UN calls for investigation into alleged YPG war crimes

NEW YORK

Kurdish YPG forces in northern Syria should be investigated for alleged war crimes during their battles with Daesh, a UN spokesman said Wednesday.

Farhan Haq told Anadolu Agency that the UN was studying an Amnesty International report that accused the YPG —the armed branch of the Democratic Union Party (PYD)— of carrying out a wave of forced displacement and home demolitions that amounts to war crimes.

"The allegations should be investigated, and anyone found responsible for any crimes brought to justice," Haq said.

"The Secretary-General has consistently stressed the need for accountability in Syria, calling for, among other things, the referral of the situation in that country to the International Criminal Court," he added.

The Amnesty report that was released Tuesday documents deliberate displacement of thousands of civilians and the razing of entire villages in areas the YPG seized from Daesh.

These abuses came "often in retaliation for residents’ perceived sympathies with, or ties to, members of IS or other armed groups", said the London-based group, using an alternative acronym for Daesh.

The YPG has a sizable presence in Syria's north in a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and made the country the world's single-largest source of refugees and displaced people.

The armed group is affiliated with the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., EU and other nations.