Syria: Kurdish fighter captured by Arab militia, demands YPG to halt operations

August 14, 2014 – ARA News – Qamishli, Syria – On Wednesday, clashes renewed between the Kurdish forces of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) and Arab rebels of Ahrar Geweran in the city of Hasakah, northeast of Syria. The clashes coincided with artillery shelling by pro-Assad army on Geweran. Speaking to ARA News in Hasakah, media activist Ismail al-Ali said that several civilians were killed in Geweran due to artillery shelling on the neighbourhood on Wednesday.

Pro-Assd army forces attacked Geweran from their bases in Kawkab mount and al-Ghazal checkpoint in Hasakah.

“Fierce clashes broke out between the YPG forces and Ahrar Geweran gunmen at the entrance of the neighborhood,” al-Ali said, while no casualties were reported in the ranks of both battling groups. Meanwhile, the joint Consultative Council of Hasakah (consists of Kurdish, Arab and Christian members) appealed to the city’s residents to “stand united to face the challenges of the current phase”.“We should maintain the sense of solidarity among the city’s social components and preserve the historical coexistence in Hasakah and its surroundings,” the council said in a statement, adding that the main victim of the ongoing violence are the “innocent civilians”. Meanwhile, gunmen of Ahrar Geweran published a video footage showing a Kurdish fighter from the YPG who was captured during the recent clashes in Hasakah. Khoshman Ramadan, the detained YPG member, called on his comrades to stop operations against Geweran neighbourhood “because most of the victims are civilians”, he said.

“I saw with my own eyes civil casualties of the shelling in Geweran, many children and women.. I’m safe here and those people provided me with treatment and all needed medicines.. please stop the shelling,” Ramadan said in Arabic and then in Kurdish, addressing his YPG fellow fighters.However, activists argued that Ramadan was apparently exposed to torture and was under pressure while speaking in the video. Reporting by: Dilshad Mohammed

Source: ARA News