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Today's Zaman, Turkey
July 21 2013
Clashes between Syrian groups spread as southern Turkey on tenterhooks
21 July 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH REUTERS, Ä°STANBUL
Clashes between an al-Qaeda affiliate and the Democratic Union Party
(PYD) -- a Syrian offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) -- have spread to Tel Abyad, a Syrian town very close to
Turkey's Akçakale district in Å?anlıurfa province, a development coming
on the heels of clashes in another Turkish border town that killed
one.
Tel Abyad lies in the opposition-held Raqqa province. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said clashes began after the PYD in the
area discovered fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front
trying to rig one of their bases with explosives.
According to some reports, the PYD retaliated by kidnapping several
fighters, including the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham
(ISIS), one of the most powerful al-Qaeda-affiliated forces fighting
in Syria. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP the leader's
nom-de-guerre is Abu Musab, though it was unclear whether he is Syrian
or foreign.
After fighting rekindled on Saturday in Tel Abyad, which had been
rather free of clashes for nine months, 15 Syrians injured during the
clashes between the PYD and the al-Nusra Front were brought to the
Turkish border town of Akçakale for treatment. The injured Syrians are
being treated in Akçakale State Hospital, while those with severe
injuries have been sent to well-equipped hospitals in nearby cities.
The PYD's capture of Tal Abyad came days after the militant group
seized control of Ras al-Ain, a Syrian town near Turkey's Ceylanpınar
district in Å?anlıurfa province, and replaced the flag of opposition
Free Syrian Army (FSA) with their own. The Syrian Kurdish militants
won Ras al-Ain after days of clashes with fighters affiliated with the
al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front. Just days before taking the town, the
PYD declared it would establish autonomy in northern Syrian on July
19.
Activists said that the al-Nusra Front, which the PYD forced out of
Ras al-Ain two days ago, counterattacked on Saturday in a bid to
regain the key border town. It was reported that the al-Qaeda
affiliated group put 3,000 fighters into massive attacks on PYD forces
in Ras al-Ain and Tel Abyad. Residents of the two Turkish towns across
the border reported hearing fire from mortars and heavy weapons.
Some reports said the al-Nusra Front joined forces with ISIS as well
as the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham and Tawhid al-Asima brigades -- groups
fighting against the Bashar al-Assad regime -- to take the northern
line back from PYD forces. The al-Nusra Front reportedly retook four
northern villages that were under the PYD control after the intense
fighting on Saturday.
Syria's ethnic Kurdish minority has been alternately battling both
Assad's troops and the opposition. Kurds claim to back the uprising,
but opposition groups accuse them of making deals with the regime to
ensure their security and autonomy during the conflict.
The PYD's capture of Ras al-Ain has fueled Ankara's fears that the
emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria could embolden
homegrown PKK terrorists fighting for autonomy in Turkey.
Recent bold moves along the Turkish border are also stoking security
concerns in southern Turkish cities. On Saturday night, two
anti-aircraft shells hit two separate garden walls in Ceylanpınar,
putting town residents on red alert. No injuries were reported.
Officials have asked Ceylanpınar residents to stay in their homes and
not go outside unless necessary.
On Friday, Turkish warplanes took off from Diyarbakır and flew low
over areas of the Turkish-Syrian border where clashes continue to
inspect the area; authorities say they didn't violate Syrian airspace.
The military has said it strengthened security in the area with
armored vehicles.
Last Tuesday, stray bullets from Syria struck a police headquarters
and several homes in Ceylanpınar, several hundred meters from the
Syrian border.
Also Tuesday in Ceylanpınar, one Turkish citizen was killed and
another severely injured when they were hit by stray bullets from
Syria. The incidents were the most serious spillover of violence into
Turkey in weeks and highlight the growing concern that Syria's civil
war is dragging in neighboring states.
One of the victims, 17-year-old Turkish man Mahsun ErtuÄ?rul, died last
Wednesday after a stray bullet from Ras al-Ain hit him in the chest,
while another teenager, Ahmet Gündüz, was severely injured after being
hit by another stray bullet from the war-torn country. Gündüz was
taken to a hospital in Ankara for treatment.
The Turkish army returned fire into Syrian territory after ErtuÄ?rul
was killed and more bullets were fired into Turkey throughout
Wednesday.
The army, in a statement, confirmed that Ras al-Ain had fallen under
the control of the PYD and that units in Cenkeser Border Post returned
fire in accordance with Turkey's rules of engagement. It also said
four bullets hit houses in Ceylanpınar during overnight clashes on
Wednesday and that at least 10 bullets had hit the Ceylanpınar Police
Department building.
Addressing the spillover effects of the Syrian crisis, Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu said Turkey would maintain its firm stance
against any kind of terrorist dominance near its borders and called on
the United Nations Security Council to act.
"This paints a striking picture of how much the crisis in Syria can
affect us and our citizens. Once again, we call upon the international
community to act. ¦ If the UN Security Council is to do the job it is
required to do, then the moment is now," DavutoÄ?lu stated.
Ex-mufti of Syria's Hasaka region says PYD armed by Assad
Ä°brahim Nakshbendi, former mufti of the Syrian province of Hasaka on
the Turkish-Syrian border, said on Sunday that PKK-affiliated PYD
forces had been armed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to
hurt Turkey.
During the first months of the uprising, the Syrian mufti escaped his
country and took refuge in Turkey. Assad had ordered Nakshbendi's
execution after the mufti advised the embattled president to apologize
to his people for his brutal crackdown and call elections. Speaking to
Today's Zaman, Nakshbendi said the Kurdish militant group targets
religious Kurds and Arabs and that the Assad regime is arming the
group to `cause trouble' for Turkey.
The mufti added that the PYD forces, like Assad's troops, attack
religious Kurds, and claimed the Kurdish group refrains from attacking
Armenian and Jewish people in the province. `The PYD does not have
extensive support from the people in the northern region. But they
receive a great deal of ammunition from the regime,' he said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-321499-clashes-between-syrian-groups-spread-as-southern-turkey-on-tenterhooks.html
July 21 2013
Clashes between Syrian groups spread as southern Turkey on tenterhooks
21 July 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH REUTERS, Ä°STANBUL
Clashes between an al-Qaeda affiliate and the Democratic Union Party
(PYD) -- a Syrian offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) -- have spread to Tel Abyad, a Syrian town very close to
Turkey's Akçakale district in Å?anlıurfa province, a development coming
on the heels of clashes in another Turkish border town that killed
one.
Tel Abyad lies in the opposition-held Raqqa province. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said clashes began after the PYD in the
area discovered fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front
trying to rig one of their bases with explosives.
According to some reports, the PYD retaliated by kidnapping several
fighters, including the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham
(ISIS), one of the most powerful al-Qaeda-affiliated forces fighting
in Syria. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP the leader's
nom-de-guerre is Abu Musab, though it was unclear whether he is Syrian
or foreign.
After fighting rekindled on Saturday in Tel Abyad, which had been
rather free of clashes for nine months, 15 Syrians injured during the
clashes between the PYD and the al-Nusra Front were brought to the
Turkish border town of Akçakale for treatment. The injured Syrians are
being treated in Akçakale State Hospital, while those with severe
injuries have been sent to well-equipped hospitals in nearby cities.
The PYD's capture of Tal Abyad came days after the militant group
seized control of Ras al-Ain, a Syrian town near Turkey's Ceylanpınar
district in Å?anlıurfa province, and replaced the flag of opposition
Free Syrian Army (FSA) with their own. The Syrian Kurdish militants
won Ras al-Ain after days of clashes with fighters affiliated with the
al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front. Just days before taking the town, the
PYD declared it would establish autonomy in northern Syrian on July
19.
Activists said that the al-Nusra Front, which the PYD forced out of
Ras al-Ain two days ago, counterattacked on Saturday in a bid to
regain the key border town. It was reported that the al-Qaeda
affiliated group put 3,000 fighters into massive attacks on PYD forces
in Ras al-Ain and Tel Abyad. Residents of the two Turkish towns across
the border reported hearing fire from mortars and heavy weapons.
Some reports said the al-Nusra Front joined forces with ISIS as well
as the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham and Tawhid al-Asima brigades -- groups
fighting against the Bashar al-Assad regime -- to take the northern
line back from PYD forces. The al-Nusra Front reportedly retook four
northern villages that were under the PYD control after the intense
fighting on Saturday.
Syria's ethnic Kurdish minority has been alternately battling both
Assad's troops and the opposition. Kurds claim to back the uprising,
but opposition groups accuse them of making deals with the regime to
ensure their security and autonomy during the conflict.
The PYD's capture of Ras al-Ain has fueled Ankara's fears that the
emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria could embolden
homegrown PKK terrorists fighting for autonomy in Turkey.
Recent bold moves along the Turkish border are also stoking security
concerns in southern Turkish cities. On Saturday night, two
anti-aircraft shells hit two separate garden walls in Ceylanpınar,
putting town residents on red alert. No injuries were reported.
Officials have asked Ceylanpınar residents to stay in their homes and
not go outside unless necessary.
On Friday, Turkish warplanes took off from Diyarbakır and flew low
over areas of the Turkish-Syrian border where clashes continue to
inspect the area; authorities say they didn't violate Syrian airspace.
The military has said it strengthened security in the area with
armored vehicles.
Last Tuesday, stray bullets from Syria struck a police headquarters
and several homes in Ceylanpınar, several hundred meters from the
Syrian border.
Also Tuesday in Ceylanpınar, one Turkish citizen was killed and
another severely injured when they were hit by stray bullets from
Syria. The incidents were the most serious spillover of violence into
Turkey in weeks and highlight the growing concern that Syria's civil
war is dragging in neighboring states.
One of the victims, 17-year-old Turkish man Mahsun ErtuÄ?rul, died last
Wednesday after a stray bullet from Ras al-Ain hit him in the chest,
while another teenager, Ahmet Gündüz, was severely injured after being
hit by another stray bullet from the war-torn country. Gündüz was
taken to a hospital in Ankara for treatment.
The Turkish army returned fire into Syrian territory after ErtuÄ?rul
was killed and more bullets were fired into Turkey throughout
Wednesday.
The army, in a statement, confirmed that Ras al-Ain had fallen under
the control of the PYD and that units in Cenkeser Border Post returned
fire in accordance with Turkey's rules of engagement. It also said
four bullets hit houses in Ceylanpınar during overnight clashes on
Wednesday and that at least 10 bullets had hit the Ceylanpınar Police
Department building.
Addressing the spillover effects of the Syrian crisis, Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu said Turkey would maintain its firm stance
against any kind of terrorist dominance near its borders and called on
the United Nations Security Council to act.
"This paints a striking picture of how much the crisis in Syria can
affect us and our citizens. Once again, we call upon the international
community to act. ¦ If the UN Security Council is to do the job it is
required to do, then the moment is now," DavutoÄ?lu stated.
Ex-mufti of Syria's Hasaka region says PYD armed by Assad
Ä°brahim Nakshbendi, former mufti of the Syrian province of Hasaka on
the Turkish-Syrian border, said on Sunday that PKK-affiliated PYD
forces had been armed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to
hurt Turkey.
During the first months of the uprising, the Syrian mufti escaped his
country and took refuge in Turkey. Assad had ordered Nakshbendi's
execution after the mufti advised the embattled president to apologize
to his people for his brutal crackdown and call elections. Speaking to
Today's Zaman, Nakshbendi said the Kurdish militant group targets
religious Kurds and Arabs and that the Assad regime is arming the
group to `cause trouble' for Turkey.
The mufti added that the PYD forces, like Assad's troops, attack
religious Kurds, and claimed the Kurdish group refrains from attacking
Armenian and Jewish people in the province. `The PYD does not have
extensive support from the people in the northern region. But they
receive a great deal of ammunition from the regime,' he said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-321499-clashes-between-syrian-groups-spread-as-southern-turkey-on-tenterhooks.html