Turkish allies 'execute' politician and 8 civilians in northeast Syria

Pro-Ankara fighters taking part in a Turkish offensive on Kurdish-held border towns in northeastern Syria have "executed" at least nine civilians including a female politician on Saturday, a monitor said. "The nine civilians were executed at different moments south of the town of Tal Abyad," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said. Local Kurdish authorities named the Kurdish political leader as Hevrin Khalaf, and said her driver was also among those killed. Khalaf, 35, 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 said. "This is clear evidence that the Turkish state is continuing its criminal policy towards unarmed civilians," it said. Khalaf was the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party. 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." Turkey and its allied fighters began the offensive on Wednesday to push back the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, from its border. The allied fighters are Syrian former rebels and hardliners who once fought against President Bashar Al Assad's regime. But the conflict has morphed since erupting in 2011, and these factions now receive training and funding from Ankara. Kurdish activists circulated two videos on social media of the killings. The first, posted on the Twitter account of the Ahrar Al Sharqiya rebel group, shows two people in civilian clothes kneeling on the ground as a fighter next to them announces they have been captured by the faction. In the second, an unidentified fighter opens fire at a person on the ground wearing civilian attire. The Observatory confirmed the authenticity of the videos but they could not independently verified. The killings bring the death toll among Syrian civilians to 38 since the assault started late last week, the Observatory said. It says 81 Kurdish fighters have been killed in the clashes. Ankara says the YPG is a "terrorist" group with links to Kurdish rebels in Turkey who have been waging an insurgency for three decades. Later on Saturday, the Syrian National Army, the banner under which the Ankara-allied former rebels fight, said it had ordered commanders to "continuously supervise combatants on the frontlines to prevent any abuse". Perpetrators of possible abuses "would face the most severe sanctions and be brought to justice for military disobedience", it said.

Turkish allies 'execute' politician and 8 civilians in northeast Syria

Hevrin Khalaf, the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party, and her driver were among those reportedly gunned down