Intel: US unsatisfied with Turkey's response to Syria rights abuses

The US government has continued to press Turkey over alleged human rights abuses committed by its proxies in northeast Syria, but according to a new watchdog report, Washington is “not fully satisfied” with Ankara’s response.

The State Department remained “deeply concerned” by alleged rights violations in parts of Syria seized during Turkey’s military operations against Kurdish fighters in October 2019, according to a quarterly inspector general's report on Operation Inherent Resolve, the official name for the US mission against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

US officials received reports of “killings, torture, kidnapping, extortion, arbitrary detentions and denial of water access to half a million civilians” in areas under the control of Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups. Of particular concern, the report said, was documented violence against displaced Kurds as well as Yazidis in Afrin and Christians in Ras al-Ain.

“Turkish officials informed the US government that they take this matter seriously and support investigations of the allegations by the Syrian opposition,” the report said, adding that the State Department did not find its engagements with Turkey satisfying.