Ain Issa .. Turkish occupation commits more crimes, taking advantage of Russian-American silence

On October 6, 2019, US President Donald Trump announced in a tweet withdrawal of US forces from northeast Syria (Rojava), and the Turkish occupation took advantage of the decision by launching a large-scale attack on the 9th of the same month on separate areas of the northeast Syria.

The Turkish occupation used the most sophisticated weapons and the Syrian affiliated mercenaries, including Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, under the name "Syrian National Army" to attack the areas of Serêkaniyê/ Ras al-Ain and Girê Spî / Tal Abyad.

The attack was met 9-day heroic resistance from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic force of Kurds, Arabs and Syriacs. The SDF made great sacrifices for the sake of preserving the brotherhood of the peoples, until the United States of America and Turkey reached a 5-day truce on the 17th of October.

A Russian-Turkish understanding followed the Turkish president's meeting with Russian counterpart on the 22nd of the same month, where the two parties signed a ceasefire agreement. In an agreement with the SDF and Russian forces, Russian military police and border guards of the Damascus government were deployed along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Based on this, border guards were deployed along the borders from October 23.

However, the Turkish occupation attacks went on along the occupied areas, but these attacks have increased lately with the start of the Turkish occupation's withdrawal from the points it occupied in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Aleppo under the name of observation points, in accordance with the Russia-Turkey-Iran Astana understandings about Syria.

On the 21st of last October, the outskirts of Ain Issa town came under mortar and artillery shelling by the Turkish occupation, accompanied by dozens of mercenaries ground attack, but the SDF announced that the attack had failed on the northern borders of the town.

Strategic town

Ain Issa town is strategic town and an important transportation node linking Girê Spî / Tal Abyad with the city of Al-Raqqa, and Tal Tamr with Manbij. Kobane-Sarin road also runs through it.

The international road, M4 gives the town importance, as it connects Aleppo, the second largest and industrial city in Syria, with northeast Syria cities such as Al-Hasaka, Qamishlo, and the Tel Koçber / Al-Yarubiyah border crossing on the Iraqi border.

And the Syrian Democratic Forces liberated the town of Ain Issa in June of 2015 from ISIS mercenaries.

Later, during the US-led Global Coalition war against the ISIS, the town became an operations center for its proximity to Manbij, as well as the city of Al-Raqqa, then ISIS alleged caliphate capital.

The town has also turned into a political and administrative center of gravity for the Autonomous Administration in the North and East Syria (AANES) due to its geographical mediation in a number of administrative regions such as the Al-Jazeera, the Euphrates and the Al-Raqqa regions.

From a front against ISIS to another against Turkey

In the wake of the ISIS defeat in Al-Baghouz town, the last stronghold in eastern Syria, many ISIS mercenaries and their families were transferred to Ain Issa camp on the outskirts of the town under tight security.

However, on October 9, 2019, Turkey targeted the town and its camp, leading to the escape of hundreds of ISIS mercenaries and their families to Turkey, where they were re-armed and used in launching attacks on the regions of northeast Syria after ISIS failed to occupy it.

At the time, they also targeted civilians on M4 and committed war crimes by executing dozens of civilians, including the assassination of the Secretary General of the Future Syria Party, Hevrin Khalaf, on October 13, 2019.

Since that time, the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries, the so-called "Syrian National Army", continue to launch attacks on the town of Ain Issa and on civilians on Tal Tamr-Ain Issa M4.

Statistics

The Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries are targeting almost daily through sniping and heavy weapons bombardment of populated villages, namely “Khaldiya, Hoshana, Debs, Shirrak” along the M4 linking Ain Issa and the village of Abu Surra, in addition to the town of Ain Issa from time to time.

The Turkish bombing caused the death of 7 civilians, and 13 injuries in Ain Issa, in addition to destroying 6 villages on the front lines.

'war crimes'

On the 18th of last September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights warned of war crimes and other violations of international law by mercenary groups affiliated with Turkey in the occupied territories of northern Syria.

The Commission’s warning came after the detailed report issued by the independent UN International Commission of Inquiry on September 14, accompanied by satellite images, in which Turkey was accused for the first time of committing war crimes using the so-called “Syrian National Army” in the areas that it occupied Syria.

The AANES calls on the guarantors to stop the Turkish crimes

The AANES has repeatedly demanded in conjunction with the recent military escalation near the town of Ain Issa on the international road, Russia and the United States, not to shirk their responsibilities towards the Turkish attacks.

Russian-American silence

Despite the MOU that Turkey reached with America and its agreement with Russia, the deployment of the Russian military police and Syrian border guards along the borders and areas occupied by Turkey and the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces to a depth of 32 km, Turkey is still targeting these areas.

Nevertheless, Russia and America are taking a silent position towards the Turkish occupation crimes and its violations of ceasefire agreements, targeting civilians, blocking the M4 international road and citizens.

Russia has not yet played its role as a guarantor of the ceasefire, despite the many messages of the people of the region and its leaders to implement its understandings with Turkey.

Observers warn of a new Russian-Turkish deal

Observers of the Syrian affairs warn of a new Russian-Turkish deal at the expense of the Syrian people, as the escalation of the Turkish occupation's attacks on Ain Issa and the villages of Tal Tamr and Zarkan in the Al-Jazeera region were timed with the start of the Turkish occupation to withdraw its soldiers and military equipment from its observation points in the countryside of Hama, Idlib and Aleppo.

Observers fear that Russia has concluded a new deal with Turkey in exchange for this withdrawal, especially since two Russian and Turkish military delegations met in Turkey in mid-September, and at that time Turkey demanded to hand over new areas to it in exchange for withdrawing from the checkpoints that have become besieged by the Syrian government forces.

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ANHA