Posted on 10/13/2015 11:43:01 AM PDT by keat
Kurdish forces have carried out a wave of forced displacement and mass house demolitions - amounting to war crimes - in northern Syria, a rights group says.
A report by Amnesty International accuses the Popular Protection Units (YPG) of razing entire villages after capturing them from Islamic State (IS).
This appeared to be in retaliation for residents' perceived sympathies with or links to the jihadist group, it says.
The YPG has consistently denied accusations of forced displacements.
However, the YPG - a key ally of the US-led international coalition against IS - and its political parent the PYD have admitted to some "isolated incidents".
Coalition air strikes, as well as air drops of weapons and ammunition, have helped the militia to drive IS out of large parts of northern Syria this year.
The Amnesty report came as the US said it had dropped more than 45 tonnes of ammunition to rebels in north-western Syria.
Civilians 'caught in middle'
On Tuesday, Amnesty said its researchers had uncovered evidence of "alarming abuses" carried out by the YPG - the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - in towns and villages controlled by the Kurdish Autonomous Administration in Hassakeh and Raqqa provinces.
Its report quoted one witness in the village of Husseiniya, in Hassakeh province, as saying: "They pulled us out of our homes and began burning the home... they brought the bulldozers... They demolished home after home until the entire village was destroyed."
Satellite images illustrated the scale of the demolitions in Husseiniya, Amnesty said. Of 225 buildings visible in June 2014, only 14 were still standing by June 2015.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I think the rules of engagement are to win the war...Whatever it takes...
I like the idea of letting them fight to the last man standing.
Then we take that guy out with one JDAM.
these villages are Rubble now anyway ,so best to finish leveling them before you try to rebuild
Go Kurds and kill em all!
If youd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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