Ras al Ayn, Syria (AP Photo)

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12 October 2019

Turkey is using jihadist groups openly linked to the al Qaeda terrorist organization to wage war on Kurdish forces in Syrian Northeast. To prove it is the same group that calls itself Ahrar al Sharqiya which today claims to be part of the Syrian National Army (NSA), a jumble of Syrian rebel brigades created by Ankara no later than two months ago probably because it already had a sort of green light for the attack of these days from Moscow, if not even from Washington. Just today, Ahrar Al Sharqiya announced through his military commander quoted by the newspaper al Quds al Arabi, that his group managed to take control of the town at Irtwaziyah (about 80 kilometers north of Raqqa in northeastern Syria) which it is located on the Aleppo-Qamishli highway, effectively cutting off the same highway and the supplies of SDF (Kurdish forces) from the Haska governorate side ".

It is a group of armed Syrian rebels from the Governorate of Deir Ezzour, of Islamist ideology. Founded by some exiles of the former Syrian branch of al Qaida, Al Nusra Front, including Abu Maria Al Qahtani, the group was also accused of a close alliance with the so-called Islamic State.

In view of the operation Peace Source launched on Wednesday by Turkish President Erdogan, it is the Kurdish fighters of SDF and Ypg who are considered terrorists; or the same fighters who in five years of war and supported by Washington managed to defeat the cutthroats of the Islamic State.

Turkey announces the conquest of Ras Ain, but the Kurds deny it
Turkish forces claimed they had taken control of the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain, which was at the center of operations against Kurdish militants. "Following successful operations in the Peace Spring operation, the urban area of ​​Ras al-Ain east of the Euphrates was taken over," the Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Twitter. The Turkish offensive in the north-east of Syria it penetrated up to 8 km from the Tal Abyd side and 4 km from the Ras al Ayn side, the two frontier locations from which the Ankara incursion started on Wednesday. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said so. The declared goal of Turkey is to create a buffer zone at least 30 km deep.

The Kurdish authorities, however, deny the announcement of the Turkish Ministry of Defense. "Ras Al-Ain is still resisting and the fighting is ongoing," said an official of the Kurdish-led democratic Syrian forces, the international media said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights itself states that the city, the main target of the Turkish offensive, has not been completely conquered.

In all 16 civilian deaths in Turkey
With the death of one of the wounded in artillery exchanges between the Turkish army and Kurdish militias Ypg occurred yesterday, the death toll of civilian casualties in Turkey rose to 16. The heaviest budget concerns the Turkish city of Nusaybin, in the province of Mardin, on the border with the Syrian province of Qamishli, hit by the artillery in the past two days, which left 9 dead and 33 wounded yesterday and three others dead last 10 October (a mother and two daughters). Nusaybin is a city in southern Turkey on the border with Syria, overwhelmingly Kurdish.

ISIS claims the first attack
Worry about foreign fighters. The attack carried out yesterday with a car bomb in the city of Qamishli was claimed by ISIS, according to which the explosion caused "dozens" of victims. The Site, the website for monitoring online jihadism, reports this. Qamishli is located in the area under Kurdish control in northern Syria, to the east of the area where Turkey began its military operation. In the same area there is a prison hit by a Turkish raid, from which, according to local authorities, 5 ISIS jihadists would have fled.

The UN: at least 100 thousand people on the run
In Syria, since the beginning of the Turkish offensive, there have been at least 100 thousand displaced persons. The UN underlines this.

The reactions
Trump-Erdogan clash on the attack on the Kurds in Syria. 'Stop the war,' warns the US president. 'Forward despite the threats', the reply.

US and Europe ready for sanctions against Ankara. 'Europe lacking a substantial foreign political influence'. Conte: 'Ankara stops, the EU does not accept it'