Latest news with #KurdishForces
LBCI
3 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
US pulls out of two more bases in Syria, worrying Kurdish forces: Reuters
U.S. forces have pulled out of two more bases in northeastern Syria, visiting Reuters reporters found, accelerating a troop drawdown that the commander of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said was allowing a resurgence of Islamic State. Reuters reporters who visited the two bases in the past week found them mostly deserted, both guarded by small contingents of the Syrian Democratic Forces - the Kurdish-led military group that Washington has backed in the fight against Islamic State for a decade. Cameras used on bases occupied by the U.S.-led military coalition had been taken down, and razor wire on the outer perimeters had begun to sag. Reuters
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Exclusive: US pulls out of two more bases in Syria, worrying Kurdish forces
AL SHADADI BASE, Syria, June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. forces have pulled out of two more bases in northeastern Syria, visiting Reuters reporters found, accelerating a troop drawdown that the commander of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said was allowing a resurgence of Islamic State. Reuters reporters who visited the two bases in the past week found them mostly deserted, both guarded by small contingents of the Syrian Democratic Forces - the Kurdish-led military group that Washington has backed in the fight against Islamic State for a decade. Cameras used on bases occupied by the U.S.-led military coalition had been taken down, and razor wire on the outer perimeters had begun to sag. A Kurdish politician who lives on one base said there were no longer U.S. troops there. SDF guards at the second base said troops had left recently but declined to say when. The Pentagon declined to comment. It is the first confirmation on the ground by reporters that the U.S. has withdrawn from Al-Wazir and Tel Baydar bases in Hasaka province. It brings to at least four the number of bases in Syria U.S. troops have left since President Donald Trump took office. Trump's administration said this month it will scale down its military presence in Syria to one base from eight in parts of northeastern Syria that the SDF controls. The New York Times reported in April that troops might be reduced from 2,000 to 500 in the drawdown. The SDF did not respond to questions about the current number of troops and open U.S. bases in northeastern Syria. But SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, who spoke to Reuters at another U.S. base, Al Shadadi, said the presence of a few hundred troops on one base would be "not enough" to contain the threat of Islamic State. "The threat of Islamic State has significantly increased recently. But this is the U.S. military's plan. We've known about it for a long time ... and we're working with them to make sure there are no gaps and we can maintain pressure on Islamic State," he said. Abdi spoke to Reuters on Friday, hours after Israel launched its air war on Iran. He declined to comment on how the new Israel-Iran war would affect Syria, saying simply that he hoped it would not spill over there and that he felt safe on a U.S. base. Hours after the interview, three Iranian-made missiles targeted the Al Shadadi base and were shot down by U.S. defence systems, two SDF security sources said. Islamic State, also known as ISIS and Daesh, ruled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2017 during Syria's civil war, imposing a vision of Islamic rule under which it beheaded locals in city squares, sex-trafficked members of the Yazidi minority and executed foreign journalists and aid workers. The group, from its strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, also launched deadly attacks in European and Middle Eastern countries. A U.S.-led military Coalition of more than 80 countries waged a yearslong campaign to defeat the group and end its territorial control, supporting Iraqi forces and the SDF. But Islamic State has been reinvigorated since the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December at the hands of separate Islamist rebels. Abdi said ISIS cells had become active in several Syrian cities, including Damascus, and that a group of foreign jihadists who once battled the Syrian regime had joined its ranks. He did not elaborate. He said ISIS had seized weapons and ammunition from Syrian regime depots in the chaos after Assad's fall. Several Kurdish officials told Reuters that Islamic State had already begun moving more openly around U.S. bases which had recently been shuttered, including near the cities of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, once strongholds for the extremist group. In areas the SDF controls east of the Euphrates River, ISIS has waged a series of attacks and killed at least 10 SDF fighters and security forces, Abdi said. Attacks included a roadside bomb targeting a convoy of oil tankers on a road near the U.S. base where he gave the interview.
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Canadian men, children held in Syria pursue human rights complaints against Ottawa
A girl walks through a tented area at al-Roj camp near Derik, Syria, on March 27, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Maya Alleruzzo OTTAWA — A dozen Canadian men and children detained in Syria are complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that Ottawa is discriminating against them by not assisting their return to Canada. The Canadians are among the foreign nationals who have endured squalid and dangerous conditions for years in camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Some Canadian women and children have been repatriated in recent years with help from Canadian officials and the co-operation of Kurdish authorities. There are 12 complainants in the human rights commission case — five Canadian men and seven children aged five to 12. Lawyer Nicholas Pope, who launched the complaints, said federal policy guiding the repatriation of Canadians from the region discriminates based on age, sex and family status. Pope said the policy gives less favourable treatment to Canadian children whose mothers were not born in Canada. Canada has insisted that the remaining detained Canadian children, who were born to three non-Canadian mothers, be forcibly separated from their mothers and become orphans in Canada in order to receive repatriation services, he said. In addition, Ottawa has declined to help repatriate Canadian men. 'Every Canadian has the right to be treated equally,' Pope said in a statement. 'This is a rare situation in which the detaining authority holding Canadians abroad is actually pleading with us to end the detention, but it is Ottawa that is selectively refusing to let some Canadians return home.' Among the men complaining to the human rights commission is Jack Letts, who became a devoted Muslim as a teenager, went on holiday to Jordan, then studied in Kuwait before winding up in Syria. The Federal Court of Appeal ruled two years ago that Ottawa was not obligated under the law to repatriate Letts and three other Canadian men. The Supreme Court of Canada then declined to hear an appeal of the ruling. In accordance with the Canadian Human Rights Act, the human rights commission receives and screens complaints from people who believe they have experienced discrimination or harassment. The commission helps resolve disputes through mediation or conciliation, and sometimes refers complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, an independent body that can decide whether there is discrimination. Pope said the commission 'has put the files on a fast-track' and is requiring the government to participate in conciliation, which is in the process of being scheduled. The human rights commission did not respond to a request for comment. Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod said that due to confidentiality the department is unable to comment on cases before the human rights commission. The complaint filed last August on behalf of Letts says he suffers from anemia and experiences considerable pain from a potentially life-threatening kidney disorder, but he cannot access adequate medical treatment. 'The Complainant is held in prison in a small cell that is overcrowded and unsanitary,' the form reads. 'He lacks adequate food and medical attention. He has never been given any legal process to challenge his detention.' It notes that Canada has repatriated women and children from northeastern Syria under federal policy, but not any men, even though their conditions are more dire than those of the repatriated women and children. 'The blanket ban on repatriating adult males perpetuates the stereotype that men are more dangerous than women and children,' the complaint says. In a response filed with the commission concerning Letts's case, the federal government says the commission should refuse to deal with the complaint because 'the assessment of the complainant's situation is ongoing and a decision whether to provide extraordinary assistance has not yet been made.' The government also denies the allegation that Letts was not given repatriation assistance because of his sex or age. A statement of reply to the commission on behalf of Letts says the government has twice made determinations to refuse him repatriation services. In a response to the commission concerning the complaints involving children, the government denies the federal policy is discriminatory towards them on the basis of family status. MacLeod said Global Affairs continues to evaluate the provision of extraordinary assistance, including repatriation to Canada, on a case-by-case basis. 'Canadian consular officials remain actively engaged with authorities and international organizations operating in Syria for information on and assistance to Canadian citizens in custody,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025. Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Syrian Kurdish commander says group in direct contact with Turkey, open to Israel ties
"We have direct ties, direct channels of communication with Turkey, as well as through mediators, and we hope that these ties are developed," the commander said. The commander of Kurdish forces that control northeast Syria said on Friday that his group is in direct contact with Turkey and that he would be open to improving ties, including by meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The public comments represented a significant diplomatic overture by Mazloum Abdi, whose Syrian Democratic Forces fought Turkish troops and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels during Syria's 14-year civil war. Abdi denied accusations that the SDF was in contact with Israel. "People have accused us of this. In this interview, I am saying publicly that we have no ties with Israel," he said. But he said his group supported good ties with Syria's neighbors. When asked if that included Israel, Abdi responded, "with everyone." Turkey has said the main Kurdish group at the core of the SDF is indistinguishable from the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which decided earlier this month to disband after 40 years of conflict with Turkey. Abdi told regional broadcaster Shams TV in an interview aired on Friday that his group was in touch with Turkey, without saying how long the communication channels had been open. "We have direct ties, direct channels of communication with Turkey, as well as through mediators, and we hope that these ties are developed," Abdi said. There was no immediate comment from Turkey on Abdi's remarks. He noted his forces and Turkish fighters "fought long wars against each other" but that a temporary truce had brought a halt to those clashes for the last two months. Abdi said he hoped the truce could become permanent. When asked whether he was planning to meet Erdogan, Abdi said he had no current plans to do so but "I am not opposed... We are not in a state of war with Turkey and in the future, ties could be developed between us. We're open to this." The Al-Monitor news website reported on Friday that Turkey had proposed a meeting between Abdi and a top Turkish official, possibly Turkey's foreign minister or its intelligence chief. A Turkish diplomatic source denied the report, saying "the claims about Turkey and our country's authorities" in the story were "not true," without elaborating. In December, Turkey and the SDF agreed on a US-mediated ceasefire after fighting broke out as rebel groups advanced on Damascus and overthrew Bashar al-Assad. Abdi in March signed a deal with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to incorporate the semi-autonomous administration of northeast Syria into the main state institutions based in Damascus. On Thursday, Erdogan accused the SDF of "stalling" implementation of that deal.
LBCI
31-05-2025
- General
- LBCI
Syrian Kurdish commander in touch with Turkey, open to meeting Erdogan
The commander of Kurdish forces that control northeast Syria said on Friday that his group is in direct contact with Turkey and that he would be open to improving ties, including by meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The public comments represented a significant diplomatic overture by Mazloum Abdi, whose Syrian Democratic Forces fought Turkish troops and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels during Syria's 14-year civil war. Reuters
