The Israeli defense establishment is weighing requests for assistance from Syria's Kurdish minority, who are under attack from Turkish-backed Islamist groups. The appeals for help have reached Israeli officials in recent days following the advancement of these groups and their successful capture of Kurdish-held territories.

Israel and the Kurdish forces have maintained an ongoing dialogue, which has strengthened significantly following the fall of the Assad regime.

The Israeli dilemma stems partly from the potential impact such intervention could have on relations with Erdogan's Turkey, as well as the American position, which favors stopping the fighting through diplomatic means. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has led diplomatic discourse supporting the Kurds and Druze in Syria, raising the issue in meetings with his European counterparts and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Their appeals to Israel have also reached Israel Hayom, "You control the skies, you didn't hesitate to take the big mountain (Syrian Hermon). Everyone fears you, including al-Julani (leader of the rebel group that overthrew the Assad regime). Turkey is against you, and we are with you. You must help us, for your own interests," says A. Awak, one of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commanders in the southeastern sector of the Syrian autonomous region, in a fragmented conversation from the Syria-Iraq border.

"The Turks are determined to exploit the success of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and conquer all of Syria to make it their client state," he adds. "Only we can prevent this, but we need external help from the West, especially from you, because everyone fears you now. The day isn't far when these Islamist groups will turn against you too."

"This is a historic opportunity that Israel must seize," says Professor Ofra Bengio, one of the world's leading experts on Kurdish affairs. "Israel should assist the Kurdish minority in Syria so they can maintain their autonomy in the northeast of the country." During Syria's civil war, the Kurds, a pro-Western and pro-Israeli minority, managed to establish control over a quarter of the country's territory – a larger area than most other opposition groups.

The Kurdish region in Syria, bordering Iraq to the east, also serves as a buffer against pro-Iranian groups operating in southern Iraq that launch drones and missiles toward Israel.

The Turkish interest becomes apparent as the fall of the Assad regime to militias from northwestern Syria in the past ten days has raised immediate concerns among the Kurds. Although this marks the fall of one of their enemies, there are growing fears that Turkish-backed militias will turn against them - a fear that has already begun to materialize.

The Islamist groups have captured the provincial city of Manbij near the Turkish border from Kurdish forces, with fighting only stopping after American intervention - though it continued on other fronts. In recent days, they also captured the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, including its strategic airport, as well as the city of Al-Bukamal on the Iraqi border. The Kurds retreated across the Euphrates River but fear continued attacks with Turkish support.

An Israeli diplomatic source says that Israeli involvement now, even behind the scenes, has more advantages than disadvantages, "It's clear to us too that the moderation displayed by the heads of the Islamist rebel headquarters in Syria is for PR purposes, and when they can, they will turn against Israel. The Kurds are allies who have helped us in various ways."

However, he emphasizes, "The picture is complex, and we cannot act there without American consent. There's a chance the Americans won't be too angry if we independently attack targets in the south, far from Turkey, without claiming responsibility."

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Some of the components in the Iranian drones being supplied to Russia have Western components, a senior Kurdish figure told Israel Hayom in an interview that focused on the Kurdish plight for freedom from the yoke of the Iranian regime.

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The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan's Deputy Head of Foreign Relations Hiwa Bahrami, whose party has been part of the long effort to "attain Kurdish national rights within a federal and democratic Iran", said that Kurds have been bombed by Iranians for the past 40 years.

"This is not just several months [referring to the war in Ukraine]; we have had to deal with this for 40 years, since the Islamic Revolution," he told Israel Hayom.

Bahrami added that the recent "Hijab protest" in Iran, which was sparked by the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by police officers who said she did not cover her head properly, has had the Kurdish minority once again become an easy target.

He noted that almost half of the roughly 400 dead in the protests have been Kurds and Baluch, many of whom were killed by drones and missiles that Iran has fired recently on Kurdish areas.

"We managed to down some of the drones with our air defenses, and we even took some photos of the aircraft," he said. "These are the same models used by the Russian military in Ukraine. Some of the components there are from European manufacturers and even US companies," he noted.

He stressed that his party is not "involved in organizing the unrest" but said that "everyone wants to get rid of this regime and regain freedom, not just in Kurdistan; it's only natural that we would support the people in Iran."

He then implored Israel to show its solidarity. "We want support from all democratic states, including Israel. For the regime, Israel is the main enemy and they always try to attack it in every possible way. Now Israel and the Iranians have a common goal."

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The United States will stay on in Syria to destroy the Islamic State group, build infrastructure, and remain a player in the search for a political settlement after more than 10 years of civil war, a leading Syrian Kurdish politician said Thursday.

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The Kurds, who live in the mountainous region straddling the borders of Syria, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, carved out self-rule across northeast Syria during the civil war that began in 2011.

President Bashar Assad was supported by Russia and Iran while the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia was backed by the United States. In 2019, then-US President Donald Trump pulled most American forces out of Syria to enable a Turkish offensive against the Kurds.

The chaotic Western withdrawal from Afghanistan stoked concern across the Middle East that Trump's successor Joe Biden might abandon allies across the region as Washington perceived China to be the main strategic challenge.

But Ilham Ahmed, president of the executive committee of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the YPG, said the United States had given a clear commitment to the Kurds.

"They promised to do whatever it takes to destroy Islamic State and work to build infrastructure in northeastern Syria," she told Reuters after meetings in Washington with White House, State Department, and Pentagon representatives.

"They said they are going to stay in Syria and will not withdraw - they will keep fighting Islamic State," Ahmed said. "Before they were unclear under Trump and during the Afghan withdrawal, but this time they made everything clear."

Syria's minority Kurds, who were discriminated against by Assad's pan-Arabist ruling Baath party, run a civilian administration that governs the affairs of several million Syrians once ruled from Damascus.

The Kurds have asked the Americans to help reopen the Al-Yaarubiyah border crossing between Syria and Iraq for international aid and to play a role in helping a political settlement, Ahmed said.

Ahmed, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last month, said the Kurds had also been speaking to the Russians, whom she called "the main player in Syria,"  and was ready for dialogue with Iran too.

The Kurds have spoken to Damascus in an attempt to find a political settlement.

"We don't see much happening in the short term... We are hoping the Americans will play a more active role for a Syrian political settlement - they should do," she said.

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In an unsurprising result, Syrian President Bashar Assad won reelection this week with 95.1% of the vote, despite the bloody civil war that broke out, in which the Assad regime committed war crimes against its own citizens.

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The 95.1% of the vote comprises 13,540,000 ballots cast.

Voting did not take place in areas controlled by rebels or Kurdish-led troops. At least 8 million, mostly displaced, live in those areas in northwest and northeast Syria. Over 5 million refugees – mostly living in neighboring countries – largely refrained from casting their ballots.

US and European officials have questioned the legitimacy of the election, saying it violates UN resolutions in place to resolve the conflict, lacks any international monitoring, and is unrepresentative of all Syrians.

Assad faced symbolic competition from two candidates – Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and Mahmoud Marie, a former minister and a former opposition figure.

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Syria is a "living nightmare" where about half the children have never lived a day without war and 60% of Syrians are at risk of going hungry, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the conflict.

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"It is impossible to fully fathom the extent of the devastation in Syria, but its people have endured some of the greatest crimes the world has witnessed this century. The scale of the atrocities shocks the conscience," Guterres said.

"Syria has fallen off the front page. And yet, the situation remains a living nightmare," he told reporters.

A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Washington supporting the opposition. Millions of people have fled Syria and millions are internally displaced.

"More humanitarian access is needed," Guterres told reporters on Wednesday. "Intensified cross-line and cross-border deliveries are essential to reach everyone in need everywhere. This is why I have repeatedly urged the Security Council to achieve consensus on this crucial matter."

The 15-member Security Council first authorized a cross-border aid operation into Syria in 2014 at four points. Last year, it reduced that access to one crossing point from Turkey due to opposition from Russia and China over renewing all four.

The council is due to address the issue of cross-border aid again in July.

Throughout the past decade, the Security Council has been divided over how to handle Syria, with Syrian ally Russia and China pitted against Western members. Russia has vetoed 16 council resolutions related to Syria and was backed by China for many of those votes.

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Human rights activists around the world were up in arms last week over the extraordinary sentencing of Turkish lawmaker Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party to 2.5 years in prison for his criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government.

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Gergerlioglu was sentenced to prison for "promoting propaganda for a terrorist organization" after sharing news on Twitter of tensions between the government in Ankara and the Kurdish minority as well as the collapse of the peace process between the two sides.

In an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, Gergerlioglu said he was sentenced for his "solutions in the field of promoting human rights."

"I gave no statement on support for terror. My statements do not serve the government, so that made them demonize my words. The court gave in to pressure; Its decision was political," he says.

Gergerlioglu says he has one last hope – the possibility of appealing the decision to the country's constitutional court. Unfortunately for Gergerlioglu, the domestic parliamentarian process is already underway.

From the appeals court, the sentence was sent to parliament for reading ahead of a vote to revoke his member status. The parliament is expected to authorize the move thanks to the power of the coalition, led by the Justice and Development Party. While unusual, his sentence was not unprecedented. Another lawmaker, Enis Berberoglu of the Republican People's Party, also had his position revoked. In his case, however, the constitutional court ruled in favor of restoring his status. As there is no parliamentary immunity in Turkey, this led to an incumbent lawmaker being sent to prison.

"Berberoglu's case cannot be repeated in my case," Gergerlioglu notes. "If the constitutional court rescinds the decision, and I go back to being a member of parliament, then that will be controversy No. 2. I hope the parliament's decision will only be made at the end of the process at the constitutional court."

Q: Do you think you did anything wrong?

"I don't think I did anything wrong. I stand behind every word I said. They want to silence me."

Q: What is your main criticism of the Justice and Development Party and President Erdogan?

"Erdogan is a centralized leader who gets farther away from the legal system and democracy with every day that passes. In the first years of Erdogan's administration, I supported them because they took positive steps for democracy. Nevertheless, I now see no step that can be supported."

Q: How bad is the human rights situation in Turkey?

"The image of human rights is deteriorating. The government doesn't do enough on the issues of freedom of religion and thought, freedom of expression, the protection of human life and property, personal security, and the right not to be tortured."

"This is not just my statement, but a global, objective statement based on the promotion of human rights. With the current government and its current policies, there's no doubt the situation will deteriorate even further."

Q: Do you think Israel and Turkey will normalize ties while Erdogan is in power?

"Erdogan is a pragmatic politician. He speaks to the people one way and behaves in a different way behind the scenes. Erdogan has one tool he can use on the people and that is the exploitation of the Turkish people's religious sentiments and, of course, Turkish nationalism. Israel ties will also be afforded their final status according to this issue."

"Israel-Turkey ties should be based on the principles of promoting human rights and democracy. Internal tensions in Turkey and Israel must not influence foreign policy. The full normalization of ties is required with mutual respect and recognition of the other's rights. The democracy and human rights situation in both Turkey and Israel must improve. Neither country must use these issues against the other."

Q: Are you interested in visiting Israel?

"Israel certainly has an important place in the history of the world's religions and the history of all mankind. I am very interested in visiting Israel to witness developments in the field of agriculture. I want to get to know Israel's sociological climate."

As for the Palestinian issue, which Erdogan has harnessed for his political benefit, Gergerlioglu says, "To determine what is right, I want to witness the tensions between Israel and the Palestinians directly. I think observing out in the field is much more precise than getting theoretical information."

He said, "I would like to get to know Turkey's Jewish community, which has a significant connection to the history of the Ottoman Empire, from up close. I'm interested in understanding how the country's Jewish community sees Turkish politics and understanding from them the nature of the relationship with the Turkish people."

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The deaths stacked up: a policeman shot dead with a pistol equipped with a silencer, a local official gunned down, his son wounded, an Iraqi man beheaded. In total, 20 men and women were killed last month in the sprawling camp in northeastern Syria housing families of the Islamic State group.

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The slayings in al-Hol camp – nearly triple the deaths in previous months – are largely believed to have been carried out by ISIS militants punishing perceived enemies and intimidating anyone who wavers from their extremist line, say Syrian Kurdish officials who run the camp but say they struggle to keep it under control.

The jump in violence has heightened calls for countries to repatriate their citizens languishing in the camp, home to some 62,000 people. Those repatriations have slowed dramatically because of the coronavirus epidemic, officials say. If left there, the thousands of children in the camp risk being radicalized, local and UN officials warn.

"Al-Hol will be the womb that will give birth to new generations of extremists," said Abdullah Suleiman Ali, a Syrian researcher who focuses on jihadi groups.

It has been nearly two years since the US-led coalition captured the last sliver of territory held by the Islamic State group, ending their self-declared caliphate that covered large parts of Iraq and Syria. The brutal war took several years and left US-allied Kurdish authorities in control of eastern and northeast Syria, with a small presence of several hundred American forces still deployed there.

Since then, remaining ISIS militants have gone underground in the Syrian-Iraqi border region, continuing an insurgency. Though attacks in Syria are lower than they were in late 2019, ISIS sleeper cells continue to strike Syrian government troops, forces of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and civilian administrators.

Al-Hol houses the wives, widows, children and other family members of ISIS militants – more than 80% of its 62,000 residents are women and children. The majority are Iraqis and Syrians, but it includes some 10,000 people from 57 other countries, housed in a highly secured separate area known as the Annex. Many of them remain die-hard ISIS supporters.

The camp has long been chaotic, with the hardcore militants among its population enforcing their will on others and seeking to prevent them from cooperating with Kurdish authorities guarding it.

ISIS cells in Syria are in contact with residents of the camp and support them, said senior Kurdish official Badran Cia Kurd. "Anyone who tries to reveal these contacts or stops dealing with [ISIS] is subjected to death," he said.

The US-backed SDF tweeted last week that, backed by air surveillance from the coalition, it detained an ISIS family smuggler in the area of Hadadia near the camp.

"There are several reasons behind the increase of crime including attempts by [ISIS] members to impose their ideology in the camp against civilians who reject it," said Ali, the researcher.

Of the 20 killings at al-Hol in January, at least five of the dead were female residents of the camp, according to the Rojava Information Center, an activist collective that tracks news in areas controlled by the SDF. All the victims were Syrian or Iraqi citizens, including a member of the local police force, and most were killed in their tents or shelters at night, RIC said.

Most of the victims were shot in the back of their heads at close range, according to RIC and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor.

On Jan. 9, a gunman killed a policeman in the camp using a silencer-equipped pistol, then as other police chased him, he threw a hand grenade that seriously wounded the patrol commander, the Observatory said. The same day, an official with a local council dealing with Syrian civilians in the camp was shot to death and his son critically wounded.

In another case, an Iraqi camp resident was decapitated, his head found some distance from his body, RIC reported. It is believed he was killed on suspicion he was cooperating with authorities.

Kurdish security officials did not respond for questions from The Associated Press about the situation.

The immediate cause for the jump in killings was not known. In November, Kurdish authorities began an amnesty program for the 25,000 Syrian citizens in the camp, allowing them to leave. Some speculate that, since those taking amnesty must register and work with authorities, the program may have prompted slayings to keep residents in line. Many Syrians fear leaving the camp because they may face revenge attacks in their hometowns from those who suffered under ISIS rule.

Whatever the cause, the bloodshed points to the ISIS strength within the camp. The local civilian Kurdish authority known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria warned in late January that some sides are trying to revive ISIS and the authority cannot face this crisis on its own.

ISIS supporters in the camp carry out trials against residents suspected of opposing them and kill defendants, and authorities have uncovered several ISIS cells inside, it said. "Contacts are ongoing between the camp and [ISIS] commanders outside who direct their members inside," it said.

Some 27,000 non-Syrian children are stranded in al-Hol, including some 19,000 Iraqi children and 8,000 from other countries. On Jan. 30, UN counterterrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov urged home countries to repatriate the children, warning that they are at risk of radicalization.

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The coronavirus pandemic has brought a drop in the already slow process of repatriation. Many countries have been reluctant to bring back their citizens, though France repatriated seven children in January and Britain one child in September.

Iraq has taken back very few. Repatriation by other countries dropped in 2020 to only 200 children, from 685 in 2019, according to Save the Children.

"These new figures show that before the outbreak of the virus, things were finally starting to move in the right direction," said Save the Children's Syria Response Director Sonia Khush.

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Islamic State has lost nearly all its territory in Syria and US forces killed its former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last month, but the group that once controlled a third of Syria and neighboring Iraq is still seen as a threat.

The administration of President Donald Trump shocked US allies last December by saying Washington was pulling out virtually all of its troops from Syria.

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It said later it decided to keep a residual force in the northeastern part of the country, focusing on preventing Islamic State from staging a comeback and attacking the oil fields there.

"Now I've got about 500 US personnel generally east of the Euphrates east of Deir al Zor up to Hasaka, northeast all the way up into extreme northeast Syria," McKenzie told reporters on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain.

"It is our intention to remain in that position working with our SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) partners to continue operations against ISIS down the Euphrates river valley where those targets present themselves," he added.

Turkey launched and then halted an offensive against the YPG, the main component of the US-backed SDF that helped the United States defeat Islamic State, which it sees as a terrorist group with links to Kurdish terrorists on Turkish soil.

Moscow, the main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said this week it was also in the process of deploying more Russian military police to northeast Syria, setting up field hospitals for civilians, distributing humanitarian aid and rebuilding infrastructure.

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Ankara launched its assault targeting the Kurdish YPG militia after the abrupt withdrawal of 1,000 US troops from northern Syria in early October, a move Kurds deemed a betrayal by Washington, their partner in fighting Islamic State.

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In a rare public dissent with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered humanitarian aid to the "gallant Kurdish people" on Oct. 10, saying they faced possible "ethnic cleansing" by Turkey and its Syrian allies.

Hotovely told the Knesset on Wednesday that the offer had been taken up.

"Israel has received many requests for assistance, mainly in the diplomatic and humanitarian realm," she said. "We identify with the deep distress of the Kurds, and we are assisting them through a range of channels."

Syrian Kurdish officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hotovely did not elaborate on the Israeli assistance, other than to say that during "dialogue with the Americans..., we state our truth regarding the Kurds...and we are proud of our taking a stand alongside the Kurdish people."

Israel has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business ties with the Kurds since the 1960s, regarding the minority ethnic group – whose indigenous population is split between Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran – as a buffer against shared adversaries.

Chief among those today are Iranian-sponsored forces deploying close to Israel's borders, including within Syria.

"Israel indeed has a salient interest in preserving the strength of the Kurds and the additional minorities in the north Syria area as moderate and pro-Western elements," Hotovely said.

"The possible collapse of the Kurdish hold in north Syria is a negative and dangerous scenario as far as Israel is concerned. It is absolutely clear that such an event would bring about a bolstering of negative elements in the area, headed by Iran."

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The state media gave no details but Turkish-backed rebels said similar, intermittent clashes had occurred in recent days with Syrian troops south of the town, which Turkey seized from Syrian Kurdish-led forces earlier this month.

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The report underscores the risk that violence in northeast Syria could rekindle after Ankara and Moscow struck a deal a week ago in which Russia agreed to shift the YPG at least 18 miles south of the border by late on Tuesday.

As part of the deal, Syrian troops have with the agreement of Kurdish forces headed north to take up positions near the border, a region Damascus has not controlled since early on in the country's eight-and-a-half-year-old war.

In Ankara, President Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers from his AK Party that Turkey has information the YPG has not completed its withdrawal, despite assurances from Russia on Tuesday that they had left ahead of the deal's deadline.

"Even though the information in our hands suggests this has not been succeeded in a full sense, we will give our response to them after our field assessments," he said, adding Turkey reserved the right to return to military operations against the YPG in the area.

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist organization because of its links to Kurdish successionist groups in southeast Turkey, and aims to establish a "safe zone" in northern Syria cleared of the group.

The YPG is the main component in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that fought for years alongside US forces to shatter the declared "caliphate" of Islamic State terrorists that spanned a swathe of northern and eastern Syria.

Turkish forces crossed the border into northeast Syria on Oct. 9 to attack the YPG after President Donald Trump's abrupt withdrawal of US forces there a few days earlier, drawing international condemnation of Ankara.

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