TAMAMIYLE TURKIYE ALEYHINE YAZILMIS BIR PROPOGANDA YAZISINA BENZEMEKDE, BU MAKALE .. TURKIYE DUSMANI LOBILERIN CALISMALARINA BIR ORNEK OLARAK DAGITIMA GIRMEKDE… TANRI TURKIYEYI KORUSUN.
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Saturday, Oct 19th 2019
‘Dad stop the burning, I beg you’: Horrifying footage reveals badly-burned Kurdish children in Syria amid claims Turkey is using banned weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus
- Kurdish forces claim NATO-member Turkey is using banned weapons in Syria
- Horrifying video shows Syrian child being treated in hospital for severe burns on his body, which expert says appears to be caused by white phosphorus
- Pictures also show another boy with the skin on his head and face burned away
- Images taken before Mike Pence agreed a ceasefire deal with Turkey Thursday
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Horrifying images have emerged showing badly burned children in Syria – amid claims that Turkey is using banned chemical weapons against the Kurds.
Distressing footage taken at a hospital in Tal Tamr, near the border city of Ras al-Ayn which has seen the heaviest fighting, on Monday shows a boy with deep burns to his entire upper body.
As he is brought into the hospital he can be heard screaming ‘Dad stop the burning… I beg you’ before medics are able to give him a dose of morphine. He is thought to have spent 12 hours in agony before being treated.
Hamish de-Bretton Gordon, a British chemical weapons expert, said the burns appeared consistent with white phosphorus – a banned chemical weapon which sticks to the skin and burns in contact with moisture, meaning it cannot be put out.
Scroll down for video.
Footage taken in a hospital in Tal Tamr, near the battleground city of Ras al-Ayn, shows a Kurdish boy with injuries consistent with white phosphorous
The boy can be heard screaming ‘dad stop the burning… I beg you’ before he is given morphine by medics. He reportedly spent 12 hours in agony before he could be treated
Meanwhile a doctor in al-Hasakah, another city near Ras-al Ayn, said he had treated several patients with injuries he believes were caused by napalm or similar incendiary bombs
A boy with deep burns to his face, upper chest and arms is treated in a hospital in al-Hasakah
The video was released by Kurdish media along with photos of boys in another hospital in al-Hasakah, also close to Ras al-Ayn, with deep burns to their faces.
Doctor Fares Hammu, speaking to Kurdish outlets on Wednesday, said the burns appeared consistent with the use of banned chemical weapons such as napalm.
Napalm is a mixture of gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical which sticks to its target before burning, and was used extensively in the Vietnam war.
White phosphorus can be used to create a smoke screen or as a battlefield marker, but it can also be deployed as a deadly incendiary weapon, a use prohibited under international law.
All images and video were captured before a ceasefire, negotiated with Turkey by Vice President Mike Pence, came into effect on Thursday night.
Under the terms of the deal Turkey will halt its assault on northern Syria for five days while Kurdish forces withdraw from a 20-mile wide ‘safe zone’ President Erdogan wants to create along the border.
The deal was agreed by Pence, Erdogan and the commander of the Kurdish-led SDF, but it was not clear whether all Kurdish militias would agree to hand over land they fought to regain from ISIS over to Ankara.
On Friday morning there were reports of shelling and gunfire in Ras al-Ayn, in breach of the ceasefire.
The city has been the centre of much of the fighting after Turkey quickly seized it, then lost parts to a Kurdish counter-attack.
A girl who was injured in the ongoing Turkish offensive against Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria lying at a hospital in Tal Tamr, near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ayn
Civilians wounded in Turkish attacks on the town of Ras al-Ayn lie wounded in hospital in the nearby settlement of Tal Tamr
A girl whose leg was amputated after she was badly wounded in the shelling of Ras al-Ayn lies in hospital in Tal Tamr, nearby
Military vehicles transporting Syrian regime troops and rolled up mattresses are stationed on the outskirts of the northern Syrian border town of Kobane
‘We would stop the operation tonight, if they withdrew right away,’ Erdogan told parliament in Ankara, calling on them to ‘lay down their arms … destroy all their traps and get out of the safe zone that we have designated’
It was not clear who was firing at whom in the clashes early Friday, but the Kurds are not known to have access to heavy artillery.
Tel Abaid has also been the scene of heavy fighting in recent days, and while there were no reports of fighting there early Friday, it was unclear if the ceasefire would hold.
Further to the West Turkey’s assault had largely been halted already after Russian and Syrian government forces took control of the city of Mabij and Kobane.
Turkish forces and Syrian rebel allies have committed ‘war crimes’ including summary executions during their offensive in northeast Syria, Amnesty International said Friday.
Amnesty accused Ankara’s forces of ‘serious violations and war crimes, summary killings and unlawful attacks’ in the operation launched on October 9.
There was no immediate response from Ankara, which announced a suspension of the attacks late Thursday, but it says all possible measures have been taken to avoid civilian casualties.
Ankara’s operation aims to remove the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from areas near its border in northern Syria.
The offensive has killed at least 72 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
‘Turkish military forces and a coalition of Turkey-backed Syrian armed groups have displayed a shameful disregard for civilian life,’ Amnesty said.
People who were injured during the ongoing Turkish offensive against Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria receive treatment at a hospital in Tal Tamr
Sporadic clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish groups were ongoing in a battleground Syrian border town on October 18 despite Ankara’s announcement of a five-day truce
Bombs continue to rain down on the Syrian border as Erdogan pledged that his offensive would not end until the Kurds withdrew
People who were injured during the ongoing Turkish offensive against Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria receive treatment at a hospital in Tal Tamr
On the road to Kobane: Assad’s forces heading towards the border town on Wednesday
The charges were based on the testimony of 17 people including medical, aid and rescue workers, journalists and displaced people, as well as video footage, it said.
‘The information gathered provides damning evidence of indiscriminate attacks in residential areas, including attacks on a home, a bakery and a school, carried out by Turkey and allied Syrian armed groups,’ Amnesty said.
Kumi Naidoo, the organisation’s secretary general, said Turkish forces and their allies had ‘displayed an utterly callous disregard for civilian lives’.
The report included testimony of a Kurdish Red Crescent worker who said he removed bodies from the wreckage of a Turkish air strike near a school in Salhiye on October 12.
‘I couldn’t tell if they were boys or girls because their corpses were black. They looked like charcoal,’ the rescue worker was quoted as saying.
It also said Kurdish female politician Hevrin Khalaf and her bodyguard were summarily executed by members of the Syrian National Army, a Turkish-funded and -trained group.
At least two more executions of Kurdish fighters were confirmed, while Turkey’s Syrian allies had kidnapped two employees of a local medical organisation, Amnesty said.
After being effectively abandoned by the U.S., the Kurds’ turn to the Syrian government for protection has allowed Damascus’ ally, Russia, to step in as the biggest power player.
Moscow further asserted that role Wednesday, offering to mediate a resolution to the conflict, one day before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was to begin a mission to press Turkey for a cease-fire.
A convoy of military vehicles and busses transporting Syrian regime troops are stationed on the outskirts of the northern Syrian border town of Kobane yesterday
A military convoy of Assad’s men on the road to Kobane yesterday before the rolled in to prevent Erdogan’s advance
On Monday, Trump imposed limited economic sanctions on Turkey to raise the pressure on Ankara. The move came five days after Trump raised the specter of sanctions in a letter to Erdogan, in which he also said that if the Turkish leader invaded Syria he would be remembered as a ‘devil.’
Trump told Erdogan he wouldn’t want to be responsible for ‘slaughtering thousands of people,’ and warned, ‘don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!’
Erdogan defied the sanctions, saying the only way its military offensive would end was if Syrian Kurdish fighters leave a designated border area.
Erdogan also said he had ‘no problem’ accepting an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Russia soon to discuss Syria. But he threw into doubt a planned Nov. 13 meeting with Trump, citing anger over the sanctions that Washington imposed Monday on the NATO ally.
Despite an outcry among both Democratic and Republican lawmakers over the pullout and the Turkish invasion, Trump insisted a fight between Turkey and the Kurds was not a U.S. problem and that things are ‘very nicely under control’ in northern Syria.
A Syrian man holding a national flag after the Syrian government forces reportedly completed their deployment in the northern city of Manbij
‘Syria’s friendly with the Kurds. The Kurds are very well-protected. Plus, they know how to fight. And, by the way, they’re no angels,’ Trump told reporters at the White House while meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
Trump added that U.S. troops are ‘largely out’ of the region, adding that if Russia wanted to get involved with Syria, ‘that’s really up to them. It’s not our border. We shouldn’t be losing lives over it.’
Still, the repercussions from America’s abrupt withdrawal were expanding. Assad’s forces are returning to regions of northern Syria they abandoned at the height of the 8-year-old civil war. Moscow has taken a more prominent role as an interlocutor among Assad, the former U.S.-allied Kurds and Turkey.
Erdogan’s office confirmed the Turkish leader would meet Thursday with Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and said he would travel to Sochi, Russia, for talks on Tuesday.
Erdogan said he was not concerned by the U.S. sanctions. He told reporters that chances for his November trip to Washington are ‘something to be assessed’ after the talks with the American delegation, he said, adding that the sanctions and criticisms in the U.S. constituted ‘great disrespect toward the Turkish Republic.’
Turkish forces and Kurdish fighters also battled over the border town of Ras al-Ayn. Turkey said it had captured the town days ago, but its hold appeared uncertain.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Moscow is committed to mediating between Syria and Turkey.
Russia already has announced it had deployed troops outside the flashpoint town of Manbij to keep apart the Syrian military and Turkish-led forces. Syrian forces took control of Manbij as U.S. troops completed their pullout from the town Tuesday.
Lavrov also said Moscow will also continue to encourage Syria’s Kurds and government to seek rapprochement following the U.S. withdrawal. The Kurds are hoping to reach a deal with Damascus that preserves at least some degree of the autonomy they seized for themselves during the civil war.
The Syrian town of Ras al-Ain was seen being bombarded on the eighth day of Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish forces
A T-155 Firtina fires at the points being specified as terror targets by the Turkish Armed Forces within Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in Sanliurfa, Turkey on Tuesday
Lavrov also blamed the U.S. and the West for undermining the Syrian state, saying this pushed ‘the Kurds toward separatism and confrontation with Arab tribes.’
In another sign of Moscow’s rising profile, France suggested it will also work more closely with Russia in Syria.
French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said told French TV channel BFM that France is now looking to Russia, given their ‘common interests’ in defeating the Islamic State group in Syria.
A U.N. Security Council meeting concluded with no call for Turkey to end its military offensive against the Kurds. Instead, the diplomats issued a brief statement expressing concern about the dispersal of ‘terrorists’ from the region and the humanitarian impact.
- Turkish president Erdogan ‘threw Trump’s Syria letter in bin’ – BBC News