Syria Kurds say to keep up anti-Daesh fight unless Turkey attacks

Syrian Kurdish forces said Thursday they will keep fighting Daesh (ISIS) in eastern Syria unless they come under Turkish attack, after their U.S. allies announced their withdrawal.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stressed they would freeze operations if Turkey attacked, as widely expected after a pullout of U.S. forces which have served as a buffer.

"The Hajin battles continues," said Mustefa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-dominated force, referring to the main front against Daesh in the Euphrates Valley.

"The U.S. decision is just a decision and does not yet affect the situation on the ground," Bali told AFP.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fighting was ongoing Thursday.

Backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, SDF forces last week seized Hajin, the largest village in the last pocket of territory still controlled by Daesh in eastern Syria.

Hundreds of die-hard militants, however, have regrouped in Sousa and Al-Shaafa, the last two hubs in the ever-shrinking rump of the group's once sprawling "caliphate."

"We have previously said that, if attacked, we would dedicate ourselves to the defense of our land," Bali said.

"The scenario of a halt in the anti-terrorist battle is tied to Turkish threats," the SDF spokesman added.

He also hinted the U.S. pullout, which many Kurds see as a betrayal, could make Syria's autonomous Kurdish administration less inclined to retain custody of detained Daesh fighters whom Western countries do not want to return home.

Bali did not suggest the Kurds would release detained militants but argued that Turkey risked targeting prisons in order to wreak chaos.

"Of course, if Turkey attacks, it will affect the fate of these prisoners," he said. "Turkey may target these prisons as it tries to release these terrorists."

The Kurds have repeatedly complained they do not have the capacity to handle the burden of more than 3,000 Daesh detainees and family members, urging Western powers to repatriate their nationals for trial at home.

Western powers, including countries with significant contingents of captured foreign fighters such as France, have been reluctant to take back militants.

AFP