• Tweeter

  • republish

In Ras al-Ain, a woman and her children flee the bombing of the Turkish army on 9 October. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

The outbreak of the offensive has been strongly condemned by several countries fearing chaos that could pave the way for a comeback of the group EI, and which raises uncertainty about the fate of jihadist prisoners of the YPG. President Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has called on European countries to " take back " their citizens who have joined the IS and are now held by Kurdish forces.

Paris has " very firmly " condemned the Turkish incursion. The French Minister of Armies on Wednesday called for a halt to the Turkish offensive that she considered dangerous for Kurdish security, " because it is conducive to Daesh, against which we have been fighting for 5 years. She must stop . " France has therefore seized the UN Security Council that will meet tomorrow [Thursday, ed]," added Florence Parly. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker demanded an end to the offensive, while Germany said the operation was likely to " provoke a resurgence " of the IS.

In the United States, a heavyweight of Republicans and close to Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, strongly denounced the operation of Ankara. " Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamefully abandoned, " he wrote on Twitter. " I will lead the efforts to Congress for Erdogan to pay dearly. " The US president, who announced Sunday the withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria, said on Wednesday that the Turkish offensive was "a bad idea ".

Before the outbreak of the offensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin had called Recep Erdogan to " think carefully ." Egypt, for its part, condemned an " unacceptable attack ".

Amnesty International pointed out that " both Turkish and Kurdish forces " had " in the past carried out indiscriminate attacks in Syria " having " claimed many victims among civilians ". The NGO urged to ensure that " this does not happen again ".

The power of Bashar al-Assad has pledged to " thwart any aggression " of Turkey, saying it is ready to " welcome into its lap " the Kurdish minority.

Long marginalized and victims of discrimination by the central government, the Kurds have managed to establish de facto autonomy in the conflict that has ravaged Syria since 2011. At least 18,000 Syrian fighters supplementers Ankara were mobilized to participate in the offensive, said Wednesday one of their spokesmen. These fighters belong to factions grouped within the Syrian National Army (ANS), a coalition of armed groups, funded and trained by Ankara.