Updated
Hundreds of foreigners affiliated with Islamic State — mostly women and children —
have fled a displacement camp in north-east Syria, local officials
said, when a nearby Kurdish-held town came under attack by Turkish
forces.
Key points:
- Kurdish officials said more than 700 Islamic State relatives have escaped the Ain Eissa camp
- Human rights groups are "deeply concerned" for the safety of the foreign nationals that escaped, many of them children and women
- A Kurdish politician was pulled from her car and executed, one of the 38 civilians and 80 Kurdish fighters that have died
The escapes have heightened fears that the Turkish assault against Kurdish forces, now in its fifth day, could allow Islamic State (IS) to regain strength in the ravaged region.
Despite fierce international opposition and threats of possible sanctions, Turkish forces targeted areas around two Syrian border towns — Ras al Ain and Tel Abyad — with fresh shelling on Sunday.
Turkey's military says it has now seized both towns, but the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces denied they had fallen.
Taking control of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad is a key goal in the Turkish offensive.
Kurdish officials said more than 700 "Daesh [Islamic State] elements" had escaped from a secure annex in a camp in Ain Issa after Turkish shelling struck close to the area.
They panicked, attacking guards and then storming the gates, officials said, although it was not immediately possible to confirm that number.
Citing sources in the camp, the director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdulrahman said there was a state of "anarchy" inside, adding that warplanes struck villages near the camp on Sunday.
Humanitarian organisation Save the Children said it was deeply concerned by reports of the escapes and warned of "a danger that children of foreign nationals could now be lost in the chaos".
It reported no foreign women were left at the camp and that masked men on motorbikes were circling around it.
Located some 35 kilometres south of the border, the Ain Issa camp is home to around 12,000 people, including 1,000 wives and widows of Islamic State fighters and their children.
Kurdish politician killed as death toll mounts
At least 38 civilians and more than 80 Kurdish fighters have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The human rights monitor said that pro-Turkey forces had killed nine civilians including a female politician, who were pulled from their cars and shot dead on a highway south of Tal Abyad on Saturday.
Hevrin Khalaf, the 35-year-old secretary general of the Future Syria Party was "taken out of her car during a Turkish-backed attack and executed by Turkish-backed mercenary factions", the political arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement.
"This is a clear evidence that the Turkish state is continuing its criminal policy towards unarmed civilians," it added.Mutlu Civiroglu, a specialist in Kurdish politics, described her death as a "great loss".
"She had a talent for diplomacy, she used to always take part in meetings with the Americans, the French, the foreign delegations."
A US State Department spokesperson said the killings, which were captured on camera phones, were "extremely troubling".
Meanwhile, Turkish reports said that 17 civilians had been killed in southern Turkey, including a Syrian baby.
Nearly 50 fighters with the pro-Turkish rebels, known as the Syrian National Army, and one Turkish soldier had been killed.
Turkey's Defence Ministry tweeted that 480 Kurdish fighters were "neutralized" since Wednesday. The number could not be independently verified.
The clashes have spilled across the border, with shells fired from Syria hitting the Turkish border towns of Akcakale and Suruc.
Heavy outgoing shelling could be heard in Akcakale early Sunday and at least one incoming projectile hit a house, leaving a gaping hole in the exterior wall and rubble inside.
The UN said a pumping station in the town of Hassakeh was damaged by shelling, affecting the water supply for 400,000 people, including 82,000 residents of camps for displaced people.
Trump orders all US troops to withdraw farther south
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were a key US ally in the war against the Islamic State group and drove the extremists from most of the territory they once held in north-eastern Syria.The force swept up thousands of Islamic State fighters and their family members in the campaign, and has warned it may not be able to maintain its various detention centres as it struggles to repel the Turkish advance.
NATO member Turkey views the Kurdish fighters as terrorists because of their links to the insurgency in its southeast and has vowed to carve out a "safe zone" along the border.
It launched the operation earlier this week after US President Donald Trump moved US forces aside, saying he was committed to getting out of America's "endless" wars.
On Sunday, Mr Trump ordered all US troops to withdraw farther south to avoid getting caught in the fighting.
A US military official said the situation across north-eastern Syria was "deteriorating rapidly" and that US forces could no longer control ground communications with the Syrian Kurdish fighters they had previously partnered with.
The official, who was not authorised to disclose operational details and spoke on condition of anonymity, said US troops on the ground are at risk of being "isolated" and could clash with Turkey-backed Syrian forces.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the approximately 1,000 US troops in Syria are not leaving the country entirely but are trying to avoid becoming embroiled in the conflict.
"In the last 24 hours, we learned that they [the Turks] likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned — and to the west," he added.
The danger to American forces was shown on Friday, when a small number of US troops fell under Turkish artillery fire at an observation post in the north.
No Americans were hurt, but Mr Esper called that an example of "indiscriminate fire" coming close to Americans, adding it was unclear whether that was an accident.
Mr Trump's decision to effectively abandon the US's Kurdish allies has drawn heavy criticism, even from some members of his own party.
"A catastrophic mistake," House Republican Conference chair Liz Cheney said, while senator Lindsey Graham called it a "shot in the arm to the bad guys".
Mr Trump later wrote in a Tweet he would "destroy" Turkey's economy if they did anything he considered to be "off limits", but on Sunday took to Twitter again to boast.
"Very smart not to be involved in the intense fighting along the Turkish Border, for a change. Those that mistakenly got us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight. They have no idea what a bad decision they have made. Why are they not asking for a Declaration of War?"
The United Nations says more than 130,000 Syrians have fled since the operation began five days ago, including many who had taken refuge from previous rounds of fighting in the country's eight-year civil war.
ABC/Wires
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