By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

As part of the Turkish Government’s invasion of Syria and attacking of Kurdish border towns–officially known as “Operation Peace Spring”–pro-Ankara mercenary forces began the execution of civilians in Tel Abyad. This included the assassination of a prominent Syrian Kurdish leader and her driver.

Hevrin Khalaf and her driver were “taken out of her car during a Turkish-backed attack and executed by Turkish-backed mercenary factions”, the political arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement. “This is a clear evidence that the Turkish state is continuing its criminal policy towards unarmed civilians,” it added. Khalaf was the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party.

The faction accused of these crimes is the “Syrian National Army” a collection of rebel groups who formerly fought the Assad regime but now receive training and funding from Turkey.

Thirty-eight civilians reportedly died since the start of the Peace Spring operation.

Later that day, the leadership of the SNA said it had ordered commanders to “continuously supervise combatants on the frontlines to prevent any abuse”, and that the perpetrators of possible abuses “would face the most severe sanctions and be brought to justice for military disobedience”.

The killing continues.

By Darren Smith

The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.

Source: eKurd.net