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Syrian Rebels Are Using the Turkish Offensive to Settle Scores with Kurds
(Washington Post) Louisa Loveluck and Zakaria Zakaria - Syrian rebels who have joined Turkey's cross-border offensive against the Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave in northern Syria say they see the assault as a way to settle personal scores, and reports are mounting of looting and summary executions carried out by the Syrian fighters. Kurdish forces had thrown off decades of state repression and established autonomous areas across Syria's north. Much of the territory was captured with U.S. support, after Washington backed a majority-Kurdish force to seize areas ruled by the Islamic State. But monitoring groups say that Kurdish forces razed a number of Arab-majority villages in the eastern province of Hasakah while clashing with the Islamic State, and sought to remove some Arab civilians they feared might harbor extremist fighters if allowed to stay behind.