Turkey pushes into Syria as Donald Trump defends decision to pull out of Middle East
Scott Morrison has said he is worried about the move by Turkish troops who crossed the border into Kurdish-controlled Syria, saying it could lead to a possible resurgence of Islamic State.
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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he is worried about the move by Turkish troops who crossed the border into Kurdish-controlled Syria, as bombing raids on the US allies overnight killed at least seven civilians.
“We are very concerned about what this could potentially mean for the Kurdish people,” he said.
“We’re concerned about what this could mean for the potential for the resurgence of Daesh,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
Mr Morrison declined to comment on Trump’s decision but said Australia would “work together” with the US on the matter.
“Let’s be clear, it’s the Turkish government that is taking action here to create an unstable situation,” he said.
“They’re the ones who are actually deploying and seeking to walk across a border and to take actions in another nation state.”
“It’s the actions of the Turkish government that concern Australia very seriously,” he said.
There are fears the incursion could put Australian women and children stranded in the al-Hawl refugee camp at risk.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the government would not rush to extract the Australians. It comes in the wake of the government stripping three dual nationals in Syria of their Australian citizenship. They reportedly include Zehra Duman, who fled Australia as a teenager to marry an Islamic State militant.
“The advice in relation to some of these women is, far from being dragged there by their husband or boyfriend, they’ve gone willingly and/or they’re as hardcore as some of the male terrorists that they’ve seen in Syria and Iraq,” Dutton told 2GB Radio.
In 2014, Australia joined the US-led coalition and offered military and financial support to fight the Islamic State through the establishment of the Australian Defence Force’s Operation Okra, which had a cut in the 2019-20 defence budget due to the apparent defeat of the Islamic State ground forces in Syria and Iraq.
The deadly offensive is now scaling towards full force as Turkey aims to create a “safe zone” in Syria to move millions of refugees and provide a buffer zone from what it describes as terrorists.
However, the soldiers that Turkey is fighting were instrumental allies for the US in the fight against Islamic State (IS).
US president Donald Trump has defended his decision to move his troops out of Syria, saying that he had not abandoned the Kurds despite widespread criticism.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry said this morning that ground forces had moved across the border.
Their attack came after hours of bombings at military targets, that also caused civilian casualties.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at eight, while the Rojava Information Center, an activist collective in northeast Syria, counted seven.
The Observatory said at least seven fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were killed in the fighting. The Rojava centre put the death toll at three.
Turkish forces started bombing Kurdish fighters overnight Australian time.
The bombs created panic in the region, signalling a new conflict in Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, made up of mainly Kurdish fighters, claimed that civilians were being bombed.
There are fears that the dispute will allow IS fighters who have been jailed by Kurdish fighters to escape from prison and give the evil ideology a new lease of life.
Mustafa Bali, head of press for the Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed the bombings.
“Turkish warplanes have started to carry out air strikes on civilian areas. There is huge panic among people of the region,” he said on Twitter.
He said that soldiers who had fought against Islamic State were being attacked.
“Kobani, the city that resisted ISIS for months and paved the way for its defeat is now being shelled by Turkish army,” he wrote on Twitter today.
He also posted a video of crowds gathered in solidarity as Kurdish fighters have vowed to dig in against Turkish forces.
Naşikê û danayê bi topê zeman
— Rojava Defense Units (@DefenseUnits) October 9, 2019
Dêrik pic.twitter.com/UkKCTPEJni
Bali claimed that the ground attack had been “repelled by SDF fighters in Til Abyad.”
“No advance as of now,” he tweeted.
And he claimed that bombs had fallen near the al-Chirkin prison where IS prisoners were being held.
“Vicinity of al-Chirkin prison hosting Daesh prisoners was shelled by Turkish Army. The place where the most dangerous jihadists are held in.”
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on his official account on Wednesday that a Turkish military operation in Syria had begun.
He said the operation aims to eradicate “the threat of terror” against Turkey.
Earlier, Turkish television reports said Turkish jets had bombed Syrian Kurdish positions across the border from Turkey.
Turkish forces had amassed along the border with Syria where Kurdish forces were in control.
Mr Erdogan wants to build a buffer between Kurdish forces and Turkey.
Mr Trump said his troops should never have been in Syria in the first place as he rejected criticism that he had abandoned Kurdish allies.
“Going into the Middle East is the worst decision ever made,” he said on Twitter.
Mr Trump had earlier threatened to damage Turkey’s economy if it attacked Kurdish forces.
He tweeted before the invasion: “We may be in the process of leaving Syria, but in no way have we Abandoned the Kurds, who are special people and wonderful fighters. Likewise our relationship with Turkey, a NATO and Trading partner, has been very good.
“Turkey already has a large Kurdish population and fully understands that while we only had 50 soldiers remaining in that section of Syria, and they have been removed, any unforced or unnecessary fighting by Turkey will be devastating to their economy and to their very fragile currency.
“We are helping the Kurds financially/weapons.”
WORLD LEADERS REACT TO INVASION
The United Nations (UN) Security Council was due to meet today to discuss the crisis that opens a new front in the bloody civil war that has engulfed Syria.
An emergency meeting of Arab League countries will take place on Saturday, as Turkey’s lone-wolf action lights a fire under already bubbling tensions in the region.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had serious concerns about Turkey’s military action.
“This risks destabilising the region, exacerbating humanitarian suffering and undermining the progress made against Daesh (IS) which should be our collective focus,” he said.
“Turkey has shown considerable generosity in hosting so many Syrian refugees. But we will not support plans for returns until the conditions are in place for a voluntary and safe return home.”
The European’s Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini demanded a ceasefire.
The EU says Turkey’s “unilateral action” threatens the progress of the US-led coalition to defeat the IS extremist group.
It echoed concerns from Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne who had warned Turkey was wrong to attack the “steadfast and reliable” partners of the coalition against IS.
But senior federal minister Greg Hunt has been careful not to comment on whether the Turkish offensive into Syria could spawn a potential return of IS.
“We have deep and profound concerns,” Mr Hunt told ABC Radio today.
France’s European Affairs minister Amelie de Montchalin said the country “strongly condemns” Turkey’s offensive.
Ms De Montchalin said France, Germany and Britain were working on a joint declaration “which will be extremely clear on the fact that we very strongly condemn” the Turkish campaign against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria.
The minister also told parliament’s foreign affairs commission that France would bring up the matter at the UN Security Council.
TURKEY'S REASON FOR LAUNCHING THE INVASION
Turkey accepted more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees but it wants to create a buffer zone where it can dump at least two million of them, just inside the border.
The Turks were initially targeting a strip of land between Til Abyad and Ras al-Ain, on the Turkish-Syrian border.
But world leaders were angry at the plans, saying Syrians should be allowed to return to where they lived, if it was safe, before the start of the civil war eight years ago.
Ms Mogherini said “any attempt at demographic change would be unacceptable.”
Turkey has been battling Kurdish forces for more than three decades.
The Kurds want independence in some parts of Turkey, which has led to armed conflict that Turkey claimed was terrorism.
The YPG, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, has been at the centre of Turkey’s anger.
Originally published as Turkey pushes into Syria as Donald Trump defends decision to pull out of Middle East