Update December 11 – Turkish/SNA attacks on NES ongoing despite Manbij ceasefire

Highlights

  • At least 37 civilians killed in past 3 days during Turkey’s ongoing military offensive against North and East Syria, including from targeting of ambulance
  • Ceasefire announced in Manbij; threat to Kurdish city of Kobane remains
  • Looting, field executions, torture by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) caught on camera in Manbij

Turkish and SNA offensive in Manbij concludes with ceasefire; attacks on Kobane continue

  • SDF Commander-in-Chief, Mazloum Abdi, said the SDF reached a ceasefire agreement in Manbij, confirmed that Manbij Military Council fighters will exit the area, and expressed desire for a Syria-wide ceasefire and political process
  • Turkey/SNA now controls Manbij, a multi-ethnic, Arab-majority city home to around 300,000 people which was governed by the Manbij Civil Council as part of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) following its 2016 liberation from ISIS control
  • Adding to reports of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) looting of Kurdish homes and property in Manbij in what rights organization Hevdesti-Synergy described as “deliberate targeting of civilians”, OCHA stated that 9 health facilities were vandalized and looted in Manbij.
  • Video widely circulated on social media reportedly shows SNA torturing captives in Manbij
  • DAANES’ Executive Council co-chair, Evin Sweid, told RIC: “In the last few days [Turkey and the SNA] have frequently violated human rights: kidnapped and murdered many civilians, including three women from Zenobia. Other women Zenobia members have been kidnapped – their fate is still unknown. We saw how the mercenaries went into the hospital and attacked the wounded inside. […] They entered houses, looted, stole, threatened people, killed people, all this occurred inside Manbij. Both our canton council co-chairs received direct threats on the telephone. They are in Raqqa now but were very scared.”
  • Following Turkish and SNA strikes on the Tishreen Dam, the NES NGO Forum warned “damages sustained to the [Tishreen Dam] infrastructure itself could lead to the loss of lives and livelihoods of up to one million people in the downstream subdistricts should the dam collapse. Immediate risks include flooding, loss of life, damage to agricultural lands as well as properties, including downstream Tabqa dam. Further risks include loss of electricity to large segments of Northeast Syria, compounded by strikes sustained to critical civilian infrastructure over the past year.”
  • SNA shot at a car carrying eleven civilians travelling from Kobane to Manbij, killing one person and injuring three
  • SNA targeting of an ambulance carrying wounded people on the Sarrin-Tishreen Dam road killed four healthcare staff and injured one patient.
  • At least 37 civilians have now been killed in Turkish/SNA attacks on NES in the past three days
  • A civilian source on the ground in Kobane told RIC this morning: “fighting continued overnight and civilians arrived at the hospital wounded, but it calmed down in the last hours. There are no Americans yet but supposedly they will come.”
  • Turkish drone strike reported on LaFarge company site, southern Kobane countryside, Ahmed Munir village, west of Kobane city, Deccan village, between Kobane and Sarrin, and shelling on several villages.
  • Two Turkish drone strikes on Raqqa reported and two on a former SAA military post in Qamishlo.

HTS moves to Deir ez-Zor city; US and Russia express concern about potential ISIS resurgence in Syria

  • When the SAA began withdrawing from all over central Syria last week, the SDF moved across the Euphrates river, with the stated aim of preventing a security vacuum and combating ISIS. Now, the SDF are no longer reporting a presence on the western side of the Euphrates, with HTS taking control there instead.
  • Deir ez-Zor Military Council’s Hajin and Kasra branches made a statement disavowing conflict-stirring, in light of the defection of former-DMC leader Abu al-Harith to the HTS-led operations room
  • Both the US and Russia made nods to the heightened threat from ISIS, with US CENTCOM commander visiting SDF bases in NES to assess “the rapidly evolving situation, and ongoing efforts to prevent ISIS from exploiting the current situation”, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister emphasizing the “real danger that the Islamic State group will once again raise its head in Syria”
  • SDF Commander-in-Chief, Mazloum Abdi, stated: “At the moment joint operations against ISIS are halting. This is not a decision, but rather a military reality, as the Coalition are also pre-occupied with the ongoing conflict. If the attacks persist, joint operations will remain suspended. ISIS is now stronger in the Syrian desert. Previously they were in remote areas and hiding. Now they have greater freedom of movement. In the areas under our control, their activities have also increased. A few days ago 3 members of the Internal Security Forces were killed near Heseke in an ISIS operation, and we know plans for breaking out from detention centers is always on their agenda.”
  • SOHR reported an ISIS cell killing six employees working at the al-Taim oil field in Deir ez-Zor

Shehba IDP crisis

  •  Humanitarian situation remains grave for the primarily Kurdish Shehba and Aleppo residents, forcibly displaced into DAANES territory following the Turkish-backed SNA’s assault on Shehba
  • 100,000 people have been displaced from Shehba, with a further 15,000 still expected to arrive in Tabqa
  • 186 out Raqqa and Tabqa’s 530 schools have been re-purposed as collective centers to accommodate people, meaning 184,840 students have been out of school for almost two weeks, says NES NGO Forum
  • IDP influx is straining existing healthcare services, says OCHA
  • “Critical gap in provision of cooking facilities” for IDPs arriving in NES, with 6,000 families in Tabqa in urgent need of food aid, says OCHA

Shehba IDP camp in Tabqa

Fears over HTS treatment of minorities, empowerment of jihadist groups in Syria

  • Concerns raised as videos circulated on social media show the Greek Orthodox Hagia Sophia Church in Hama countryside reportedly trashed by HTS militants and destruction of liquor store
  • Damascus Christian journalist says she was questioned – for the first time in her life – whether she is Alawite, Christian, Druze, or Shia by HTS members
  • Local news agency North Press reported a “near-complete shutdown of activity” in Mahardah, a Christian-majority city in northern Hama
  • Comes after HTS publicized messages of tolerance for minorities
  • NES media picked up on Turkish media broadcasts of SNA offensive into Manbij showing SNA fighters wearing ISIS patches. DAANES Executive Council co-chair, Evin Sweid, also commented to RIC: “What we see being shared on social media in the past few days is the presence of ISIS within the forces that are today in Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia. The ISIS flag has been openly displayed.”

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