Syria Kurds halt all joint ops with US-led coalition after Turkish fire: spokesman

Aram Henna, the spokesperson, told Reuters that "all coordination and joint counter-terrorism operations with the coalition" had been halted.

MENA

1 min read

Agencies

02 December, 2022

Syrian-Kurdish demonstrators take to the streets to protest against Turkey's threats against their region, in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, on 27 November 2022. [Getty]

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed group that helped defeat Islamic State jihadists in Syria, has stopped all joint counter-terrorism operations as a result of Turkish bombardment on its area of control, a spokesman said Friday.

Aram Henna told Reuters that "all coordination and joint counter-terrorism operations with the coalition" had been halted.

Turkey has been threatening a new incursion into northern Syria for months, and stepped up preparations last month after a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul it blamed on Kurdish militants.

Turkey sees the Kurdish YPG militia, the leading presence in the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as the Syrian wing of the PKK militant group and labels both of them as terrorist organisations.

The PKK is also considered a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.

The PKK and SDF have denied involvement in the November 13 bombing of a busy pedestrian avenue in Istanbul.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday told his Turkish counterpart of his "strong opposition" to a new Turkish military operation in Syria and voiced concern over the escalating situation in the country.