Turkey pressed its military offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria on Thursday, shelling towns and bombing targets from the air in an operation that has forced thousands of people to flee their homes. At least 23 fighters with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and eight civilians, two them SDF administrators, have been killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The towns of Ras al-Ain and Darbasiya, some 60 km to the east, have been largely deserted as a result of the attack. NATO member Turkey has said it intends to create a “safe zone” for the return of millions of refugees to Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) holds thousands of IS fighters and tens of thousands of their relatives in detention.

Source: The Hindu October 10, 2019 12:50 UTC