- Title: Syrian rebels gear up to join Turkish operation against Kurds
- Date: 10th October 2019
- Summary: NEAR TURKISH BORDER, SYRIA (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) SYRIAN REBEL FORCES WALKING AND STANDING NEAR TRUCK IN BACKGROUND REBEL FORCES WALKING IN LINE REBELS GATHERED REBELS JUMPING OUT OF A TRUCK REBELS GATHERED VARIOUS OF REBELS PREPARING THEIR WEAPONS REBELS SITTING IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK REBELS WALKING, FREE SYRIAN ARMY FLAG FLYING IN BACKGROUND, TURKISH FLAG SEEN OVER THE BASE REBELS STANDING IN LINE REBELS GATHERED AT THE BASE VARIOUS OF TRUCKS CARRYING REBEL FORCES DRIVING TOWARDS THE FRONT
- Embargoed: 24th October 2019 16:50
- Keywords: Turkey military offensive northeast Syria Kurdish fighters Syrian rebel forces SDF
- Location: NEAR TURKISH BORDER, SYRIA
- City: NEAR TURKISH BORDER, SYRIA
- Country: Syria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0INHVR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Turkey pounded Kurdish militia in northeast Syria for a second day on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee and killing dozens, in a cross-border assault on U.S. allies that has turned the Washington establishment against Donald Trump.
The Turkish offensive against the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, launched days after Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the way, opens one of the biggest new fronts in years in an eight-year-old civil war that has drawn in global powers.
At least 23 fighters with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and six fighters with a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group had been killed, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria's eight-year-old war.
The SDF said Turkish air strikes and shelling had also killed nine civilians. In an apparent attempt by Kurdish-led forces to retaliate, mortar fire from Syria killed three people including a child in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, hospital and security sources said.
The International Rescue Committee said 64,000 people in Syria have fled since the campaign began, the Observatory said. The towns of Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya, some 60 km (37 miles) to the east, have been largely deserted as a result of the attack.
The Observatory said Turkish forces had seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told members of his AK Party in Ankara that 109 militants had been killed so far. Kurds said they were resisting the assault.
(Production: Mahmoud Hasano, Jehad Abu Shalbak, Bushra Shakhshir) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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