Paris shooter was 'clearly targeting foreigners': minister

PARIS — A 69-year-old gunman who opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre and a hairdressing salon in Paris on Friday was deliberately seeking out foreigners, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

The man, a retired train driver, "was clearly targeting foreigners", Darmanin told reporters, adding however that it was "not certain" that the man was aiming to kill "Kurds in particular".

Darmanin said: "We yet don't know his exact motives."

There was also no information so far on links of the suspect with ultra-right activists, he said.

The man is a member of a shooting sports club "and has several registered weapons", the minister said.

Asked whether any of the victims in Friday's shooting had links to the Kurdish PKK movement, designated a terrorist organization by the EU and others, Darmanin said they appeared not to have been known to France's security services.

Darmanin said he had ordered tighter security at Kurdish meeting places in France, as well at Turkish diplomatic offices.

Officials were to meet to evaluate the likelihood of any further threats to the Kurdish community in Paris or elsewhere in France, he said. 

Agence France-Presse 

Erdogan says Turkey will not leave Syria until other countries pull out

ANKARA - Turkey will not leave Syria until other countries pull out, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Friday, and Ankara will continue its cross-border offensive against Kurdish fighters until every one of them has left the region.

Turkey launched its third military incursion into northeast Syria last month to drive Kurdish YPG fighters from its border and establish a "safe zone" where it aims to settle up to 2 million Syrian refugees.

After seizing a 120-km (75-mile) swathe of land along the border, Turkey struck deals with the United States and Russia to keep the Kurdish militia out of that area.

Speaking to reporters on his flight home from a trip to Hungary, Erdogan said Turkey would only leave Syria once other countries have left as well, adding that the Turkish offensive would continue until all militants leave the area.

"We will not let up until every last terrorist leaves the region," Erdogan said, referring to the YPG, the main component of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that Ankara views as a terrorist organization.

"We will not leave here until the other countries get out," he was cited as saying by broadcaster NTV.

Ankara began its offensive after Trump announced an abrupt withdrawal of 1,000 US troops from northern Syria last month. The US President has since said that some troops will continue to operate there.

Under its deals with Washington and Moscow, Ankara paused its offensive in return for the withdrawal of the YPG fighters. While US and Russian officials have said the Kurdish fighters have left the region, Erdogan on Thursday accused Russia and the United States of not fulfilling their part.

With the deal Ankara struck with Moscow, Turkish and Russian troops have been holding joint patrols along the Turkish border with Syria. On Friday, the troops completed a third patrol, but a spokesman for the SDF said Turkish troops had used tear gas against some civilians protesting against the patrols.

"Turkish troops targeted civilians peacefully protesting against the patrols...with tear gas and injured 10 people," said SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali on Twitter.

Turkey's defense ministry said in a statement that the third patrol was completed as planned along an 88-km route along the most easterly section of the border at a depth of 10 km.

US VISIT

Turkey's European allies have said the offensive will hinder the battle against Islamic State. Ankara has rejected the accusation, saying its allies should back its plans to resettle the majority of the 3.5 million Syrian migrants Turkey hosts.

Ibrahim Kalin, a top aide to Erdogan, said on Friday that the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Turkey would meet on the sidelines of a NATO summit in London on Dec. 3-4 to discuss the situation in Syria.

The talks in London will follow Erdogan's Nov. 13 visit to Washington, where he will meet Trump to discuss Syria, as well as repercussions of Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems, the threat of US sanctions, and the case of Turkish state lender Halkbank, which has been charged by US prosecutors with being part of a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade US sanctions on Iran.

Washington says the S-400s threaten its F-35 fighters jets and has suspended Turkey from the F-35 program.

"We believe it will be beneficial to discuss certain issues that we tackled before and some that we did not during face-to-face talks on Nov. 13," Erdogan told reporters on his return flight from Hungary, according to NTV.

"Of course, we will discuss the safe zone in Syria and the return of refugees. We will discuss the S-400s, F-35s, our $100 billion trade volume issue. We will also discuss the battle with FETO and the Halkbank issue," he said, referring to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Ankara blames Gulen for orchestrating a 2016 failed coup, a charge he has denied and has repeatedly demanded that Washington extradite him.

Turkish officials said earlier this week that Erdogan might call off the US visit in protest at votes by US lawmakers to seek sanctions on Turkey over its offensive into northeast Syria, and recognize mass killings of Armenians a century ago as genocide. The visit was later confirmed after a phone call between Erdogan and Trump on Wednesday.

Erdogan told reporters on Friday that he would hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday to "form the basis" of his talks in Washington, according to NTV.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump lifts Turkey sanctions, quits 'blood-stained' Syria

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ended sanctions against Turkey on Wednesday, drawing a line under American involvement in "blood-stained" Syria, as Turkish and Russian troops seized territory previously held by US troops and their beleaguered Kurdish allies.

"Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand," Trump said in a White House speech that formalized the ceding of power in northern Syria to Ankara and increasingly influential Moscow.

Trump said he was lifting the sanctions because a ceasefire was holding in the area, which Turkey invaded to drive Kurdish military groups from their strongholds.

Trump called the ceasefire, which allowed the Turkish takeover to proceed largely unopposed, a "major breakthrough."

Rejecting accusations that he betrayed the Syrian Kurds -- who suffered thousands of casualties fighting alongside US troops against the Islamic State jihadist group -- Trump said they were happy.

The president said the Kurdish commander in the country, Mazloum Abdi, had just told him he was "extremely thankful."

Ankara ordered a cross-border operation into Syria on October 9 because it said it wanted to create a security cordon free of Kurdish armed groups that it considers to be terrorists, linked to Kurdish rebels inside Turkey.

The long-planned operation started after Trump announced the exit of the small, but politically significant US military force which had until then been closely allied with the Kurds.

Trump said he didn't want the US troops caught in the middle of a Turkish-Kurdish war.

Accused both by Republicans and Democrats of abandoning the Kurds, Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey on October 14 and sent a delegation to persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to order a brief ceasefire.

In a tweet from a spokesman on Wednesday, Mazloum thanked Trump "for his tireless efforts that stopped the brutal Turkish attack and jihadist groups on our people."

RUSSIANS MOVE IN 

As US soldiers and the Kurds exited areas near Turkey's border, Turkish troops and Russian troops, who have propped up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through his country's multi-sided civil war, moved in.

The first Russian patrol in northern Syria got underway on Wednesday, the defense ministry in Moscow announced.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu talked with Mazloum and reassured him that civilians would not have to leave their homes, a spokesman said -- apparently addressing allegations that Turkey will seek ethnic cleansing in the region.

Critics of Trump say he has caved in to Turkey and been outplayed by Russia.

"It is unthinkable that Turkey would not suffer consequences for malevolent behavior which was contrary to the interests of the United States and our friends," tweeted Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

But Trump insisted that the power shift is a win for Washington, because he is fulfilling a campaign promise to step away from "ancient sectarian and tribal conflicts."

ISLAMIC STATE ESCAPEES 

Trump said there was no risk that the turmoil in the area could lead to a reconstitution of the Islamic State, which has lost its once sizable territories and has thousands of members and their relatives kept in camps controlled by the Kurds.

With concerns that the Kurds may no longer be able to monitor Islamic State prisoners, Trump said he expects Turkey to "abide by its commitment" to act as a "back-up to the Kurds."

"Should something happen, Turkey is there to grab them," he said.

He was speaking shortly after a US State Department official, James Jeffrey, testified in Congress that "over 100" Islamic State prisoners had escaped so far and "we do not know where they are."

Trump said that a "small number" of US soldiers would remain nearby, but purely to guard oil facilities.

His central message was clear: that the United States has no business in Syria and that there was never any question of trying to stop NATO member Turkey from carrying out its invasion.

"We have spent $8 trillion on wars in the Middle East, never really wanting to win those wars," Trump said.

However, the isolationist policy grates on many Republicans, whom he is depending upon to save him from a Democratic push to impeach and remove him from office over allegations that he abused his office.

Immediately after the speech, powerful Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the United States had to stay engaged.

The US air power must "continue to control the skies over Syria" he said, adding that the military should "have a small –- but capable –- military partnership" with the Kurds to prevent Islamic State from reemerging.

'KILL, DISPLACE AND OCCUPY' 

The Turkish-occupied area was calm, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said on Wednesday.

However, explosions hit various parts of Syria's northeast, including the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli and the town of Suluk in the Tal Abyad region near Turkey's border.

The car bomb in Qamishli did not cause casualties, according to the Observatory. But the blast in Suluk, controlled by Ankara's rebel proxies, killed three fighters, a rebel commander there told AFP.

It was unclear who was responsible for the blasts.

Kurds staged angry demonstrations Wednesday in their de facto capital Qamishli.

"This deal serves the interests of foreign powers and not the interests of the people," said official Talaat Youndes.

"Turkey's objective is to kill, displace and occupy the Kurds."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kurdish forces: Not enough guards at Syria camp holding Islamic State families

BEIRUT - Kurdish-led security forces do not have enough guards for the Ain Issa camp that holds families of Islamic State militants and dozens of them have escaped since Turkish shelling struck the area, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces said.

Already weakened by the redeployment of forces to front lines, the guarding of the camp was further depleted on Sunday when Turkish shells crashed nearby, prompting some of the remaining personnel to flee, SDF official Marvan Qamishlo said.

"The guarding is very weak now," he told Reuters, saying that there were now just 60-70 security personnel at the camp compared with a normal level of no less than 700.

The camp holds some 12,000 displaced people including some relatives of IS militants and ideally would require 1,500 guards, he said. "We don't have this sufficient number."

Advances by Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies had compounded the concerns of security personnel in the camp, giving rise to fears the site could be encircled, Qamishlo said.

"What is a security person going to do? They are not special forces or SDF." 

(Reporting by Tom Perry Editing by Mark Heinrich)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Thousands flee, hundreds reported dead in Turkish attack on US-allied Kurds in Syria

ISTANBUL/ANKARA - Turkey pounded Kurdish militia in northeast Syria for a second day on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee and killing at least dozens of people in a cross-border assault on U.S. allies that has turned the Washington establishment against President Donald Trump.

The offensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish YPG militia, which began days after Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the way and following a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, opens one of the biggest new fronts in years in an eight-year-old civil war that has drawn in global powers.

"We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!" Trump said in a Twitter post on Thursday.

"I hope we can mediate," Trump said when asked about the options by reporters at the White House.

Without elaborating, Trump said the United States was "going to possibly do something very, very tough with respect to sanctions and other financial things" against Turkey.

The SDF have been the main allies of U.S. forces on the ground in the battle against Islamic State since 2014. They have been holding thousands of captured IS fighters in prisons and tens of thousands of their relatives in detention.

SDF forces were still in control of all prisons with Islamic State captives, a senior U.S. State Department official said in a briefing with reporters on Thursday.

The United States has received a high-level commitment from Turkey on taking responsibility for Islamic State captives but has not yet had detailed discussions, the official said.

U.S. lawmakers and media have said Trump essentially gave Erdogan the green light for Turkey's military to go into northeast Syria but the official disputed that. "We gave them a very clear red light, I've been involved in those red lights and I know the President did that on Sunday," the official said.

Turkey's Defense Ministry said 228 militants had been killed so far in the offensive. Kurds said they were resisting the assault. At least 23 fighters with the SDF and six fighters with a Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group had been killed, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war.

AIR STRIKES

The SDF said Turkish air strikes and shelling had also killed nine civilians. In an apparent retaliation by Kurdish-led forces, six people including a 9-month-old baby were killed by mortar and rocket fire into Turkish border towns, officials in southeastern Turkey said.

The International Rescue Committee said 64,000 people in Syria have fled since the campaign began. The towns of Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya, some 60 km (37 miles) to the east, have become largely deserted.

The Observatory said Turkish forces had seized two villages near Ras al-Ain and five near the town of Tel Abyad, while a spokesman for Syrian rebel forces said the towns were surrounded after fighters seized the villages around them.

According to a senior Turkish security official, the armed forces struck weapons and ammunition depots, gun and sniper positions, tunnels and military bases.

Jets flew operations up to 30 km (18 miles) into Syria - a limit which Turkey's foreign minister said Turkish forces would not go beyond. A Reuters journalist saw shells exploding just outside Tel Abyad.

Ankara brands the YPG militia as terrorists because of their ties to militants who have waged an insurgency in Turkey. On Thursday, Turkish police began criminal investigations of several Kurdish lawmakers and detained scores of people in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, accusing them of criticizing the military's incursion into Syria, state media reported.

Late on Thursday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar spoke by phone with his French, British and U.S. counterparts, the defense ministry said. It said Akar and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper discussed defense and security issues, and added that Akar briefed Esper on the aims and progress of the incursion.

TRUMP CRITICIZED

Trump has faced rare criticism from senior figures in his own Republican Party who accuse him of deserting loyal U.S. allies. Trump has called the Turkish assault a "bad idea" and said he did not endorse it.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who usually backs Trump, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the president's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria. He unveiled a framework for sanctions on Turkey with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.

"If there is any measure taken against us, we will retaliate and respond in kind," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, adding that "nothing will come of these sanctions."

After the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the fighting, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Turkey faced unspecified "consequences" if it did not meet its pledge to protect vulnerable populations or contain Islamic State fighters.

Later, the U.S. State Department official said the United States would penalize Turkey if it engages in any "inhumane and disproportionate" moves against civilians. That would include "ethnic cleansing, it would include in particular indiscriminate artillery, air and other fires directed at civilian population," the official said. "That's what we're looking at right now, we haven't seen significant examples of that so far."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for an emergency meeting of the coalition of more than 30 countries created to fight Islamic State. The coalition "needs to say today what are we going do, how do you, Turkey, want to proceed and how do we ensure the security of places where fighters are held? Everything needs to be on the table so that we are clear," Le Drian said on France 2 television.

Erdogan said militants from Islamic State would not be allowed to rebuild a presence in the region.

The Kurdish-led authority in northern Syria said a prison that holds "the most dangerous criminals from more than 60 nationalities" had been struck by Turkish shelling, and Turkey's attacks on its prisons risked "a catastrophe".

NATO member Turkey has said it intends to create a "safe zone" for the return of millions of refugees to Syria.

Erdogan threatened to permit Syrian refugees in Turkey to move to Europe if EU countries described his forces' move as an occupation. Turkey hosts around 3.6 million people who have fled the Syrian war.

The European Union should have a dialogue with Turkey despite Ankara's offensive against the Kurds, in order to avoid a fresh wave of migrants coming to Europe, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday.

Russia, the main international backer of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, said it planned to push for dialogue between the Syrian and Turkish governments following the incursion.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump: Syrian Kurds 'didn't help us in Normandy'

WASHINGTON - Syrian Kurds facing a Turkish military operation did not "help us in Normandy," US President Donald Trump said Wednesday, defending his widely-criticized decision to clear the way for the assault.

The Kurdish forces -- which the US partnered to combat the Islamic State group in Syria -- are "fighting for their land," Trump said.

"As somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy as an example," he said.

The president was apparently referring to a piece by a columnist on the conservative Townhall website supporting Trump's decision to pull American forces back from Syria's northern frontier, which opened the way for the Turkish operation.

The Kurds "are there to help us with their land, and that's a different thing," said Trump.

"We have spent tremendous amounts of money on helping the Kurds in terms of ammunition, in terms of weapons, in terms of money, in terms of pay. With all of that being said, we like the Kurds," he added.

Brett McGurk, who served as the US envoy to the international coalition against the Islamic State group, has in the past disputed Trump's assertions on that subject, saying that the "weapons provided were meager" and "nearly all stabilization funding came from the @coalition."

ISIS FIGHTERS TO ESCAPE TO EUROPE?

Trump's abrupt move on Sunday to remove 50 U.S. troops out of northern Syria, which has allowed Turkey to attack America's Kurdish allies unimpeded, has drawn sharp fire from many Republican lawmakers who are normally his strong supporters.

Trump: US going into Middle East was 'worst decision ever'
https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/09/19/trump-us-going-into-middle-east-was-worst-decision-ever

As Turkey launched an attack on Kurdish militia positions on Wednesday, Trump aligned himself with anti-war voices in the Republican Party like Senator Rand Paul, saying the United States should have never been involved in conflicts in the Middle East in the first place.

Pressed on the situation by reporters during a White House event, Trump said he was open to imposing sanctions on Turkey if the Turks do not treat the Kurds humanely.

Asked what he would do if Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan were to wipe out the Kurds, Trump said: “I will wipe out his economy if he does that."

The Trump pullout has prompted bipartisan concerns that some of the thousands of Islamic State fighters held by Kurdish-led forces might escape in the chaos surrounding the Turkish incursion.

Trump said many of these fighters are of European origin and that he had given European nations four chances to take responsibility for them.

Asked if he had any concerns that some of these ISIS fighters could escape and pose a threat elsewhere, Trump adopted a dismissive tone.

"Well, they're going to be escaping to Europe. That's where they want to go," he said.

Reaction to Trump's move has enraged many Republicans and Democrats.

U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, a national security hawk and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a statement that Trump's decision would have "sickening and predictable consequences."

"The U.S. is abandoning our ally the Kurds, who fought ISIS on the ground and helped protect the U.S. homeland. This decision aids America’s adversaries, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, and paves the way for a resurgence of ISIS. This action imperils American security and that of our allies. Congress must and will act to limit the catastrophic impact of this decision," she said.

Trump cast his decision as in line with his long-held belief that the United States cannot be the world's policeman and must bring some troops home.

But it comes as he needs as much Republican support as possible to fight an impeachment inquiry launched by Democrats who control the U.S. House of Representatives based on his attempt to get Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is one of Trump's closest confidants in Congress and a frequent golf partner, has angrily split with Trump over Syria.

"This is the pre-9/11 mentality that paved the way for 9/11: 'What’s happening in Afghanistan is no concern to us.' So if he follows through with this, it’d be the biggest mistake of his presidency," Graham told Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends."

Graham said on Twitter that he would lead an effort in Congress "to make Erdogan pay a heavy price" for the incursion. With reports by Reuters and Agence France-Presse

source: news.abs-cbn.com