US sees reports of Hevrin Khalaf killing, finds them ‘extremely troubling’

The US State Department spokesperson said on Sunday that Washington has seen reports of the killing of Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf and several captured Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, adding that it finds them “extremely troubling.”

“We find these reports to be extremely troubling, reflecting the overall destabilization of northeast Syria since the commencement of hostilities on Tuesday,” the spokesman said in emailed comments, adding that Washington condemned any mistreatment and extrajudicial execution of civilians or prisoners, and was looking further into these circumstances.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported on Saturday the execution of nine, which the SDF said that the female Kurdish party official and her driver were among.

Khalaf was “taken out of her car during a Turkish-backed attack and executed by Turkish-backed mercenary factions,” the political arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement.

Turkey and its allied fighters began the offensive on Wednesday to push back the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, from its border.

The allied fighters are Syrian former militants who once fought against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.