Syria and monitoring group blast Turkey over civilian deaths

BEIRUT — The Syrian government and an opposition monitoring group condemned yesterday what they called Turkey's "crimes" against the Syrian people in the northern town of al-Bab that is controlled by the Islamic State group, as a top Turkish military official said most of the town is under control of allied Syrian opposition fighters.

Turkish troops and allied opposition fighters have been on the offensive in al-Bab for weeks trying to take it from IS, a grueling battle that has killed hundreds of people so far. On Feb. 7, the Turkish offensive on the town intensified in an attempt to capture it from the extremists but the push has been slow because of fierce resistance from IS fighters.

The battle has been difficult for Turkish troops who have lost some 65 soldiers since they entered Syria in August, most of them in al-Bab, which has been under attack since mid-November.

Turkish forces have been deployed in Syria since August with the aim of clearing a border patch of IS militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters that Ankara considers related to its own Kurdish insurgency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish shelling and airstrikes have killed 45 people in al-Bab since Wednesday. It said the dead include 14 women and 18 children.

"The crimes committed against civilians in the city of al-Bab are continuing after the killers of civilians have permitted shedding the blood of Syrians," the Observatory said. It said that since the operation against al-Bab and nearby villages began on Nov. 13, some 430 civilians have been killed in the area.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on yesterday condemned what it called Turkey's violations of Syria's sovereignty. The condemnation was expressed in letters addressed to the UN secretary-general and president of the UN Security Council.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video said to be taken in al-Bab showing men, boys and infants being treated for severe wounds inside a clinic.

The video shows a child crying while lying on a hospital bed with a severe wound after his left arm was cut from under the shoulder. Another child had a severe stomach wound that killed him. A third infant had the upper part of his skull blown off removing the top of the child's head. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events.

The violence in al-Bab came as Turkey's military said the Turkish and US military chiefs of staff have "confirmed" the need to fight terror groups in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants.

A military statement said US Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford met with his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Hulusi Akar, on yesterday at Incirlik air base, which is home to warplanes of the US-led coalition that is battling the extremist group. Turkey also carries out airstrikes against Kurdish militants' bases in northern Iraq.

The military statement said Akar told Dunford that Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters had "to a great extent" taken control of the IS-held Syrian town of al Bab.

It made no reference to a possible joint operation to retake the IS stronghold of Raqqa, which Turkey's defense minister said would be discussed.

The Observatory said IS fighters are still in "full control" of al-Bab.

As the fighting in al-Bab area intensified, the Russian military said that its strategic bombers have struck IS positions to the east. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Tu-95 bombers that flew from their base in Russia launched long-range cruise missiles yesterday at the IS facilities near the group's main stronghold of Raqqa.

It added that the missiles successfully hit the IS training camps and a control facility of one of the militant units. The ministry said fighter jets from a Russian air base in Syria escorted the bombers.