in Syria on Friday called for an “immediate de-escalation” following days of deadly airstrikes and shelling along the Syria-Turkiye border, saying the actions destabilize the region and undermine the fight against the Daesh group.
Turkiye this week launched a wave of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish rebels hiding in neighboring Syria and Iraq, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the Kurdish groups.
The groups have denied involvement in the bombing and say the Turkish strikes have killed civilians and threatened the anti-Daesh fight.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said that 67 civilians, gunmen and soldiers, have been killed in Turkish attacks in northern Syria since the airstrikes began.
Nikolas Granger, the US senior representative to northeastern Syria, said Washington “strongly opposes military action that further destabilizes the lives of communities and families in Syria and we want immediate de-escalation.”
The developments are “unacceptably dangerous and we are deeply concerned,” said Granger, who is currently in Syria, and added that the strikes also endanger US military personnel there.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened a new land invasion of northern Syria targeting Kurdish groups. On Friday, he said Turkiye would continue its “struggle against all kinds of terror inside and outside our borders.”
Turkiye and the United States both consider the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a terror group for the decadeslong insurgency and attacks the group has staged within Turkiye’s borders.
But they disagree on the status of the main Kurdish militia in Syria, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG. The Syrian Kurdish group has been a key US ally in the fight against Daesh.
Turkiye has carried out three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016 and its forces still control part of the country.
Kurdish officials in Syria have been warning that any new Turkish incursion would disrupt the fight against Daesh, which still has sleeper cells and has carried out deadly attacks in recent months against the Syrian Kurdish-led opposition forces as well as Syrian government forces.
“We take these threats seriously and prepare to confront any ground attacks,” Siamand Ali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces told The Associated Press.
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US official urges ‘de-escalation’ as Turkiye strikes Syria
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US official urges ‘de-escalation’ as Turkiye strikes Syria
- Turkiye this week launched a wave of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish rebels hiding in neighboring Syria and Iraq
- The developments are “unacceptably dangerous and we are deeply concerned,” said Granger
UN delivers vital aid to Sudan’s Kordofan: WFP
- Life-saving aid from several UN agencies reaches 130,000 people in Dilling and Kadugli
- The famine-hit South Kordofan state capital Kadugli had endured a punishing RSF siege
CAIRO: A convoy of life-saving aid from several UN agencies has reached two cut-off cities in Sudan’s Kordofan region, currently the fiercest frontline in the nearly three-year war.
“This marks the first major delivery of assistance to the area in three months,” the World Food Programme said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said 26 trucks had delivered essential supplies including medicine and food for more than 130,000 people in Dilling and Kadugli.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a bitter struggle for control of the country.
The famine-hit South Kordofan state capital Kadugli had endured a punishing RSF siege for much of the conflict, before the army broke the blockade this month.
Nearby Dilling, where the army also recently broke an RSF siege, is believed to be experiencing similar famine conditions.
The cities had come to exemplify the violence in Kordofan, where hundreds of thousands face starvation under daily drone strikes.
Dilling lies halfway between Kadugli and North Kordofan capital, El-Obeid.
Violent clashes and ongoing insecurity along the main route linking the three cities had “forced the convoy to halt for more than 40 days,” the WFP said.
The trucks reached Dilling by taking “a longer and more difficult off-road passage,” it added.
“Routes must stay open and predictable so vital assistance can reach people without interruption, including communities that have been cut off for far too long,” said Makena Walker, acting country director for WFP in Sudan.
Since seizing El-Fasher — the army’s last stronghold in western Darfur — last October, the RSF have pushed eastward into oil-rich Kordofan.
The vast agricultural region lies between RSF-controlled Darfur in the west and army-held areas in the north, east and center.
The nearly three-year war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
With truce talks deadlocked for months, the UN has repeatedly urged warring parties to respect international humanitarian law and allow access for aid.
“This marks the first major delivery of assistance to the area in three months,” the World Food Programme said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said 26 trucks had delivered essential supplies including medicine and food for more than 130,000 people in Dilling and Kadugli.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a bitter struggle for control of the country.
The famine-hit South Kordofan state capital Kadugli had endured a punishing RSF siege for much of the conflict, before the army broke the blockade this month.
Nearby Dilling, where the army also recently broke an RSF siege, is believed to be experiencing similar famine conditions.
The cities had come to exemplify the violence in Kordofan, where hundreds of thousands face starvation under daily drone strikes.
Dilling lies halfway between Kadugli and North Kordofan capital, El-Obeid.
Violent clashes and ongoing insecurity along the main route linking the three cities had “forced the convoy to halt for more than 40 days,” the WFP said.
The trucks reached Dilling by taking “a longer and more difficult off-road passage,” it added.
“Routes must stay open and predictable so vital assistance can reach people without interruption, including communities that have been cut off for far too long,” said Makena Walker, acting country director for WFP in Sudan.
Since seizing El-Fasher — the army’s last stronghold in western Darfur — last October, the RSF have pushed eastward into oil-rich Kordofan.
The vast agricultural region lies between RSF-controlled Darfur in the west and army-held areas in the north, east and center.
The nearly three-year war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
With truce talks deadlocked for months, the UN has repeatedly urged warring parties to respect international humanitarian law and allow access for aid.
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