Amnesty worldwide accuses Kurds in Syria of human rights violations

But Amnesty quoted Ciwan Ibrahim, the head of the Kurdish internal security force known as the Asayish, as admitting there had been forced displacements, but saying they were “isolated incidents” and that civilians had been moved for their own safety.

One witness said: “They pulled us out of our homes and began burning the home… they brought the bulldozers…”

The villagers were accused by the fighters of supporting ISIL.

Kurdish YPG forces in northern Syria have committed war crimes during their battles with Daesh, according to an investigation by Amnesty worldwide.

“We met the Americans and this has been approved and we have been told these new arms … are on their way”, said Abu Muazz, a spokesman for the Raqqa Revolutionaries Front, a grouping of mainly Arab tribal insurgents who are mostly drawn from the Raqqa area.

The people of the village of Husseiniya fled before the YPG broke through the Islamic State’s lines, for instance, but when they returned, found that the Kurds had bulldozed or burned their homes to the ground. “There were no accusations against us, only injustice”. “The destruction reflected in the satellite imagery is not consistent with shelling but rather the demolition of the village”, Amnesty’s report reads. Washington has already partnered with the YPG to battle IS in parts of northern Syria, with the US-led coalition providing Kurdish forces with air cover as they fought the jihadists on the ground.

His failure to mention the Kurds is nearly certainly linked to growing Turkish unease over U.S. support for a group that is closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which both Turkey and the United States label as a terrorist group. The civilians there are “being subjected to serious abuses” at the hand of U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters. The rebels have expressed confidence that they could capture the city in “less than two months” if given enough weaponry, though most USA efforts to arm rebels have ended up with ISIS coming out even stronger at the end, and with a bunch of new US-made weapons.

“Given that these forces in general are democratic and secular forces that believe to a great degree in diversity, we hope that they will receive support” from the U.S.-led coalition, said Nasir Haj Mansour, an official in the defence ministry of the Kurdish administration in YPG-held territory.

But those interviewed by Amnesty global often disputed the YPG’s version, saying they were not in harm’s way and once evicted were not allowed to return to their homes. But if they do, Western policymakers should understand why Arab residents won’t be almost as happy about those wins as the Kurds and their allies.