Suicide Attack Brings Syrian War to Turkey

A suicide bomber struck a cultural center in the Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 100 others.

An official with the mayor’s office in Suruc told the New York Times the explosion ripped through the Amara Culture Center during a gathering of a youth group comprised of Turks and Kurds discussing whether to provide assistance in Kobani, a nearby Syrian town demolished by fighting.

Suspicions for the attack immediately fell on the Islamic State, which has been targeted in a recent crackdown by Turkish security forces in the country. If the Islamic radicals are confirmed as the perpetuators it would mark the deadliest spillover of the Syrian war into Turkey.

Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said preliminary findings pointed to “a suicide attack carried out by Daesh,” the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, the New York Times and other media reported. However, he said that “We are not at a point to make a final judgment.”

“For the first time, the war along Turkey’s borders moved within Turkey on Monday,” Verda Ozer, who was recently in Suruc and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council (a Washington-based research group), told the newspaper.

Over the past two weeks, Istanbul has stepped up its efforts to combat Islamic extremists and arrested hundreds of suspects across the country. Turkish security forces on Saturday also detained 500 people trying to cross the border from northern Syria where ISIS has strongholds.

YPG: We’re in Near-Complete Control of Hassakeh City

The YPG Kurdish militia says it has now wrested almost complete control of the northeastern city of Hassakeh from the Syrian military, which would mark a significant territorial gain for the minority.

A YPG spokesman, Redur Xelil, told Reuters his group controlled the southern outskirts of the Hassakeh – meaning it controlled all routes in and out of the city – and had encircled Islamic State fighters inside. “The regime has collapsed. It could not protect the city and its continuation has become symbolic in limited positions only,” he said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the YPG account. However, Syrian state television contrarily reported that the military had encircled ISIS fighters in the southeastern part of the city and killed a large number of them, Reuters reported.

Until recently the city has been divided between Syrian government and Kurdish forces. Late last month, the Islamic State launched a major offensive on Hassakeh, focusing on government-held areas in the south of the city. The battle drew in the YPG, which has since said it has taken over the government neighborhoods.

Suspected Army Airstrikes Kill 20 in Aleppo Province

Airstrikes on the northern Syrian town of Manbej in Aleppo province, held by the Islamic State, have killed more than 20 people, activists and the radical Islamic group have said, according to the Associated Press.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed the strikes were carried out by Syrian army warplanes, adding that it expected the death toll to rise since so many other people were critically injured.

Twitter and Facebook accounts affiliated with the Islamic State group also said 26 people were killed and around 100 others wounded in the attacks, the news agency reported.

Recommended Reads

• CNN: Syria’s Struggle to Save the Past
• Al Monitor: How the US, Russia Could Solve Syria
• VF News: Scenes from Inside Aleppo: How Life Has Been Transformed by Rebel Rule