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Kurds warn of ethnic cleansing ahead of expected Turkish ground invasion
Wounded Kurdish fighters hold portraits of comrades who were killed while fighting against Islamic State militants, during a demonstration against an anticipated Turkish incursion targeting Syrian Kurdish fighters, in front the United Nations building, in Qamishli, northeast Syria

KURDS feared ethnic cleansing today as Turkish forces began bombing northern Syria ahead of a much-anticipated ground invasion after US troops withdrew from the region earlier this week.

Commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), General Mazloum Abdi, warned that Turkish troops “are preparing to cross the border” with a major offensive expected in “a matter of days.”

Thousands of SDF forces have mobilised to Syria’s border with Turkey and Mr Abdi predicted a bloodbath in a “major battle” with Nato’s second-largest standing army.

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