A prominent international rights group has accused the Turkish forces and Ankara-backed militant groups of committing war crimes and showing a "callous" disregard for civilian lives during their offensive in northern Syria
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) A prominent international rights group has accused the Turkish forces and Ankara-backed militant groups of committing war crimes and showing a "callous" disregard for civilian lives during their offensive in northern Syria.On October 9, Turkey launched its military operation in a bid to create a "safe zone" along the border that would be free of Kurdish militias, which it views as terrorists. During the first days of the operation, Ankara took control over a number of border settlements, which prompted Damascus to join forces with the Kurds and send its forces to the area. At talks with the US on Thursday, Ankara agreed to suspend its offensive for five days to facilitate the withdrawal of Syria's Kurdish militia from the 20-miles border area, yet both Kurds and the UN have reported truce violations.
"Turkish military forces and a coalition of Turkey-backed Syrian armed groups have displayed a shameful disregard for civilian life, carrying out serious violations and war crimes, including summary killings and unlawful attacks that have killed and injured civilians, during the offensive into northeast Syria," Amnesty International said on Friday.
According to the rights group, it has "damning" evidence about "indiscriminate attacks in residential areas, including attacks on a home, a bakery and a school, carried out by Turkey and allied Syrian armed groups."
"It also reveals gruesome details of a summary killing in cold blood of a prominent Syrian-Kurdish female politician, Hevrin Khalaf, by members of Ahrar Al-Sharqiya, part of the Syrian National Army, a coalition of Syrian armed groups equipped and supported by Turkey," the group added.
The Turkish offensive has only "wreaked havoc on the lives of Syrian civilians," making them once again flee their homes in fear of an "utterly callous disregard for civilian lives" demonstrated by the Turkish forces and their allies, according to the Amnesty International secretary general, Kumi Naidoo.
The rights group argued that Turkey was "responsible for the actions of the Syrian armed groups it supports, arms and directs" after giving them "free rein to commit serious violations in Afrin and elsewhere."
Citing reports about civilian casualties on both sides to the current conflict, Amnesty International urged Turkey and the Kurds to stop all attacks on civilians immediately.
The Kurdish authority in northern Syria said on Thursday that 218 civilians had been killed during the offensive, while Ankara, according to the NGO, has said that 18 civilians have died in counterattacks in border areas of Turkey.
Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik, meanwhile, told Sputnik earlier in the week that Ankara was conducting its military operation in northern Syria in full compliance with international humanitarian law, leaving civilian infrastructure untouched.
