By Orhan Qereman
QAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) – The commander of a Kurdish-led force in Syria said on Sunday the country’s interim president must hold the perpetrators of communal violence in Syria’s coastal areas to account, accusing Turkey-backed factions of being primarily behind the killings.
The head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said in written comments to Reuters that Ahmed al-Sharaa must intervene to halt “massacres”, adding factions “supported by Turkey and Islamic extremists” were chiefly responsible.
Syrian security sources have said at least 200 of their members were killed in clashes with former army personnel owing allegiance to toppled leader Bashar al-Assad after coordinated attacks and ambushes on their forces on Thursday.
The attacks spiralled into a cycle of revenge killings when thousands of armed supporters of Syria’s new leaders from across the country descended to the coastal areas to support beleaguered forces of the new administration.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said on Saturday more than 1,000 people had been killed in the fighting.
Turkey’s defence ministry declined to comment on Abdi’s remarks and the country’s foreign ministry was not immediately available to respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed groups clashed repeatedly throughout the nearly 14-year civil war and are still fighting in some parts of northern Syria.
Abdi called on Sharaa to “reconsider the method of forming the new Syrian army and the behaviour of the armed factions”, saying some of them were exploiting their role in the army “to create sectarian conflicts and settle internal scores”.
Sharaa, who headed the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction that spearheaded the rebel offensive to oust Assad, was named interim president in January. Syria’s previous army was dissolved and rebel factions agreed to merge into a new national armed force.
Abdi said that he was in talks with Sharaa on incorporating his fighting force into the army.
(Reporting by Orhan Qereman in Qamishli, Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Clelia Oziel)
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