Pro-Turkey rebels 'execute' nine civilians: monitor

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Fighters from the Syrian National Army have "executed" nine civilians near the town of Tal Abyad in northeastern Syria, a monitor said Saturday.

"The nine civilians were executed ... in the south of the town of Tal Abyad," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Kurds said in a statement that a female Kurdish party official and her driver were among those killed.

Turkey on Oct. 9, Wednesday, launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate Kurdish militias from northern Syria, seeking to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity, according to Anadolu Agency.

Some 100,000 people have fled their homes since Turkey mounted its offensive in northeast Syria on Wednesday, moving away from the border and deeper into the region - which the Kurdish YPG militia and its allies control.

The exodus is the latest in Syria’s war that has already uprooted more than half of the population - some 11 million people - through years of multi-sided warfare which shattered the country.

Meanwhile, Turkey's Defense Ministry said that Ras al-Ayn town located east of Euphrates in Syria was taken under control in the scope of Operation Peace Spring.

"As part of the successful operations being conducted in the framework of Operation Peace Spring, the town of Ras al-Ayn, located east of the Euphrates, has been brought under control," the ministry announced on Twitter.

Ankara brands the YPG a security threat because of links to the Kurdish PKK which has waged a long insurgency inside Turkey.

Turkey’s offensive, its third into northern Syria, kicked off after a withdrawal from part of the border of U.S. forces, whose presence had until then deterred such an attack.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the YPG spearheads, decried the U.S. move as betrayal after they fought alongside each other to crush Islamic State across much of Syria.

The eight-year-old war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and forced 13 million people from their homes, half of whom have left their shattered homeland.