Ankara, Dec 19: Turkey will continue its military activity in northern Syria until Kurdish fighters fully “disarm,” Turkish semi-official Anadolu Agency reported Thursday, citing a Defence Ministry source.

Highlighting ongoing threats from Kurdish forces within Syria to Turkey’s southern border, the source said, “Our counter-terrorism measures and preparations will persist until terrorist groups lay down arms and their foreign fighters leave Syria.”

The source made the remarks in response to allegations that the Turkish Armed Forces and the Syrian National Army, a coalition of armed groups backed by Turkey, are preparing for operations against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the east of the Euphrates.

Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, and has rebelled against the Turkish government for more than three decades.

The Turkish military has launched several operations since 2016 in northern Syria in order to create a YPG-free zone along its border with the neighbouring country.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that Ankara will not allow Syria to become a conflict zone and be divided once again.

“Any attack on the stability of the new Syrian government or the integrity of ancient Syrian lands will face both the Syrian people and us,” Erdogan said at a ruling party meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We cannot accept any steps or provocations aimed at preventing the return of our Syrian brothers and sisters to their homes,” he noted.

Syrian militant groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), waged a major offensive from northern Syria starting November 27 and swept southwards through government-held areas, capturing the capital Damascus within 12 days.

Following the offensive, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad resigned and arrived in Russia for asylum.

Mohammed al-Bashir, an electrical engineer and head of the ‘Syrian Salvation Government’ in Idlib formed in 2017 by the HTS and other Syrian militant groups during the Syrian civil war, was tasked with heading a transitional government in Syria until early March 2025.

New Delhi, Dec 19: India is well on its way to having the second-largest metro network in the world with 993 km of Metro rail already operational in 23 cities across the country and about 997 km under construction in 28 cities, Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar has said.

The Union Minister made an elaborated presentation on Urban Transport to the consultative committee members of Parliament attached to MoHUA, according to an official statement on Thursday.

He emphasised that Urban Mobility is an important aspect to tackle the rising urban population and the government is working relentlessly to strengthen the Urban Transport Network across the country.

The participants were briefed about Metro Rail Policy 2017 and Metro Networks across the cities including Delhi, Jaipur, Patna and Lucknow.

The members were also briefed about the ongoing projects of RRTS (Regional Rapid Transport System) high speed train network, including its funding pattern.

The briefing to members also covered initiatives taken to promote indigenisation of technologies under Make in India and promote Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

The briefing also mentioned PM-eBus Sewa, a scheme for augmenting city bus operations by deploying 10,000 e-buses on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Salient features of this scheme include deployment of 10,000 e- buses on PPP model, bus operations support for 10 years, support for development and the upgradation of bus depots and support for behind-the-meter power infrastructure.

The service aims to cover cities with 3 to 40 lakh population.

The briefing also covered ‘One Nation One Card’, an indigenously developed National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019 to enable seamless travel through Metro, Rail, Bus and other Public Transport Operators.

During the meeting, the Members of Parliament raised issues pertaining to urban mobility which included matters related to last mile connectivity, enhancement of amenities, metro connectivity in their respective states, scaling up of metro operations in the country, ease of travel and passenger comfort.

The MPs who attended the meeting include Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Dinesh Sharma, Ajay Maken, Kamaljeet Sherawat, P.N. Vasava, Prof V.E. Gaikwad, Kavita Patidar, B.M. Sutariya , V.E. Vaithilingam , G. Lakshminarayana, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Y. Chandolia.

The Minister asked the officials that suggestions from members received should be reviewed and information sought by them should be provided.

Damascus, Dec 19: Syria’s interim authorities said that the previous government’s soldiers and officers fleeing to Iraq are now welcome to return home without fear of reprisal.

In a statement, the interim authorities pledged on Wednesday that military personnel who fled to neighbouring Iraq during the final stages of the previous government’s downfall would not face harassment or punishment upon their return.

It added that these returnees could use any border crossing and that the interim authorities would work directly with the Iraqi government to streamline procedures to facilitate their homecoming.

No timeline was provided for when their return might begin, Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 1,000 Syrian army personnel entered Iraq through the Qaim border crossing on December 7, a day before the overthrow of the former Syrian government by militant groups. The Iraqi side stressed that their presence is temporary until arrangements are made for their return to their country.

Authorities also reported a complicated flow of displaced people across the Lebanon-Syria border.

OCHA said that since December 8, Lebanese authorities recorded less than 10,000 Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon to Syria.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency reported that Lebanese authorities estimated around 30,000 displaced people returned as of Friday from Syria to Lebanon, including mostly Syrians but also Lebanese nationals, since the November 27 cessation of hostilities announcement for Lebanon.

The International Organisation for Migration reported a fluid situation with fluctuating movements continuing daily through both formal and informal border crossings. Humanitarians reported earlier that Syrian border officials abandoned their posts following the Damascus takeover.