10,000 Arabs driven out by Kurdish ethnic cleansing in Syria

[GennGreymane]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1227378586604

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in northern Syria as Kurdish forces carry out what *appears to be a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Sunni Arabs.

The reports of ethnic cleansing came as Palmyra residents said paramilitaries loyal to President Bashar al-Assad looted the northern city days before it was captured by Islamic State, in a pattern of “empty-and-retreat” repeated in areas falling into rebel hands across the north of the country.

Residents have reported seeing shabiha — the feared pro-government militias that have carried out brutal attacks on civilians over the past four years — removing antiques from the Palmyra *museum and loading them into cars hours before Islamic State seized the city two weeks ago.

Some of the artefacts were transferred to Homs, but two carloads have since disappeared.

Analysts believe regime and opposition forces have been carrying out large-scale looting since 2011. Earlier this year, a statue from a Palmyran tomb was found in Mersin, a port city on the Turkish coast that is a hub for smuggling antiquities and people.

Palmyra, one of the best-*preserved Roman cities in the Middle East, has been shrouded in terror since it fell to ISIS last month.

Hundreds of people accused of siding with regime forces have been publicly beheaded and the jihadists have started destroying some of the city’s ancient statues.

On Saturday, they demolished the notorious Tadmur prison where thousands of the regime’s opponents have been tortured by the Assad family’s security forces.

A source from one of the largest humanitarian organisations working inside Syria said the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — the West’s closest allies in the war against Islamic State — have been burning Arab villages in areas of northeastern Syria that are under their control. These include settlements around Kobane, the border town that became a totem of Kurdish resistance after it held out against an ISIS onslaught for four months last year.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have fled in the past six months, as neighbours who had lived together for decades turned against each other.

“The YPG burnt our village and looted our houses,” said *Mohammed Salih al-Katee, who left Tel Thiab Sharki, near the city of Ras al-Ayn, in December.

“I knew one of them — he is from one of the next villages. He was the one pouring diesel on the furniture of my house.”

Northeastern Syria is an ethnically mixed area that, over the past three years, has regularly changed hands between the regime, the Free Syrian Army, groups linked to al-Qa’ida, the YPG and ISIS.

The attacks appear to be part of a campaign of collective retribution against local Sunni Arabs, who the Kurds and their allies *accuse of sympathising with ISIS and harbouring their fighters. The region is one of the key battlegrounds in the Syrian conflict.

A patchwork of Kurdish, Christian and Sunni Arab communities, it lies between Islamic State’s two main stronghold cities of Raqqa and Mosul, and would be an important strategic prize for the jihadists.

“The YPG said to us: ‘We will shoot at your children, and you will die if you stay here’ ” said Mr al-Katee. “I saw one of them writing on our wall: ‘YPG don’t forget, don’t forgive.’ ”

Pictures posted on social media show the aftermath of the latest YPG attacks in Hasakah province, with hundreds of families streaming through sun-parched fields clutching their few possessions in bags.

Mohammed Alawwad, a father of six, said he had been forced out of his home in al-Razzaza, about 24km west of Hasakah city, last week after the YPG seized the *village.

“After ISIS retreated, the YPG told us to leave and threatened to shell the village, but we stayed,” he said. “Four days later, cars full of armed YPG men came to the village. One of them came into my house carrying a tyre and threa

tened my family with a gun. We had no other choice but to leave. Just before we reached the dirt road, I saw the fire coming out of my house.”

[Cyberowl]

So, you are saying there is no good side in this? I don't believe you, let's arm rebel groups that are (currently) on our side, that worked out great in the past, didn't it?

[Independent voter]

Back in the Colonia days, they drew the borders to weaken the factions in the area, Kurds, Sunni, Alawite, Iraqis, Syrians, etc. Side was played against side to weaken them further. What could possibly go wrong?

[Deleted]

Let them "deal with it". If anything they clear one another out.

[Septik]

sorry if this sounds insensitive, but why hasnt the mighty fist of the west crushed this ISIS shit yet? I feel like its being drawn on as a news source, something to make the west go 'oh no' and talk to their friends about. alls i keep hearing is what isis has done or is doing, not whats being done to or about them..

[Deleted]

I thought the Kurds were meant to be the good guys?

[Wildtree]

I thought the Kurds were meant to be the good guys?

Depends whom you ask.

[Reeve]

Sometimes I think all those people who spend so much time bitching about how brutal the US military is, just have a quick comparison of the US rules of engagement vs. what the norm is in that region...

Genocide is historically far more effective in pacifying a region than occupation and peacekeeping. The US probably could have saved a ton of time, money, and casualties by being a lot more brutal in Iraq and Afghanistan. We don't and shouldn't do that, though, because we have obvious moral qualms with genocide. But all you have to look at to see its effectiveness is the fact that Native Americans in the US aren't really any sort of threat to our modern way of life.

[Kuntantee]

so Kurds are not the light in the darkness? How surprising. I've been saying this shit for years in this forum.

[Fibh]

Like anyone really believed there is a good side in this conflict. Let's hope they wipe each other out.

[Deleted]

Sometimes I think all those people who spend so much time bitching about how brutal the US military is, just have a quick comparison of the US rules of engagement vs. what the norm is in that region...

More "we lost because of rules of engagement" crap. No, you lost because you had some really stupid people in charge and the cause wasn't worth fighting for. Get over it. Murdering more women and children would not have helped however sore you are about losing.

[Reeve]

More "we lost because of rules of engagement" crap. No, you lost because you had some really stupid people in charge and the cause wasn't worth fighting for. Get over it. Murdering more women and children would not have helped however sore you are about losing.

You seem to have a lot of very wrong assumptions about me and what I just said.

[Canpinter]

can we just build a giant dome over the middle east and come back in 200 years to see if they have worked it out yet

[Deleted]

can we just build a giant dome over the middle east and come back in 200 years to see if they have worked it out yet

Considering they're living in the 7th century, waiting 200 years won't do much good.

[Abajaba]

They're only going to feed IS ranks.

[Canpinter]

Considering they're living in the 7th century, waiting 200 years won't do much good.

maybe if we use cronotons to speed up time inside the bubble?

[Deleted]

Considering they're living in the 7th century, waiting 200 years won't do much good.

Plus they want to stay in the 7th century infinitely.

[Revi]

The west is currently helping arm and train the Kurdish military to deal with ISIS.

Surely when it comes to arming and training local forces in the middle east without having it bite us in the ass, 40th time's the charm.

[Deleted]

The west is currently helping arm and train the Syrian military to deal with ISIS.

Surely when it comes to arming and training local forces in the middle east without having it bite us in the ass, 40th time's the charm.

Where did you get that info from? The West is reluctant to help them, hell they don't even ask Syrian gov if they can bomb ISIS on their territory.

[Revi]

Where did you get that info from? The West is reluctant to help them, hell they don't even ask Syrian gov if they can bomb ISIS on their territory.

Sorry, meant Kurdish edited.