Senior U.S. Officials: We Haven’t Agreed to Safe Zone

Senior US officials are denying the Obama administration has, in fact, agreed to create a “safe zone” with Turkey inside Syria, Bloomberg News said.

The confusion follows an agreement between the countries to jointly fight the Islamic State, including allowing US warplanes to use Turkish bases.

However, regarding the reports of the creation of a 68-mile safe zone in Syria along the Turkish border, the officials insisted Washington’s only aim is to clear the ISIS from the area.

This contradicts previously statements by U.S. and Turkish officials that the cleared area could also be used to support moderate rebels, provide a safe haven for refugees and even stymie the Syrian Air Force.

“We’re not out there staking out zones and doing some things that I know have been discussed in years past – no-fly zones, safe zones. What we’re trying to do is clear ISIL,” one of the administration officials was quoted as telling reporters during conference call on Tuesday. “I think it’s important not to confuse that with staking out these zones that you can identify with road signs and on big maps, and that’s just not what’s happening.”

A White House official reportedly told a closed-door meeting at the Middle East Institute in Washington that the administration will dispatch a delegation to Turkey next week to hammer out exactly what the border co-operation would look like.

ISIS Pushed Out of Hassakeh, Leaving ‘Thousands’ of IEDs

The Islamic State has been pushed out of Hassakeh by Kurdish fighters and Syrian troops after a month-long battle, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

The Islamic State “was expelled by the army from Zuhur, the last district in which it was present in Hassakeh, and its fighters have been pushed to the southern outskirts of the city,” the UK-based monitoring group said.

It added that at least 287 Islamic State fighters, including 26 minors, had been killed in the battle. Another 120 Syrian army soldiers, pro-government militiamen and several dozen Kurdish fighters were also killed in the fighting, it said.

However, a local Kurdish commander also told NBC News that the fleeing ISIS fighters had left “thousands” of improvised explosive devices and mines in their wake – so many that at least 15 villages around Hassakeh are now uninhabitable.

“There are thousands of mines,” said the commander, known as Lawant Rojava. “They plant large mines that are easily detonated, so young boys are blown to pieces.”

The commander added the Kurdish forces have surrounded a thousand of the militant group’s fighters in the area.

The Kurds and the Syrian army previously each held part of the north-eastern city; ISIS assaulted the city on June 25.

OCHA: Assad’s Military Blocking Aid to Millions

The U.N’s emergency relief co-ordinator, Stephen O’Brien, has told the U.N. Security Council that Bashar al-Assad’s government is preventing aid workers from reaching people desperately in need of help.

O’Brien, who labeled the Syrian war as “the most acute, unrelenting and shameful blot on the world’s humanitarian conscience,” detailed how the Syrian military and non-state militias continue to attack civilian areas, making it impossible for humanitarian workers to reach people.

“The courageous efforts of humanitarians to reach people with assistance should not hide the fact that widespread fighting, shifting conflict lines and intentional obstacles and restrictions put in place by all parties continue to significantly hinder the delivery of aid to people in need in Syria,” O’Brien said at the U.N. headquarters in New York, the BBC reported.

The OCHA (Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs) chief said U.N. and non-governmental organizations are delivering food to about 5.8 million people per month, medical treatment to nine million people, water to five million and basic relief items to three million – but that millions remain out of reach.

Recommended Reads

• The Christian Science Monitor: US-Turkey Military Deal: A Turning Point in Obama’s Handling of Syria Crisis?
• Time: Why Turkey Sees the Kurdish People as a Bigger Threat than ISIS
• The Wall Street Journal: Kurdish Militia’s Gains in Northern Syria Stir Ethnic Strife
• The Independent: Turkey’s Bombing Campaign in Syria and Iraq is the Last Thing We Need in the Fight against Isis
• Reuters: Syrian Kurds’ Spending Plans Reflect Rising Ambition
• The Independent: Turkey’s Conflict with Kurdish Guerrillas in Iraq Can Benefit Isis in Syria
• Chatham House: Coalition Must Seek a Common Goal in Syria
• Stars and Stripes: An Under-the-radar Revolution in Syria
• Stratfor: How Turkey Will Change the War in Syria
• The Huffington Post: United in Laughter: Syria’s Untold Story