MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TOP OF THE AGENDA

Bomb in Northern Syrian Market Kills Dozens
A truck bomb (AFP) in a northern Syrian city controlled by Turkey-backed rebel forces killed at least forty-six people and wounded fifty at a crowded marketplace, according to a human rights monitor. Turkey blamed (Anadolu) the People’s Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish militia group for the attack.

The attack was one of the largest to occur in the city of Afrin since Turkish and allied Syrian opposition forces seized the surrounding region from the YPG in 2018. The YPG did not immediately comment (BBC) on the attack. The U.S. State Department condemned it as a “cowardly act of evil” and repeated the United Nations’ call for a cease-fire in Syria.
Analysis
“Ankara frequently blames the YPG for the attacks, while the militia says it does not target civilians,” Tuvan Gumrukcu and Lisa Lambert write for Reuters.

“[In 2018], the Turkish military, working with its Islamist allies in the Syrian opposition, attacked the YPG, displaced over 150,000 Kurds (nearly half of Afrin’s population), and repopulated the province with Arabs and Turkmen from elsewhere in Syria,” Brett McGurk writes in Foreign Affairs.

CFR looks at Syria’s descent into horror.