Turkish forces say they've captured key Syrian border town
Ceylanpinar: Turkey's military said it captured a key Syrian border town under heavy bombardment Saturday in its most significant gain since an offensive against Kurdish fighters began four days ago, with no sign of relent despite mounting international criticism.
Turkish troops entered central Ras al-Ayn, according to Turkey's Defence Ministry and a war monitor group.
The ministry tweeted: "Ras al-Ayn's residential center has been taken under control through the successful operations in the east of Euphrates" River. It marked the biggest gain made by Turkey since the invasion began Wednesday.
The continued push by Turkey into Syria comes days after President Donald Trump cleared the way for Turkey's air and ground offensive, pulling back US forces and saying he wanted to stop getting involved with "endless wars."
Trump's decision drew swift bipartisan criticism that he was endangering regional stability and risking the lives of Syrian Kurdish allies. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces was the main US ally in the fight and lost 11,000 fighters in the nearly five-year battle against IS.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters have made gains recently capturing several northern villages. The invasion also has forced nearly 100,000 people to flee their homes amid concerns that IS might take advantage of the chaos.
The Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF called on the United States to carry out its "moral responsibilities" and close northern Syrian airspace to Turkish warplanes.
"We don't want them to send their soldiers to the front lines and put their lives in danger," the statement said. "What we want is for them" to close the airspace for Turkish warplanes.
During a meeting Saturday in Cairo, the 22-member Arab League condemned what it described as "Turkey's aggression against Syria" and warned that Ankara will be responsible for the spread of terrorism following its invasion.
It called on the UN Security Council to force Turkey to stop the offensive.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey won't stop until the Syrian Kurdish forces withdraw below a 32 kilometer (20 mile) deep line from the border.
During the capture of Ras al-Ayn's residential centre, an Associated Press journalist across the border heard sporadic clashes as Turkish howitzers struck the town and Turkish jets screeched overhead.
Syrian Kurdish forces appeared to be holding out in some areas of the town. The SDF released two videos said to be from inside Ras al-Ayn, showing fighters saying that it was Saturday and they were still there.
The fighting was ongoing as the Kurdish fighters sought to reverse the Turkish advance into the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Ras al-Ayn is one of the biggest towns along the border and is in the middle of the area where Turkey plans to set up its safe zone. The ethnically and religiously mixed town with a population of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians and Syriac Christians had been under the control of Kurdish fighters since 2013.
IS members tried to enter Ras al-Ayn following their rise in Syria and Iraq in 2014 but failed.
Earlier Saturday, Turkish troops moved to seize control of key highways in northeastern Syria, the Turkish military and the Syrian Observatory said.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said that Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces had taken control of the M-4 highway that connects the towns of Manbij and Qamishli.
Kurdish news agencies including Hawar and Rudaw said that Hevreen Khalaf, secretary general of the Future Syria Party, was killed Saturday as she was driving on the M-4 highway. Rudaw's correspondent blamed Turkish forces for targeting Khalaf's car, and Hawar blamed "Turkey's mercenaries."
The observatory said six people, including Khalaf, were killed by Turkey-backed opposition fighters on the road that they briefly cut before withdrawing.
Since Wednesday, Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters backed by Ankara have been advancing under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling.
Turkey has said it aims to push back the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units or YPG, which it considers terrorists for links to a decades-long Kurdish insurgency.
The YPG is a main component of the SDF. The UN estimated the number of displaced at 100,000 since Wednesday, saying that markets, schools and clinics also were closed. Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis with nearly a half-million people at risk in northeastern Syria.
A civilian wounded in a mortar strike from Syria on Friday in the Turkish border town of Suruc died, Anadolu news agency reported Saturday, bringing the civilian death toll to 18 in Turkey. Turkey's interior minister said hundreds of mortars, fired from Syria, have landed in Turkish border towns.
The observatory that keeps track of Syria's civil war said 74 Kurdish-led SDF fighters have been killed since Wednesday as well as 49 Syrian opposition fighters backed by Turkey.
That's in addition to 38 civilians on the Syrian side. It added that Turkish troops now control 23 villages in northeastern Syria.
Turkey's defence ministry said it "neutralised" 459 Syrian Kurdish fighters. The number could not be independently verified. Four Turkish soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the offensive.
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US universities urge foreign students to return to campus ahead of Trump's swearing-in
New York (PTI): Several American universities have issued travel advisories for their international students as well as staff and urged them to return to the US before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January next year amid concerns over travel bans that may be enacted by his administration.
Trump will take the oath of office on January 20 and has announced that he will sign several executive orders on issues of economy and immigration on his first day as the 47th President of the United States.
Amid concerns over the disruptions caused by travel bans during his first term as president, several top US universities are issuing travel advisories for their international students and faculty who may be travelling outside the country around Trump’s inauguration.
According to data from the US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Institute of International Education, India and China made up over half (54 per cent) of all international students in the United States.
But for the first time since 2009, India became the leading place of origin with 331,602 international students in the United States in 2023/2024, reflecting a 23 per cent increase from the prior year, surpassing China, according to data from the ‘Open Doors 2024 Report on International Educational Exchange’.
China was the second leading place of origin, despite a 4 per cent decline to 277,398 students. It remained the top-sending country for undergraduates and non-degree students, sending 87,551 and 5,517, respectively.
Associate Dean and Director at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) International Students Office David Elwell in a post following the presidential elections said that with every election, “when there is a change in administration on the federal level there can be changes in policies, regulations, and legislation that impacts higher education as well as immigration and visa status matters".
Elwell urged students to assess their travel plans over the upcoming winter break, noting that new executive orders under Trump may impact travel and visa processing.
In addition, election transitions also impact staffing levels at US Embassies/Consulates abroad, which could impact entry visa processing times.
“Students who would need to apply for a new entry visa at the US Embassy/Consulate abroad to return to the US in their student status should assess the possibility of facing any extensive processing times and have a backup plan if they must travel abroad and wait for a new entry visa to be issued. Any processing delays could impact students’ ability to return to the US as planned,” Elwell said.
The Office of Global Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in an advisory recommended that its “international community-- including all international students, scholars, faculty and staff under UMass immigration sponsorship" strongly consider returning to the US before the presidential inauguration if they are planning on travelling internationally during the winter holiday break.
While noting that this was not a requirement or mandate from UMass, nor was it based on any current US government policy or recommendation, the university added that “given that a new presidential administration can enact new policies on their first day in office (January 20) and based on previous experience with travel bans that were enacted in the first Trump administration in 2017", the Office of Global Affairs is making this advisory out of an abundance of caution to hopefully prevent any possible travel disruption to members of our international community.
"We are not able to speculate on what a travel ban will look like if enacted, nor can we speculate on what particular countries or regions of the world may or may not be affected.”
The Wesleyan Argus, the college newspaper of Wesleyan University, said in a report that the university has been “evaluating the potential future impacts" of the Trump administration on international and undocumented students.
“Much uncertainty surrounds the possible changes to American immigration policy that could be enacted by the Trump administration beginning January 20, 2025.”
The report added that Wesleyan’s Office of International Student Affairs (OISA) has been “concerned about sweeping policy changes” that could be implemented soon after Trump’s inauguration.
“With the presidential inauguration happening on Monday, January 20, 2025, and uncertainties around President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for immigration-related policy, the safest way to avoid difficulty re-entering the country is to be physically present in the US on January 19 and the days thereafter of the spring semester,” an email sent on November 18 to international students studying under the F-1 visa read, according to the Wesleyan Argus report.
Within a week of his first term as president, Trump had in January 2017 signed an executive order banning nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - from entering the US for 90 days, causing massive disruptions among communities and outrage and concerns by civil rights organisations.
