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Syria: Rebel groups accuse Kurds’ YPG of ethnic cleansing

SYRIAN rebel and militant groups accused the main Kurdish militia yesterday of an “ethnic cleansing” of Arab and Turkmen people.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which is is poised to capture the Islamic State (Isis) stronghold of Tal Abyad, denied the allegations by 15 groups.

Thousands of refugees, most of them Sunni Muslim Arabs, have fled to Turkey in the past two weeks during the YPG advance on the border town.

“YPG forces have implemented a new sectarian and ethnic cleansing campaign against Sunni Arabs and Turkmen under the cover of coalition air strikes which have contributed bombardment, terrorising civilians and forcing them to flee their villages,” the 15 groups claimed in statement.

The groups, which include the powerful ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, added that the “cleansing” in the north-eastern province of Hassakeh and in Tal Abyad was part of a plan by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria to partition the country.

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