Barin Kobani was part of all-female unit challenging a Turkish-led offensive in north-west Syria.

Kurdish officials accused fighters allied with Turkey of “playing with her corpse” and mutilating it.

Last month, Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels launched a campaign to capture the Kurdish-held Afrin region.

Barin Kobani was killed during fighting earlier this week in the northern part of the region, reports say. She was in her mid-20s, and joined the Kurdish all-female unit known as the YPJ in 2015.

The group is part of the YPG (People’s Protection Units), seen by Turkey as a terrorist group and an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in south-eastern Turkey for three decades.

The US has provided the YPG and allied Arab fighters with weapons and air support to help them battle the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

‘We will never abandon our homes’
Two videos emerged earlier this week, and the woman was soon identified as Barin Kobani.

The footage shows a group of rebels standing around the bloodied body of a woman lying on the ground. Parts of her torso appear to have been cut.

“We hold the Turkish government responsible for this heinous act,” Kurdish-led authorities said. One unconfirmed report claimed she had been captured alive before being killed.

Local official Aldar Khalil condemned the rebels’ “moral decadence”.

Turkey has not publicly commented on the issue. The rebels involved in the videos have not been identified.

Thousands of people have been displaced by the Turkish-led offensive, launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to crush the YPG, which controls Afrin and more than 400km (250 miles) of Syria’s northern border.

Some 10,000 Syrian rebels are taking part in the campaign.

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Source: BBC

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Some German politicians have requested that any moves to approve a tank upgrade deal be halted.

Turkish-led forces began an assault in Syria’s north-west on Saturday.

The row comes just weeks after the two countries’ foreign ministers vowed to improve bilateral ties.

Relations between the two Nato members have soured dramatically in recent years.

Reports on Friday suggested Berlin was moving to approve a request from Turkey for German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall to upgrade its Leopard 2 tanks, to make them less vulnerable to explosives.

The tanks are thought to have been used by Turkey against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. However, defence experts have claimed in German media that recent images from Turkey’s “Operation Olive Branch” appear to show them being used against Kurdish groups.

Politicians from both the left and right have spoken out against the tank upgrade deal, and asked the government to clarify its position on the Turkish offensive in the Afrin region of northern Syria.

Norbert Röttgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said it was “completely obvious” that Germany should not provide the upgrades.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight programme the intervention by Turkish forces was “illegal, contrary to international law and counter-productive with regard to fighting ISIS”.

He said Turkey could not claim to be acting in self-defence because “there have not been any attacks on Turkey by Kurdish forces in Syria”.

Mr Röttgen praised the US for speaking out against the Turkish offensive, saying: “The Americans are the only Nato allies who are clear about what is happening. We quite often criticise the Trump administration but at this point they are more clear and more courageous than the others, and we should follow.”

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday that he had called his Turkish counterpart to express concerns about the humanitarian impact of the Afrin offensive.

Turkey’s president has vowed to “crush” the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which controls Afrin and more than 400km (250 miles) of Syria’s northern border.

On Tuesday the United Nations said an estimated 5,000 people have been displaced so far in the clashes in the Afrin region.

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Source: BBC

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A vehicle filled with explosives hit the convoy near Aleppo.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said at least 109 evacuees from government-held towns were killed, along with aid workers and rebel soldiers.

Many more were injured in the attack, the group said.

The explosion shattered buses and set cars on fire, leaving a trail of bodies, as the convoy waited in rebel territory near Aleppo.

In his Easter Sunday address, Pope Francis called the bombing a “vile attack on fleeing refugees”.

“May [God] sustain the efforts of those who are actively working to bring comfort and relief to the civilian population in beloved Syria, who are greatly suffering from a war that does not cease to sow horror and death,” he said.

The bomb went off at Rashidin, west of government-held Aleppo, at about 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT) at the checkpoint where the handover of evacuees was due to take place.

It happened when a vehicle loaded with food arrived and started distributing crisps, attracting many children, before exploding, the BBC’s Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab said.

She said it was not clear how the vehicle could have reached the area without government permission.

But there is also no evidence that rebels were involved in the attack, as the government claims.

It would not be in the rebels’ interest, our correspondent says, as they were waiting for their own supporters to be evacuated from the other towns.

The planned evacuation was part of the so-called “four towns” deal, where civilians in towns under siege by both sides would be allowed to leave.

It applies to government-controlled Foah and Kefraya, where the bomb struck, as well as rebel-held Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus.

There were fears of revenge attacks on evacuees from rebel-held towns, being moved under a deal.

But the exchange later resumed, with coaches reaching safety on both sides. Evacuations were due to continue on Sunday.

Rebels had earlier accused the government of breaching the terms of the deal, accusing it of trying to bring out more loyalist fighters than agreed, along with civilians.

Foah and Kefraya, most of whose residents are Shia Muslims, have been encircled by rebels and al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim jihadists since March 2015.

Madaya and Zabadani, which are predominantly Sunni Muslim, have been besieged since June 2015 by the Syrian army and fighters from Lebanon’s Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement.

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Source: BBC

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Foreign ministers were seeking a common position on the Syrian conflict, before the US secretary of state flies to Russia to try to persuade it to abandon its Syrian ally.

The nations agreed there was no solution to the Syria crisis with President Assad in power.

But UK proposals to target sanctions at senior military leaders were sidelined.

The diplomacy in the Italian town of Lucca follows the latest apparent use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Syria has denied it carried out a chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun last week that left 89 people dead.

In response, the US fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase that it said was implicated in the attack.

Speaking after the end of the G7 meeting, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the missile strike “was necessary as a matter of US national security interest”.

“We do not want the regime’s uncontrolled stockpile of chemical weapons to fall into the hands of Isis [so-called Islamic State] or other terrorist groups who could and want to attack the United States or our allies.”

He also added that the US saw “no further role for the Assad regime longer term, given that they have effectively given up their legitimacy with these kinds of attacks”.

Mr Tillerson will head to Moscow for talks on Syria later on Tuesday, hoping to persuade the Russians that they have an unreliable ally in President Assad.

Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano – hosting the G7 talks – said ministers wanted to engage with Russia to put pressure on President Assad, adding that “we must not push Russia into a corner”.

“We think the Russians have the leverage that is needed to put pressure on Assad and to get him to observe the commitments with regard to the ceasefire,” he added.

What will US achieve in Moscow – BBC’s Steve Rosenberg

The fact that Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow is happening at all is telling.

Russia reacted angrily to last week’s US missile strike on Syria, condemning it as an “act of aggression”. Yet Moscow is happy to host the US secretary of state. He’ll meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and a meeting with President Putin cannot be ruled out.

But experience shows that Moscow does not take well to threats or ultimatums.

If Mr Tillerson thinks he can weaken Moscow’s support for President Assad, he may need to re-think. The Syrian president is Russia’s key military ally in the Middle East. Russia has invested heavily – militarily, politically and financially – to keep him in power.

New details on chemical attack and retaliation

Reports on Monday quoted a senior US official as saying that the Russians knew of the chemical attack because a drone had been flying over a hospital in Khan Sheikhoun as victims sought help.

Hours later a jet bombed the hospital in what the US believed was an attempt to cover up the attack, the Associated Press agency said.

Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary James Mattis gave fresh details on the retaliatory strike against Syria’s Shayrat airbase.

He said the “measured response” by the US had “resulted in the damage or destruction of fuel and ammunition sites, air defence capabilities and 20% of Syria’s operational aircraft”.

The Syrian military admits significant material damage but a Russian defence ministry spokesman said only six Syrian Air Force MiG-23s, plus a number of buildings, were destroyed and that only 23 of the missiles had reached Shayrat.

What are Syria and its allies saying?

Syria has denied using any chemical agents, and Russia says the US has failed to provide evidence Syria has chemical weapons.

Russia and Iran, President Assad’s key military backers, are also threatening retaliation if there are any further American air strikes, saying the US attack had crossed “red lines”.

“From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well,” said a statement from a joint command centre comprising the forces of President Assad’s allies.

What is the US policy on Syria?

In recent days there have been mixed messages from the US on its priorities in Syria.

Mr Tillerson said on Sunday that there had been “no change to our military posture” in Syria following the US airbase strike and that Washington’s “first priority” was to defeat so-called Islamic State (IS).

Those comments came a day after the US’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley spoke about the removal of President Assad, saying: “In no way do we see peace in that area with Assad as the head of the Syrian government.”

There was further confusion on Monday. Mr Tillerson spoke in public about an interventionist approach, saying: “We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world.”

Hours later, White House press secretary Sean Spicer suggested Mr Trump would act against Syria not just if it used chemical munitions.

“If you gas a baby, if you put a barrel bomb into innocent people, I think you will see a response from this president,” Mr Spicer said in his daily briefing. The White House later said Mr Spicer had meant to refer to barrel bombs containing “industrial chemicals”.

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Souce:  BBC

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Fifty-nine Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from two US Navy ships in the Mediterranean. Six people were killed, the Syrian army said.

It is the first direct US military action against forces commanded by Syria’s president.

The Kremlin, which backs Bashar al-Assad, has condemned the strike.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, called it “an act of aggression against a sovereign nation”.

The attack, at 04:40 Syrian time (01:40 GMT), comes just days after dozens of civilians, including many children, died in the suspected nerve gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.

Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Mr Trump branded President Assad a “dictator” who had “launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians”.

Mr Trump said he had acted in America’s “vital national security interest” to prevent the use of chemical weapons.

“Tonight I call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end this slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types,” he said.

The UK government called the US strike “an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack”.

The Pentagon said the Russian military, which supports Syrian government forces, had been informed ahead of the US action.

In a statement it said missiles fired from Navy destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross had targeted aircraft, aircraft shelters, storage areas, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems, and radars at Shayrat airfield in western Homs province.

The Pentagon added that the strike was intended “to deter the regime from using chemical weapons again”.

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Source: BBC

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