PM Barzani meets with Syrian opposition leader to discuss regional developments, Turkish offensive
“Both sides also stressed the need for a just solution and the rejection of demographic change in the region.”
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani met on Sunday with the head of Syria’s Tomorrow Movement, a Syrian opposition party, to discuss the latest developments in the region amid an ongoing Turkish military offensive.
Prime Minister Barzani and Syria’s Tomorrow Movement President Ahmad Jarba met in Erbil to highlight the Turkish military operation against Syrian Kurdish forces.
“The Prime Minister stressed the need to renounce violence and war, while stressing the importance of resolving disputes through peaceful means,” a statement from Barzani’s press office read.
“Both sides also stressed the need for a just solution and the rejection of demographic change in the region.”
Jarba, born in the Kurdish majority town of Qamishli, is a public opponent of current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He previously served as the president of the Syrian National Coalition and was a member of the Syrian National Council.
Turkish warplanes and artillery began shelling Syria’s predominantly Kurdish northeastern town of Serekaniye on Wednesday in an offensive Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called “Operation Peace Spring.”
Dozens are known to have been killed or wounded, and the number of civilians displaced from border towns to areas southward has reached 190,000, according to the Syria-based Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC).
Turkish warplanes resumed air raids against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) and Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain) areas of northeastern Syria at approximately 8 a.m. local time on Sunday.
Later on Sunday, Erdogan revealed that his forces plan to advance at least 35 kilometers deep into northern Syria, where they intend to create a so-called “safe zone.”