Headlines:
- Turkey-backed Syria Rebels Seize 2 border villages from IS: Report
- Syrian Turkmens ask for Turkey’s help under heavy bombardment by Assad, Russia
- 6 Turkish Airlines Personnel Freed in Mali
Turkey-backed Syria Rebels Seize 2 border villages from IS: Report
Syrian rebels backed by Turkey and the United States have seized two villages from the Islamic State (IS) group close to the Turkish border after fierce fighting, Turkish official media said on Saturday.
The state-run Anatolia news agency said ethnic Turkmen fighters had captured the villages of Harjaleh and Dalha in northern Aleppo province from IS forces.
The ground offensive by the Turkmen fighters, strong allies of Turkey in its push to oust President Bashar al-Assad, was backed from the air by US and Turkish fighter jets, it added.
Turkish officials have in the past few days said a major joint air operation against IS with the United States was planned, with Turkmen forces fighting on the ground.
They said the aim was to clear out IS from a 98km stretch of Syria’s northern border with Turkey which is still controlled by IS.
American officials have also expressed scepticism, with President Barack Obama saying at the G20 Summit in Turkey on 16 November that a true safe zone needed ground operations.
“How would it work? Would it become a magnet for further terrorist attacks? And how many personnel would be required, and how would it end? There’s a whole set of questions that have to be answered there,” he said. [Source: Middle East Eye]
Turkish enthusiasm to serve American interests became a magnet for other states that wants bigger slice from future Syria.
Syrian Turkmens ask for Turkey’s help under heavy bombardment by Assad, Russia
The army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military operation backed by Russian airstrikes in a rural area of Latakia inhabited by Bayir-Bucak Turkmens since last week has caused a number of Turkmens to flee to the Turkish border as a Turkmen brigade commander has called on Turkey’s assistance and expressed his frustration that Turkey’s helping hand hasn’t been extended so far.
The Syrian regime forces started a ground military operation close to villages in the Gimam area where there are about 50 Turkmen villages this past week and Russia has supported the Assad forces by pounding the area. Turkmens are an ethnically Turkic group living mostly in Syria and Iraq, along with Arabs and Kurds.
Sultan Abdulhamit Brigade Commander Omer Abdullah, who is fighting against the Assad forces in one of the Turkmen brigades, on Sunday called on Turkey to help the Turkmens, as the Syrian regime forces and Russians pounded Turkmens with cluster munitions, according to a report by the private Cihan news agency.
“We are trying to survive under unbearable brutality and we need Turkey’s help,” said Abdullah. Expressing criticism against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Abdullah said: “Every day our Turkmen brothers are dying. We expect the government to support us. Why do they leave us alone? We have fallen martyrs every day. Why are we left alone? I don’t understand.” [Source: Todays Zaman]
The Turkish government is trying to use Turkmens of Syria for the interests of America, but why isn’t it helping them when they need it extremely?
6 Turkish Airlines Personnel Freed in Mali
Turkish Airlines says a sixth crew member has been freed from a hotel in Mali that was stormed by armed gunmen.
A statement from the company said Friday that one employee remains inside the hotel.
Five crew members — a station chief, two pilots and two flight attendants — were released earlier Friday.
A government official said It was not clear if they were released by the assailants or freed by the authorities. The official said he was not able to confirm reports that the hostages were asked to read from the Quran during the ordeal.
Turkish Airlines said company officials were in contact with the crew member still inside the hotel. [Source: ABC News]
Is it being trying to form another point of instability in North Africa, and drag Turkey into it?