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US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia offers rare apology to rivals amid unity talks

The apology is testament to the group's determination to see unity talks between the Kurdish National Council and the PYD through to a successful end.
A patrol of US military vehicles is seen near the flying yellow flags of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and green flags of its constituent Women's Protection Forces (YPJ) in the town of Tal Tamr in the northeastern Syrian Hasakeh province along the border with Turkey on February 8, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The leading Kurdish militia in northeast Syria has apologized for its actions against an opposition Kurdish political party that resulted in the deaths of several civilians in 2013. The gesture by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) is aimed at accelerating a US-brokered political reconciliation process between its political arm, the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), and an alliance of opposition parties united under the umbrella of the Kurdistan National Council.  

YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmoud today called the events that took place in June 2013 in the town of Amude “a catastrophe.”

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