Syrian Kurds to return bodies to Turkey after clashes
AFRIN, Syria (Kurdistan 24) - Syrian Kurds who are fighting Islamic State (IS) and Turkey-backed oppositions said on Tuesday they would return the bodies of nine enemy fighter to Turkey.
People's Protection Units (YPG) officer, Barousek Hasakah said the nine were killed in clashes Monday in Ein Daqna, a small village on the front line between them and the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces.
Hasakeh did not identify the nationalities of the dead fighters.
Nearly a dozen Syrian rebels have been killed in hit-and-run clashes with YPG Kurdish-dominated forces in the country's north.
Rebels were locked in their second day of fighting on Monday with units from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) around the village of Ein Daqna.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Russia arranged the handover. The Russian military maintains a handful of posts in Kurdish territory in northern Syria.
Hasakeh said clashes with the Syrian opposition forces died down Tuesday, but shelling continued throughout the day.
At least five civilians including children have lost their lives to Turkish army shellings on the outskirts of Syria’s northwest Kurdish district of Afrin.
Afrin and Shahba districts are held by the Syrian Kurdish YPG forces which are allies of the US in fighting the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.
The YPG officials attribute the Turkish attacks on Afrin to the losses of IS in Raqqa and to Turkey’s paranoia regarding Kurdish expansion in northern Syria.
Bahjat Abdo, a senior commander in the Syrian Kurdish YPG forces and the Head of Defence Authority in Afrin, told Kurdistan24 in an earlier interview, “Because Daesh [IS] is losing its last stronghold in Syria, Turkey is making all this chaos in the region.”
The mounting tensions between the YPG and Turkey, the two US allies, in northwest Syria threaten to open another major front in the multi-sided Syrian war.
Since July 6, the Turkish military has been bombarding Afrin and Shahba districts daily and continuously. Turkey also threats to invade Afrin and Shahba in the country’s northwest.
The Turkish attacks on Syria’s Kurdish-held northwest were met with mass demonstrations by people of the region against the violations of the Turkish military in the Syrian territory.