A new inspector general’s report shows that the State Department is still concerned over reports that human rights abuses are being committed by Turkish-backed fighters in parts of northeast Syria.
Al-Monitor reports that the State Department has received reports of “arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings, seizure of and resettlement of new populations in private properties, the repeated and deliberate shutting off of water access to half a million civilians, and transfer of arbitrarily-detained Syrians across an international border into Turkey.”
The intel is highlighted in a Lead Inspector General report released Tuesday on Operation Inherent Resolve. The operation is the name for the U.S. fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The report covers the period of April 1 to June 30.
“We have reiterated our expectation that Turkey, and the Syrian opposition, investigate alleged violations and abuses and promote accountability where appropriate,” the State Department said.
It added it could not confirm the reports but said “many appear to be credible.”
According to Al-Monitor, State Department officials told investigators they had no evidence that the Syrian Interim Government, a political body that operates in Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria, "has consistently arrested, prosecuted, or otherwise held accountable any [Turkish-supported opposition group] members implicated in human rights abuses or violations of the law of armed conflict."
Turkey began a military campaign against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in October after President Donald Trump decided to remove troops from northeast Syria.
The Turkey-supported Syrian National Army was implicated in a series of videos that showed torture and extrajudicial killings. It said it would investigate the roadside execution of prominent female Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf, which was blamed on the hard-line Ahrar al-Sharqiya faction, and eight other civilians.
Of concern to the State Department is what is taking place in the city of Afrin, according to Al-Monitor. Rebels in Afrin have been accused of abducting hundreds of women and girls. Yazda, a group advocating for the long-persecuted religious Yazidi minority, says nearly 80% of the Yazidi religious sites in Syria have been looted by, desecrated, or destroyed by the fighters, including 18 sites in Afrin.
The report stated that the U.S. has not sanctioned any of the Turkey-allied groups for abuses.
The Trump administration has the authority to briefly sanction Turkey if certain criteria are met, according to the outlet.
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