UN: Turkey may be ‘responsible’ for executions of Kurds in Syria: UN

The UN is warning that reported summary executions of civilians in northeastern Syria carried out by pro-Turkish fighters could amount to a “war crime” and that Ankara could be “deemed responsible.”

The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces said over the weekend that at least nine civilians were “executed” as part of Turkey’s incursion into northeastern Syria, which began nearly a week ago.

Among them was 35-year-old Hevrin Khalaf, the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party, who according to the forces was taken out of her car and killed by Turkish-allied Syrian fighters.

The UN rights office says its staff had viewed two separate pieces of video footage “showing what appear to be summary executions carried out by fighters belonging to the Ahrar al-Sharqiya armed group, which is affiliated with Turkey, on 12 October.”

Spokesman Rupert Colville says the footage, which has been widely shared on social media, appeared “to show the fighters filming themselves capturing and executing three Kurdish captives” on a main highway.

“Only one of the captives appeared to be wearing military uniform,” he tells reporters in Geneva, adding that the office had also received reports of Khalaf’s execution the same day “on the same highway”.

He says the UN was working to verify the footage and confirm the details of the events, but stressed that under international law, “summary executions are serious violations, and may amount to a war crime.”

— AFP