Turkey bombards Syrian Kurdish militia, thousands flee as death toll mounts - Reuters

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes and artillery hit Kurdish militia targets in northeast Syria on the third day of an offensive that has killed hundreds of people, forced tens of thousands to flee and turned Washington’s establishment against President Donald Trump.

Since Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the way following a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the incursion has opened a major new front in the eight-year-old Syrian civil war and drawn fierce criticism internationally.

“We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!” Trump said in a Twitter post on Thursday.

“I hope we can mediate,” Trump said when asked about the options by reporters at the White House.

Without elaborating, Trump said the United States was “going to possibly do something very, very tough with respect to sanctions and other financial things” against Turkey.

On Friday morning, Turkish jets and artillery struck around Syria’s Ras al Ain, one of two border towns that have been the focus of the offensive. Gunfire could also be heard inside the town, said a Reuters journalist in Ceylanpinar, on the Turkish side of the border.

He said a convoy of 20 armored vehicles carrying Syrian rebels entered Syria from Ceylanpinar on Friday. Some of them made victory signs, shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) and waved Syrian rebel flags as they advanced towards Ras al Ain.

Some 120 km (75 miles) west, Turkish howitzers resumed shelling near the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, a witness said.

Turkey’s Defence Ministry said that in overnight operations the Turkish military and its Syrian rebel allies killed 49 Kurdish militants. It says it has killed 277 militants in total.

The ministry said one Turkish soldier was killed in a clash on Thursday during the offensive, which is targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish YPG militia.

Kurds said they were resisting the assault. At least 23 fighters with the SDF and six fighters with a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group had been killed, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war.

NATO member Turkey says the operation is necessary for border security against the YPG militia, which it designates a terrorist group because of ties to militants who have waged a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

Ankara has also said it intends to create a “safe zone” for the return of millions of refugees to Syria.

ISLAMIC STATE CAPTIVES

The SDF have been the main allies of U.S. forces on the ground in the battle against Islamic State since 2014. They have been holding thousands of captured IS fighters in prisons and tens of thousands of their relatives in detention.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for an emergency meeting of the coalition of more than 30 countries created to fight Islamic State.

Members of Syrian National Army, known as Free Syrian Army, drive in an armored vehicle in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, October 11, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

SDF forces were still in control of all prisons with Islamic State captives, a senior U.S. State Department official said in a briefing with reporters on Thursday.

The United States has received a high-level commitment from Turkey on taking responsibility for Islamic State captives but had not yet had detailed discussions, the official said.

U.S. lawmakers have said Trump gave Erdogan the green light to go into Syria but the official disputed that. “We gave them a very clear red light, I’ve been involved in those red lights and I know the president did that on Sunday,” the official said.

The SDF said Turkish air strikes and shelling had killed nine civilians. In apparent retaliation by Kurdish-led forces, six people including a 9-month-old baby were killed by mortar fire into Turkish towns, Turkish officials said.

The International Rescue Committee aid group said 64,000 people in Syria have fled since the campaign began. The towns of Ras al Ain and Darbasiya, some 60 km (37 miles) to the east, were largely deserted.

The Observatory said Turkish forces seized two villages near Ras al Ain and five near Tel Abyad. A Syrian rebel forces spokesman said the towns were surrounded after fighters seized the villages around them.

Trump has faced rare criticism from senior figures in his Republican Party who accuse him of deserting U.S. allies.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who usually backs Trump, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the U.S. troop withdrawal. He unveiled a framework for sanctions on Turkey with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey would retaliate against any measure taken against it.

Slideshow (11 Images)

(Graphic: Where Kurds live, here)

Reporting by Daren Butler and Orhan Coskun; Additional reporting by Tom Perry and Ellen Francis in Beirut and Reuters correspondents in the region, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Jeff Mason and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Writing by William Maclean and Grant McCool; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-10-11 07:00:00Z
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Turkish forces push deeper into Syria as Kurds fight back - The Washington Post

ISTANBUL — Turkish forces advanced deeper into northeast Syria as part of a campaign to oust Kurdish fighters from the area, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Thursday, expanding an offensive that has drawn a sharp rebuke from the international community.

The operation, including air and ground forces, targeted villages along the border with Syria and “continued successfully” early Thursday, the second day of the offensive, the ministry said in a statement. Turkey says it aims to create a “safe zone” in northeast Syria, where Kurdish-led forces are in control, but critics fear it could plunge the region into a fresh crisis.

Kurdish officials pushed back against claims of a Turkish advance, saying their fighters had repelled a ground incursion near the town of Tel Abyad overnight.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which partnered with U.S. troops to battle the Islamic State in Syria, said Thursday that Turkish shelling had targeted a prison holding some of the jihadist group’s fighters in the northeastern city of Qamishli. Thousands of Islamic State prisoners and their families are being held in camps and jails administered by Syrian Kurdish authorities. 

In a separate statement on Twitter, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said that Turkey’s military hit a civilian convoy also near Tel Abyad, about a quarter-mile from the Turkish frontier, killing three.

Turkey views the Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decade-long battle in southeastern Turkey for greater autonomy. It launched its long-expected offensive targeting the SDF in northeastern Syria Wednesday, with airstrikes and shelling targeting its outposts along the border. 

[Turkey wants a Syrian ‘safe zone.’ Others fear a ‘death trap.’]

Mortar fire from Syria landed in at least two Turkish towns, Turkish media reported.

The Turkish foray threatens to further fracture a war-shattered Syria, which has been devastated by a years-long conflict. 

Mikael Mohammad, a shop owner from Tel Abyad, fled the town with his family Wednesday and slept in the open air in the countryside, he said. 

“I had to leave with only the clothes I had on me,” he said in a telephone interview. “I immediately got in the car, picked up my family and drove. . . away from the border.”  

“Everything I rebuilt in the last few years, I may have just lost again,” Mohammad said. “The shelling is barbaric and indiscriminate.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group, said that 16 SDF fighters had been killed since the operation began Wednesday, including in Ras al-Ayn, which is 75 miles east of Tel Abyad. 

Nawras, a resident of Ras al-Ayn, described a night of intense shelling. Air strikes resumed in the morning, he said, prompting him and his family to flee. 

“People are still leaving Ras al-Ayn as we speak,” said Nawras, an electrician. “I’m being told that the city is still being targeted and that we should not consider going back for now.”

The past weeks have seen a buildup of Turkish forces on the border, belligerent speeches by Turkish officials and dire warnings from Turkey’s NATO allies and others. 

[Furor over pulling troops from northeast Syria began with troubling Trump phone call and White House statement ]

President Trump called the Turkish offensive “a bad idea,” but also stood by his decision to pull back U.S. forces to effectively clear the way for Turkey.

“Turkey has committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place,” he added. “We will hold them to this commitment.”

The offensive has presented the Trump administration with a dilemma as it has sought to balance Washington’s partnership with Turkey and its links to the Syrian Kurdish forces that helped beat back the Islamic State. 

Erdogan’s government has watched nervously for years as Syria’s Kurds have built an autonomous enclave along Turkey’s border. It railed against the United States for relying on the Kurds as a military partner and bristled as its enemies accumulated weapons and territory.

For years, the United States and Turkey have been engaged in negotiations aimed at soothing Ankara’s security concerns.

There was also the risk that American troops still positioned in Syria could get caught in the crossfire. 

A U.S. official said the Trump administration had provided Turkey with a list of no-strike locations where U.S. personnel were stationed. 

             

            

Dadouch and Khattab reported from Beirut. 

      

Read more         

Syrian Kurds see American betrayal and warn fight against ISIS is now in doubt

 Syria camp is at risk of falling under ISIS control, Kurdish general says

            Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world            

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2019-10-10 13:49:00Z
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Turkey’s military assault in Syria leaves more than 100 Kurdish fighters dead, Erdogan says - Fox News

Turkey’s ongoing military assault in Syria has left more than 100 Kurdish forces dead, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed Thursday morning, a day after his troops launched airstrikes and unleashed artillery shelling on Syrian towns and villages along its border.

Information about the rising death toll came as Turkey's state-run news agency said Turkey-allied Syrian opposition fighters have "cleared of terror" two villages across the border in Syria — meaning there are no more Syrian Kurdish fighters in those villages. Turkey has long threatened to attack the Kurdish fighters whom Ankara considers terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey.

Erdogan told party officials Thursday that 109 "terrorists" have been killed so far in Operation Peace Spring — a reference to the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters. He did not elaborate, and the reports on the ground, according to the Associated Press, did not indicate anything remotely close to such a large number of casualties.

The Turkish leader also warned the European Union not to call Ankara's incursion into Syria an "invasion," and renewed his threat of "opening the gates" and letting Syrian refugees flood Europe.

Syrians flee shelling by Turkish forces in Ras al-Ayn, northeast Syria on Wednesday. (AP)

LINDSAY GRAHAM WARNS TRUMP ON SYRIA TROOP WITHDRAWAL: 'IT'D BE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF HIS PRESIDENCY'

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish commandos entered the village of Beir Asheq, near the town of Tal Abyad on Thursday morning.

Turkish forces began a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria on Wednesday under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling. The Turkish Defense Ministry said its jets and artillery struck 181 targets east of the Euphrates River since the incursion started — a mission aimed at creating a "safe zone" that would push Kurdish militia away from its border and eventually allow the repatriation of up to 2 million Syrian refugees.

The military operation was launched this week after President Trump made a heavily criticized decision to pull back U.S. troops in the area, paving the way for an assault.

The Kurds, who have been America's only allies in Syria in the fight against ISIS, stopped all their operations Thursday against the militants in order to focus on the advancing Turkish troops, Kurdish and U.S. officials said.

"The United States does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea," Trump said in a statement released by the White House. "Turkey has committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place—and we will hold them to this commitment."

MEMBER OF US SPECIAL FORCES IN SYRIA TELLS FOX NEWS 'I AM ASHAMED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY CAREER'

Trump later told reporters that he would employ "far more than sanctions" against Turkey if the country fails to act in the most "humane way" possible and that he hoped Erdogan would act rationally.

When asked what would happen if Erdogan wiped out the Kurds, Trump threatened to "wipe out" Turkey's economy, saying he'd done it once before.

Turkish soldiers stand at the border with Syria in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, on Thursday. (AP)

But Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C, warned Wednesday that if Trump follows through on his proposed troop withdrawal from Syria, it would be one of the biggest follies of his presidency and cause ISIS to reemerge in the region.

"I hope President Trump's right," Graham told 'Fox & Friends' on Wednesday. "I hope we can turn the fight against ISIS over to Turkey. I hope that Turkey, when they go into Syria, they won't slaughter the Kurds... If [Trump] follows through with this, it'd be the biggest mistake of his presidency."

2 ISIS-LINKED BRITISH CAPTIVES IN SYRIA TAKEN INTO US CUSTODY, OFFICIALS SAY

A member of U.S. Special Forces serving alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria also told Fox News Wednesday they are witnessing Turkish atrocities on the frontlines.

“I am ashamed for the first time in my career,” said the distraught soldier, who has been involved in the training of indigenous forces on multiple continents.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to his ruling party officials, in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday. (AP/Turkish Presidency Press Service)

The hardened service member is among the 1,000 or so U.S. troops who remain in Syria.

“Turkey is not doing what it agreed to. It’s horrible,” the military source on the ground said. “We met every single security agreement. The Kurds met every single agreement [with the Turks]. There was no threat to the Turks -- none -- from this side of the border."

CLICK HERE FOR THE ALL-NEW FOXBUSINESS.COM

Troops on the ground in Syria and their commanders were “surprised” by Trump's withdrawal decision Sunday night.

Of the president’s decision, the source said: “He doesn’t understand the problem. He doesn’t understand the repercussions of this. Erdogan is an Islamist, not a level-headed actor.”

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, Nick Givas, Danielle Wallace the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-10-10 12:33:23Z
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Turkey’s military assault in Syria leaves more than 100 Kurdish fighters dead, report says - Fox News

Turkey’s ongoing military assault in Syria has left more than 100 Kurdish forces dead, a report said Thursday morning, a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's troops launched airstrikes and unleashed artillery shelling on Syrian towns and villages the length of its border.

Information about the rising death toll came as Turkey's state-run news agency said Turkey-allied Syrian opposition fighters have "cleared of terror" two villages across the border in Syria -- meaning there are no more Syrian Kurdish fighters in those villages.

The Middle East Eye, quoting Erdoğan, reported that 109 Kurdish fighters have been killed so far in Operation Peace Spring.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish commandos entered the village of Beir Asheq, near the town of Tal Abyad on Thursday morning.

Turkish forces began a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria on Wednesday under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling.

Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria started after U.S. troops pulled back from the area, paving the way for the assault on Syrian Kurdish forces, who have long been allied with the U.S.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said Turkish jets and artillery struck 181 targets east of the Euphrates River since the incursion started.

Turkey says it intends to create a "safe zone" that would push Kurdish militia away from its border and eventually allow the repatriation of up to 2 million Syrian refugees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-10-10 11:15:44Z
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In Hate-Filled Manifesto, German Synagogue Attacker Sought a Wide Audience - The New York Times

HALLE, Germany — In a hate-filled screed written in English and published online before he tried to breach a synagogue in eastern Germany, the gunman who killed two people made clear not only that he had chosen his target hoping to kill as many Jews as possible but also that he hoped to impress a wider audience.

The police made an arrest soon after the shooting. The man detained was identified on Thursday only as Stephan B., a German citizen. He is suspected of having written the manifesto and of having carried out the attack, which took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Further information was expected in the course of the day on Thursday.

Those who were worshiping inside the Humboldt Street synagogue said on Thursday that the congregation had remained calm throughout the attack. But some questioned why no police guard had been assigned, as requested by their cantor, and why it had taken officers what they estimated to be 10 minutes to respond.

The attack was thwarted by a locked, heavy wooden door — the two victims were killed on the street outside and in a nearby kebab shop. On the security camera screen, Max Privorozki, the head of the congregation, said he could see the fuzzy images of the heavily armed attacker on the other side.

“It was a miracle that the door held,” Mr. Privorozki said in an interview on Thursday. “I cannot imagine what would have happened if it had not.’’

Vigils of solidarity with the Jewish community and mourning for the victims took place in Berlin, in Halle and in the nearby city of Leipzig, where people had gathered to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the street protests in the former East Germany that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe.

In the upheaval of the 1990s, Germany saw a rise in far-right extremism and the targeting of minorities and refugees from countries in the Middle East. But experts said that the manifesto and the live-stream of the attack on Wednesday indicated that the gunman had been influenced by other recent assaults by far-right extremists abroad, such as those on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“If I fail and die but kill a single Jew, it was worth it,” the attacker wrote in the manifesto that was found by researchers at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, a research organization at King’s College London. “After all, if every White Man kills just one, we win.”

The gunman’s manifesto, which included detailed descriptions of the self-made weapons that he used, also included thoughts about the merits of targeting Jews over Muslims, whom he appeared also to despise.

That it was written in English also indicated that the attacker was seeking to draw the attention of an audience wider than just other extremists in Germany, said Peter R. Neumann, a professor of security studies at King’s College London and director of the center for the study of radicalization.

“It clearly shows that he wasn’t trying to impress local neo-Nazis, but that his ‘audience’ was on message forums like 8chan and his heroes were people like Anders Breivik and the attackers in New Zealand and El Paso,” Mr. Neumann said.

The gunman did not appear to have been on the radar of the German security services. Mr. Neumann added that a shift to a more globalized, digitized version of right-wing extremism could prove challenging in Germany, where officials were familiar with local neo-Nazis networks but have been slower to respond to developments online.

“I think they are less good when it comes to message forums like 4chan and 8chan and this new, more diffuse and ideologically more promiscuous far-right extremism,” Mr. Neumann said.

Jewish leaders were demanding to know why their appeals for increased police presence around the synagogue were ignored. While Jewish institutions in most large cities in Germany have a round-the-clock police detail, that was absent in Halle.

Mr. Privorozki said that the heavy wooden door of the synagogue and the community center’s electronic security system had recently been upgraded with the help of the nonprofit Jewish Agency for Israel.

He said that the police had taken some time to respond to the call. “I did not look at my watch, but I guess it took at least 10 minutes,” Mr. Privorozki said, adding that the police had promised to always be close to the synagogue and to come quickly in an emergency.

Congregants described the atmosphere inside the synagogue as calm, even during the attack.

“We felt relatively safe because our security man and the cantor had taken all the precautionary measures,” said Shimon Meyer, who attended with his wife, Luba. “We stayed quiet and collected — there was no trace of panic.”

The congregation was moved to a safer part of the synagogue once the police arrived, but continued the service.

Ms. Meyer said, “It took a while before the police came, but when we could hear the sirens and a helicopter, we continued a prayer and sang.”

When worshipers were finally escorted out of the synagogue and onto a bus, they continued their songs, surprising the bus driver, Ms. Meyer said. At the hospital, they finished the service, even blowing the shofar, or ram’s horn, to mark the end of Yom Kippur at sundown, she added.

“We wanted to show that we weren’t defeated,” she said, “But that we defeated the situation.”

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2019-10-10 11:00:00Z
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Ukraine president says 'no blackmail' in phone call with Trump - Fox News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters Thursday his controversial July call with President Trump involved no bribe, blackmail or quid pro quo, as impeachment-minded Democrats claim.

Zelensky spoke at a daylong event with media inside a Kiev food market, and said he believes the transcript released by the White House is accurate and that he knew the U.S. had withheld $400 million in military aid due to concerns about corruption and concern for American "taxpayer money." But the issue, he said, was never linked to Trump's desire that Kiev rekindle an investigation into an energy company with ties to former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.

"There was no blackmail," Zelensky said. "They blocked this money and nobody asked us [for] anything,"

A whistleblower's claim that Trump implied in the July 25 phone call that restoration of the aid would be conditioned on Ukraine reopening a probe of Burisma Holdings and the Bidens' involvement in the matter has prompted Democrats in the House to launch an impeachment inquiry. On Tuesday, Fox News contributor John Solomon reported that the Ukrainian government had already ordered a reopening of the probe of Burisma Holdings months before the two presidents spoke by phone.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN SLAMS NEW YORK TIMES FOR RUNNING 'CLINTON CASH' AUTHOR"S CRITICAL COLUMN

The military aid was later released to Ukraine, and President Trump has denied the whistleblower's claims. The White House has also refused to cooperate with what it claims is an unconstitutional impeachment effort by House Democrats.

The White House sent an eight-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday that read: "President Trump and his administration reject your baseless, unconstitutional efforts to overturn the democratic process. Your unprecedented actions have left the president with no choice.

"In order to fulfill his duties to the American people, the Constitution, the Executive Branch, and all future occupants of the Office of the Presidency, President Trump and his administration cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances."

Zelensky, a 41-year-old actor, comedian and screenwriter elected in May, has sought to reverse his country's image as a hotbed of corruption. He told reporters Thursday that the main purpose of his conversation with Trump was to set up a meeting with the American president and show reform measures were in place in Ukraine.

"We just wanted to establish relations," he said, adding at one point, "the story with Burisma has nothing to do with weapons."

Trump and other Biden critics question how Hunter Biden, who reportedly knew little about the energy business and the country, ended up on Burisma’s board while his father was vice president and spearheaded Ukraine relations under President Barack Obama. The elder Biden was later recorded bragging about how he pressured Ukraine to oust a prosecutor who had been looking into the company's founder, though Biden allies say this intervention was driven by corruption concerns.

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It is unclear how much money Hunter Biden made while serving on the board of the firm, but reports have estimated he made up to $1 million per year.

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2019-10-10 10:23:55Z
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Turkey says 180 targets hit as troops continue advance into Syria - NBC News

LONDON — Turkish forces continued their advance into northeastern Syria Thursday after launching an air and ground offensive against Kurdish fighters, the Turkish defense ministry said in a tweet.

The Turkish defense ministry offered no further information but posted a video of Turkish troops stalking their way through the long grass west of the Euphrates river and said the operation, codenamed Peace Spring, had gone successfully.

Turkey claimed overnight it had struck 181 of what it called terrorist targets with the support of air forces and artillery units. Meanwhile, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces claimed to have repelled a Turkish ground attack in the border area of Tal Abyad. NBC News could not independently verify these claims.

Oct. 9, 201902:06

Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria began on Wednesday after U.S. troops pulled back from the area to clear the way for Turkish forces.

The invasion sparked a wave of criticism from the international community, as well as from Republicans and Democrats, with many criticizing the Trump administration for abandoning its Kurdish allies.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, are led by the Kurdish People's Protection Unity (YPG) and have been a crucial ally in the U.S.'s fight against ISIS in the region. But Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States.

The SDF claimed overnight that a prison used to hold ISIS detainees was struck during the Turkish airstrikes. NBC News could not verify the claim. The militia has repeatedly warned that Turkey’s invasion would undermine its U.S.-backed fight against ISIS.

"As a result of our work, we were able to save the international community from the threat of the ISIS. We fought together on the front lines and spend many sleepless nights," the SDF said in a tweet. "Unfortunately our foes in the region are conspiring to destroy our people."

The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a tweet that it was only targeting PKK, YPG and ISIS terrorists as well as their shelters, weapons and equipment.

Meanwhile, video and stills of civilians queuing up in dusty vehicles to flee the conflict zone and bombed out properties continued to circulate on social media.

Baderkhan Ahmad, a Syrian Kurdish journalist reporting from Al Qamishli, on the Syria-Turkey border, told NBC News that his hometown had been targeted overnight by Turkish mortar fire. There were clashes close to the border between Kurdish and Turkish troops, he said.

Smoke rises over the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, as seen from the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, Turkey, on Thursday.Murad Sezer / Reuters

“This morning I haven’t heard the sound of bombardments but in the afternoon at something like 4 p.m. when it’s going to get dark I think then they’ll start again to shell the city,” he said by phone.

In the streets of Ras al-Ayn, one of the Syrian towns close to the Turkey border, cars raced to safety and people could be seen leaving on trucks and bringing essential belongings and blankets, the Associated Press reported.

Ahmad, who also witnessed people fleeing Ras al-Ayn, told NBC news many families were fleeing further south deeper into Syrian territory.

"We're under attack by a country who is a member of NATO," he said. "They've just left us when we're done with furthering their interests."

Saphora Smith reported from London; Aziz Akyavas reported from Akçakale, Turkey

Saphora Smith

Saphora Smith is a London-based reporter for NBC News Digital. 

Aziz Akyavas contributed.

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2019-10-10 10:01:00Z
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