ANKARA: A Turkish military operation in the Kurdish-held northwestern Syrian district of Afrin, on the Turkish border, looks to be imminent.
The Turkish Army began shelling positions held by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) from a border post in the southern province of Hatay on Saturday.
The offense came just an hour after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted at an upcoming Afrin operation.
“If terrorists in Afrin do not withdraw, Turkey will destroy the province. Within a week, they’ll see what we’re up to,” Erdogan said during a speech in the eastern province of Elazig.
In recent months, Erdogan has used lyrics from an old Turkish song to warn Syrian Kurds that Turkey’s forces “might come suddenly one night.” Turkey’s recently established observation posts in the de-escalation zone in Idlib also overlook Afrin.
Ankara hopes to prevent the Syrian Kurdish PYD, which it regards as a terrorist organization closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), from carving out a “terror corridor” up to the Mediterranean.
But a military operation poses considerable risk to regional dynamics, something Turkey must surely take into consideration ahead of the upcoming Sochi Congress on Jan. 29 and 30.
Any such operation is likely to require the consent of Russia, the main sponsor of the Sochi talks, which currently has an observation force in Afrin, and controls the district’s air space.
Sinan Hatahet, an expert on Syria at Al Sharq Forum in Istanbul, said Turkey does not care whether Arabs or Kurds control Afrin, as long as whoever is in charge prevents the PYD from establishing a sustainable presence there.
“Nevertheless, the best outcome Ankara could achieve at this stage is the withdrawal of PYD and (Kurdish-backed militia) YPG to the east of the Euphrates Valley, even it means (Syrian President Bashar) Assad regains control of Afrin,” Hatahet told Arab News.
“The PYD in Afrin is surrounded from the west, north and east by Turkey and equally hostile mainstream opposition forces, but has been able to survive through a regime-controlled route from its south to Aleppo. The PYD have not been able to control Afrin thus far, without the tacit complicity of Damascus,” he added.
But the situation that led to that complicity is changing, he explained: “In 2012, the Syrian Army was under constant attack from the opposition and needed to redeploy its forces near the main areas of strategic interest. Six years later, the Syrian government feels it has won the war, and it is no longer in a situation to tolerate the PYD outside its comfort zone.”
Oytun Orhan, a Syria expert from Ankara think tank ORSAM, said the Turkey’s military activity in the region should be seen from two angles.
“If Moscow didn’t give a green light, it means Turkey wants to take the initiative, without waiting for consent from Russia, regardless of the risks,” Orhan told Arab News. “Such a move will increase the pressure on Russia to conduct a coordinated operation in Afrin.”
According to Orhan, any ground operation in Afrin, without the consent of Russia, may be targeted by regime forces or by Iran-backed militias, as was the case in the offensive on Al-Bab when three Turkish soldiers were killed by regime airstrikes.
“In this case, the YPG may be covertly provided with weapons to protect itself,” he said.
If Turkey does proceed without Russia’s consent, Orhan suggested it could be seen as a show of strength to Russia, sparked by the disagreement between Moscow and Ankara over the participation of the PYD at Sochi.
But Orhan also underlined that the recent drone attacks on Russian military bases in Syria, which Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday were “a provocation” intended to damage relations between Turkey and Russia may have had the opposite effect.
“Following the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, Turkey and Russia cooperated further to investigate the case, and they also accelerated that cooperation under the Astana process,” Orhan said. “The same may happen after this drone attack.”
Mete Sohtaoglu, an Istanbul-based Middle East researcher, thinks the aim of any Turkish military operation would be the blockage of a logistical entry point in the east of Afrin, and control of the area around the northwestern city of Tel Rifaat, to cut off the terrorists’ weapons supply.
“Turkey is planning to increase its military presence in Syria, with the goal of ensuring a Syria without Assad,” he told Arab News. “Ankara and Moscow evaluate the dynamics of Afrin and Idlib separately.”
Sohtaoglu also anticipates that control of Afrin may be transferred to Assad’s regime before Turkey has the chance to launch any military operation.
Hatahet, for one, thinks it is too early to judge the potential impact of such an operation on the Astana or Sochi peace initiatives, sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran.
“There are many reasons why some may wish to undermine the solidity of this untraditional association and partnership,” he said. “Meanwhile there is a genuine co-dependency that exists between the three states in regards to stabilization in Syria. None of them can achieve its goals in Syria on its own.”
Turkish military preps for new Afrin operation in Syria
Turkish military preps for new Afrin operation in Syria
Israel hospital says woman killed in stabbing attack in coastal city
- Israel’s police said the suspected attacker had been arrested
“She was brought to the hospital with multiple stab wounds while undergoing resuscitation efforts, but the hospital staff was forced to pronounce her death upon arrival,” Tel Aviv Ichilov hospital said in a statement. Israel’s police said the suspected attacker had been arrested.
Yemen Houthis claim missile attack on Tel Aviv airport: statement
- Houthis also launched drones at Tel Aviv and a ship in the Arabian Sea
SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Friday claimed a strike against the airport in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv on Friday, after Israeli air strikes hit rebel-held Sanaa’s international airport and other targets in Yemen.
The Israeli strikes on Thursday landed as the head of the UN’s World Health Organization said he and his team were preparing to fly out from Yemen’s Houthi rebel-held capital.
Hours later on Friday, the Houthis said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport and launched drones at Tel Aviv as well as a ship in the Arabian Sea.
No other details were immediately available.
Yemen’s civil aviation authority said the airport planned to reopen on Friday after the strikes that it said occurred while the UN aircraft “was getting ready for its scheduled flight.”
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they knew at the time that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was there. Israel’s attack came a day after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed the firing of a missile and two drones at Israel.
Yemen’s Houthis have stepped up their attacks against Israel since late November when a ceasefire took effect between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Houthis Al-Masirah TV said the Israeli strikes killed six people, after earlier Houthi statements said two people died at the rebel-held capital’s airport, and another at Ras Issa port.
The strikes targeting the airport, military facilities and power stations in rebel areas marked the second time since December 19 that Israel has hit targets in Yemen after rebel missile fire toward Israel.
In his latest warning to the rebels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “continue until the job is done.”
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.
UN chief condemns ‘escalation’ between Yemen’s Houthis and Israel
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls Israeli strikes on Sanaa airport ‘especially alarming’
NEW YORK: The UN chief on Thursday denounced the “escalation” in hostilities between Yemen’s Houthi militias and Israel, terming strikes on the Sanaa airport “especially alarming.”
“The Secretary-General condemns the escalation between Yemen and Israel. Israeli airstrikes today on Sana’a International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming,” said a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.
Israeli air strikes pummeled Sanaa’s international airport and other targets in Yemen on Thursday, with Houthi militia media reporting six deaths.
The attack came a day after the Houthis fired a missile and two drones at Israel.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media he was at the airport during the strike, with the UN saying that a member of its air crew was injured.
The United Nations put the death toll from the airport strikes at three, with “dozens more injured.”
UN chief Guterres expressed particular alarm at the threat that bombing transportation infrastructure posed to humanitarian aid operations in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population is dependent on aid.
“The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region and reiterates his call for all parties concerned to cease all military actions and exercise utmost restraint,” he said.
“He also warns that airstrikes on Red Sea ports and Sana’a airport pose grave risks to humanitarian operations at a time when millions of people are in need of life-saving assistance.”
The UN chief condemned the Houthi militias for “a year of escalatory actions... in the Red Sea and the region that threaten civilians, regional stability and freedom of maritime navigation.”
The Houthis are part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” alliance against Israel.
Bodies of about 100 Kurdish women, children found in Iraq mass grave
TAL AL-SHAIKHIA, Iraq: Iraqi authorities are working to exhume the remains of around 100 Kurdish women and children thought to have been killed in the 1980s under former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, three officials said.
The grave was discovered in Tal Al-Shaikhia in the Muthanna province in southern Iraq, about 15-20 kilometers (10-12 miles) from the main road there, an AFP journalist said.
Specialized teams began exhuming the grave earlier this month after it was initially discovered in 2019, said Diaa Karim, the head of the Iraqi authority for mass graves, adding that it is the second such grave to be uncovered at the site.
“After removing the first layer of soil and the remains appearing clearly, it was discovered that they all belonged to women and children dressed in Kurdish springtime clothes,” Karim told AFP on Wednesday.
He added that they likely came from Kalar in the northern Sulaimaniyah province, part of what is now Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, estimating that there were “no less than 100” people buried in the grave.
Efforts to exhume all the bodies are ongoing, he said, adding that the numbers could change.
Following Iraq’s deadly war with Iran in the 1980s, Saddam’s government carried out the ruthless “Anfal Operation” between 1987 and 1988 in which it is thought to have killed around 180,000 Kurds.
Saddam was toppled in 2003 following a US-led invasion of Iraq and was hanged three years later, putting an end to Iraqi proceedings against him on charges of genocide over the Anfal campaign.
Karim said a large number of the victims found in the grave “were executed here with live shots to the head fired at short range.”
He suggested some of them may have been “buried alive” as there was no evidence of bullets in their remains.
Ahmed Qusai, the head of the excavation team for mass graves in Iraq, meanwhile pointed to “difficulties we are facing at this grave because the remains have become entangled as some of the mothers were holding their infants” when they were killed.
Durgham Kamel, part of the authority for exhuming mass graves, said another mass grave was found at the same time that they began exhuming the one at Tal Al-Shaikhia.
He said the burial site was located near the notorious Nugrat Al-Salman prison where Saddam’s authorities held dissidents.
The Iraqi government estimates that about 1.3 million people disappeared between 1980 and 1990 as a result of atrocities and other rights violations committed under Saddam.
Brother of suspected ‘terrorist’ stabs Tunisia National Guard officer
TUNIS: The brother of a suspected “terrorist” on Thursday stabbed a Tunisian National Guard officer in the eastern Monastir governorate, a judicial source told AFP.
Earlier in the day, a National Guard unit attempted to arrest the suspect — accused by authorities of being a member of a “terrorist group” — at his home, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
During the arrest operation, his brother attacked the officer, the source added.
The source said the officer was hospitalized following the stabbing in his abdomen and was recovering after undergoing surgery.
An investigation was opened by the judicial division combatting terrorism, the source added.
Neither of the brothers, both of whom were taken into police custody, have been named, and the Tunisian interior ministry did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Tunisia saw a surge in jihadist groups after the 2011 revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Attacks claimed by jihadists in recent years have killed dozens of soldiers and police officers, as well as some civilians and foreign tourists.
Jihadist attacks in Sousse and the capital Tunis in 2015 killed dozens of tourists and police, but authorities say they have since made significant progress against extremism.
