Syrian Kurdish commander demands accountability for those behind mass killings

By Orhan Qereman

QAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) - The commandant of a Kurdish-led unit successful Syria said connected Sunday the country's interim president indispensable clasp the perpetrators of communal unit successful Syria's coastal areas to account, accusing Turkey-backed factions of being chiefly down the killings.

The caput of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said successful written comments to Reuters that Ahmed al-Sharaa indispensable intervene to halt "massacres", adding factions "supported by Turkey and Islamic extremists" were chiefly responsible.

Syrian information sources person said astatine slightest 200 of their members were killed successful clashes with erstwhile service unit owing allegiance to toppled person Bashar al-Assad aft coordinated attacks and ambushes connected their forces connected Thursday.

The attacks spiralled into a rhythm of revenge killings erstwhile thousands of equipped supporters of Syria's caller leaders from crossed the state descended to the coastal areas to enactment beleaguered forces of the caller administration.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based warfare monitor, said connected Saturday much than 1,000 radical had been killed successful the fighting.

Turkey's defence ministry declined to remark connected Abdi's remarks and the country's overseas ministry was not instantly disposable to respond to a Reuters petition for comment.

Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed groups clashed repeatedly passim the astir 14-year civilian warfare and are inactive warring successful immoderate parts of bluish Syria.

Abdi called connected Sharaa to "reconsider the method of forming the caller Syrian service and the behaviour of the equipped factions", saying immoderate of them were exploiting their relation successful the service "to make sectarian conflicts and settee interior scores".

Sharaa, who headed the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction that spearheaded the rebel violative to oust Assad, was named interim president successful January. Syria's erstwhile service was dissolved and rebel factions agreed to merge into a caller nationalist equipped force.

Abdi said that helium was successful talks with Sharaa connected incorporating his warring unit into the army.

(Reporting by Orhan Qereman successful Qamishli, Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Clelia Oziel)