No Turkish shelling of PYD since truce - Official

Turkey has not shelled any positions held by the Syrian Kurdish  Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria since a ceasefire was implemented last week, a Turkish official said on March 3.

Since mid-February, Turkish howitzers stationed just inside the border had on successive days shelled targets of PYD and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

"We did not target the PYD since the cessation of hostilities," said the official, who asked not be named.

• But he confirmed reports that Turkey had on Feb. 28 shelled Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists in Syria, with six targets hit a total of 41 times. 

The ceasefire, which went into effect at midnight on Feb. 28, does not apply to ISIL or Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front.

• The official said Turkey "wants this ceasefire to work" but was "anxious" to see if there would be violations by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and its Russian allies.

The issue of the Syrian Kurds had caused a rare rift between Ankara and Washington, which regards the YPG as an effective fighting force on the ground against ISIL jihadists and has resisted Turkish pressure to classify the group as a terror organisation.
  [AFP - hurriyetdailynews.com]
3/3/15
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