UN envoy warns Syria’s war ‘has not ended yet’ as US says truce extended
Al Jazeera
US State Department spokesman says ceasefire between Kurdish armed group and Turkey-backed fighters extended.
The United Nations special envoy for Syria has warned that the war “has not ended yet” despite the removal of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition fighters, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed armed groups and Kurdish fighters in the north of the country.
“There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered,” Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, warning that a military escalation could be “catastrophic”.
The remarks come after the Syrian National Army (SNA), a group of fighters backed by Turkiye, has battled with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the wake of al-Assad’s removal.
The SDF is the main ally in a United States-led coalition against ISIS (ISIL). It is spearheaded by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed group that it outlaws and that has fought the Turkish state for 40 years.
Last week, SNA fighters seized the northern city of Manbij from the SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates River as a US-mediated ceasefire came into effect.
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