Syrian Kurds Accuse Ankara of Shelling

Syrian Kurds fighting ISIS have claimed that Ankara shelled them.

The accusation was leveled by the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG), which has been the U.S.’s most effective partner in the fight against ISIS in Syria.

It comes a day after Ankara and the U.S. outlined a plan for an extensive buffer zone along the Turkish–Syrian border to contain the Islamic State and to provide support to moderate rebels.

However, Kurdish victories in northern Syria have unsettled Ankara, which has a sizable Kurdish minority and has long tried to quash any idea of Kurdish autonomy.

Al Jazeera quoted Kurdish officials as saying there was shelling overnight Monday of a checkpoint in a village outside Kobani manned by a coalition of fighters from the Free Syrian Army and the YPG, which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that four fighters were injured. “A number of shells fired by Turkish tanks fell on the village of Zur Maghar, which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units,” the monitoring group said.

Ankara denied that it had intentionally targeted the YPG fighters and said it would investigate the incident. Al Jazeera said that, if verified, it would mark “the most serious incident of Turkey targeting Kurdish-controlled areas in the Syrian conflict.”

Observers said the incident also highlights the fragility of the U.S.–Turkey buffer zone deal.

NATO Holds Emergency Meeting on Crisis

NATO is holding an emergency meeting to discuss Ankara’s use of military force against ISIS and Kurdish groups in Syria.

All 28 members of the alliance are joining the extraordinary meeting in Brussels. Turkey called for the meeting after it dramatically shifted its policy to the neighboring conflict following a suicide bombing, believed to have been carried out by ISIS, that killed 32 young people.

Turkey’s prime minister said he expects his country’s allies to show solidarity and support for its campaign for an “Islamic State-free zone” along its Syrian border in collaboration with the U.S., the BBC and other media reported.

Recommended Reads

• The New York Times: Goals Diverge and Perils Remain as U.S. and Turkey Take on ISIS
• Yahoo News: Syrian ‘Safe’ Zone: What Does that Really Mean?
• The Washington Post: The U.S. Continues to Half-step on Syria
• Financial Times: Turkey’s Bombs Expose a Failed Syria Policy
• Time: U.S. Prepares to Fly Deeper into Syrian Civil War
• Council on Foreign Relations: Turkey, Syria, and the United States: Quagmires Are Us
• The National: Coalition Must Seek a Common Goal in Syria
• Newsweek: The West’s Failure to Act Has Deepened Syria’s Civil War Agony
• CNN: ISIS Exists because World Ignored Al-Assad in Syria, Turkish Leader Says
• WPR: A Managed ‘Frozen Conflict’ Could Be Syria’s Best Hope
• The Huffington Post: Syrian Children Delight In A Subterranean Damascus Playground, Safe From Civil War Shelling