Kurds guilty of ethnic cleansing, says Amnesty

“Due to accelerated conditions in both the political and military development and the sensitive phases our country has gone through, there must be an establishment of a unified military force to all Syrians consisting of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and all others living in the geographical locations of Syria”, said the statement, which was posted on a YPG spokesman’s Twitter page.

Dubbed the “Democratic Forces of Syria”, the new alliance includes the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that, assisted by US airstrikes, pushed ISIS out of the town of Kobani earlier this year, located along the Syria-Turkey border.

Amnesty’s report suggests that sometimes entire communities have been displaced by Kurdish forces in what it says may have been retaliation for perceived support or links to the Islamic State or other groups.

A recent US airdrop of arms and ammunitions in Syria went to Syria Arab forces rather than Kurdish rebels, a Defense Department official said Tuesday.

Satellite images obtained by Amnesty global illustrate the scale of the demolitions in Husseiniya village, in Tel Hamees countryside.

When asked about the nature of weapons being sent to the YPG, Toner said: “Well, I’m not going to get into the specifics, but we obviously vet all the leaders and all the groups that we provide weapons to or ammunition to”.

The delivery was the first since the Obama administration last week abandoned its “train-and-equip” program, a $500 million project that was hosted in neighboring countries, and that tried and failed to build a viable Syrian force to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “This report uncovers clear evidence of a deliberate, co-ordinated campaign of collective punishment of civilians in villages previously captured by IS, or where a small minority were suspected of supporting the group”. “They told us we had to leave or they would tell the USA coalition that we were terrorists and their planes would hit us and our families”, a witness told Amnesty.

YPG fighters, which have established an autonomous zone in northern Syria and advanced deep into Raqqa province, are the only ones in Syria who can claim victory against ISIS while cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition.

“Certainly we take them seriously and we want to be able to make sure that they’re true or whether they have any credibility”, Toner said.

“They started pouring fuel in my in-laws” house. “I will stay in my place”, said Bassma. It said the victims were mainly Arab, but also included Turkmens and other Kurds.

Residents of the nearby villages of Al Ghbein and Hammam Al Turkman also reported that the YPG made similar threats to them.

The YPG admitted forcibly displacing civilians but added that it was militarily necessary or done for the civilians’ own protection, dismissing the reports as “isolated incidents”.

A spokesperson for the YPG has denied the allegation as “entirely false”.

“They must take a public stand condemning forced displacement and unlawful demolitions and ensure their military assistance is not contributing to violations of global humanitarian law”.

“The Autonomous Administration must immediately stop the unlawful demolition of civilian homes, compensate all civilians whose homes were unlawfully destroyed, cease unlawful forced displacements, and allow civilians to return and rebuild”, said Lama Fakih.