Turkey on Tuesday threatened a renewed offensive against Rojava if alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), deemed terrorists by Turkey and Western allies, do not leave Syria.
“Any intensification of conflict, especially when civilians pay the price, is of concern to us,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told Rudaw in New York.
Turkey alleges that PKK members are among the ranks of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control Rojava and are the primary allies of the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS).
On Wednesday, a drone strike targeted a convoy of civilians heading to the crucial Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates River to protest Turkish-backed militia attacks on the dam, resulting in deaths and injuries.
Elham Ahmad, foreign relations co-chair of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), on Wednesday called on the United States and France to deploy troops along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.
"The United States and France could indeed secure the entire border. We are ready for this military coalition to assume this responsibility," Ahmad said.
During Syria’s 13-year civil war, Kurds carved out an autonomous region in the northeast, establishing their own governance system and an armed force, the SDF, which lost an estimated 11,000 fighters in the war against ISIS.
