The Latest: UN says 65,000 fled fighting in Syria's Hasakeh

The Latest: UN says 65,000 fled fighting in Syria's Hasakeh


3 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the Syrian civil war (all times local):

10 p.m.

The United Nations says it's extremely concerned at the plight of more than 65,000 people who have fled fighting between government and Kurdish forces in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that 40,000 people are thought to have fled to suburban neighborhoods and nearby villages and more than 25,000 others have fled to cities and villages north of the city since Aug. 18.

Dujarric says that "given the scale and pace of displacement, not all needs can be met yet," and urged all parties to facilitate "permanent and unhindered" access for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Syrian state media reported that a cease-fire between government and Kurdish forces in Hasakeh went into effect Tuesday. The two have shared control of the city since the early months of the civil war but clashes broke out last week.

___

9:45 p.m.

The United Nations says its first convoy to a besieged or hard-to-reach area in Syria this month is delivering food, health care items and other desperately needed aid to 35,000 people in the besieged town of al-Waer.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday that the U.N. humanitarian office is planning for a second convoy later this week.

U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council on Monday that not a single aid convoy was able to move this month and reiterated his call for 48-hour weekly cease-fires to allow aid access.

O'Brien said the U.N. asked to deliver aid to nearly 1 million people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas in August, but the Syrian government approved less than 50 percent of the requests, denying aid to rebel-held eastern Aleppo and several other besieged areas.

___

7:30 p.m.

A Turkish news agency says authorities are asking residents to evacuate the Turkish border town of Karkamis after a mortar round fired from Syria hit the grounds of its municipality building.

The private Dogan news agency says the mortar that struck the town Tuesday was fired from Jarablus, a Syrian border town controlled by the Islamic State group. It was the third mortar round fired from the extremist-ruled town in 24 hours.

The report says minibuses are being readied for people needing transportation.

Dogan says Turkish border units fired at Islamic State targets in Jarablus following the incident. The two sides have exchanged fire on a number of occasions in recent days.

Officials did not immediately confirm the report.

___

6:45 p.m.

Turkey says it will provide "every kind" of support to operations to rid Syria and Iraq of Islamic State militants, including a possible offensive against the IS-held town of Jarablus.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Tuesday his country is determined to fight IS and Kurdish militias "both inside and outside" of Turkey, saying the two groups had increased attacks on Turkey in the aftermath of last month's failed military coup.

Cavusoglu did not elaborate on the planned Turkish support.

He was speaking in the Turkish capital, Ankara during a joint news conference with his visiting Hungarian counterpart.

The minister also said Turkey had killed some 650 IS militants in strikes carried out from a military base in northern Iraq, without providing a time frame.

___

4 p.m.

Syrian state media says a cease-fire between government and Kurdish forces in Hasakeh has gone into effect, six days after fierce clashes erupted between the two sides over control of the northern Syrian city.

It says the cease-fire went into effect at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) Tuesday.

The Kurdish Hawar News Agency says government forces and pro-government militias have agreed to withdraw from Hasakeh and leave it in under the control of the local Kurdish police force, the Asayish, as part of the terms of the cease-fire.

The statement from Syrian state media does not mention any withdrawals. It says the two sides had agreed to evacuate the injured and exchange detainees.

Government and Kurdish forces have shared control of Hasakeh since the early years of the Syrian war.

___

11:15 a.m.

Turkish media are saying that Turkey's artillery has shelled Islamic State targets across the border in Syria. This comes after two mortar rounds, believed to have been fired by the militants, landed on Turkish territory.

The Hurriyet newspaper and others say the mortar rounds, fired from IS-held Jarablus on Tuesday morning, hit the town of Karkamis, in Turkey's Gaziantep province. One of them exploded in the garden of a house, but no one was hurt.

Hurriyet reported on its website that Turkey's military responded by launching 40 rounds, hitting four IS target.

On Monday, Turkish artillery attacked a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia as well as IS positions in Syria.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported Turkey has increased security measures at its border opposite Jarablus, deploying tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast