Live Updates: Car Bomb Reportedly Hits Outside Central Prison in Syria's City of Hasakah

A car bomb hit outside a central prison in the city of Hasakah, located in the northeast of Syria, early on Saturday, media reported amid Turkey's cross-border military offensive in the area.

The car bomb exploded close to the prison's external wall from the side of the Al Leylia quarter, according to Syria TV, citing its correspondent.

There have been no reports on casualties caused by the incident.

According to the Turkish Defence Ministry, the military attempted to prevent possible damage to a US base in Syria during Ankara's attacks on nearby Kurdish-led forces.

"Turkey did not open fire at the U.S. observation post in any way. All precautions were taken prior to opening fire in order to prevent any harm to the U.S. base. As a precaution, we ceased fire upon receiving information from the U.S. We firmly reject the claim that U.S. or Coalition forces were fired upon," the Defence Ministry explained.

As many as 399 terrorists have been neutralized as a result of Turkey's offensive in northeastern Syria, the Turkish Defence Ministry reported on Friday.

According to previous data provided by the Turkish Defense Ministry, the number of neutralized terrorists stood at 342.

"The overall number of PKK/PYD-YPG terrorists that have been neutralized during successfully ongoing Operation Peace Spring to the East of the Euphrates is 399," the ministry said in statement.

A mortar and rocket attack from Syria killed eight civilians and hurt 35 others in the southern Turkish district of Nusaybin in the Mardin region on Friday, media reported.

The Mardin governor’s office blamed the attack on Kurdish fighters from the Syrian Kurdish YPG group and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, according to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

Two civilians were reportedly killed and two others injured by cross-border fire in the Turkish city of Suruc in the southeastern Sanliurfa province.

Turkey will not halt its operation in northern Syria, despite threats from the international community, including the United States, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"We're receiving threats from right and left, saying stop this operation. I told [US President Donald] Trump, I told others - 'stop it' [the US military assistance to Kurdish forces), but you did not. And now we will not back down, "Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul broadcast by Turkey's NTV television.

"We will never stop this step we have taken against the PYD/YPG... We will not stop it no matter what anyone says," the Turkish president stressed.

Turkey's incursion into northern Syria has had some effect on the counter-terror operations against the Daesh* group in the country, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley said during a press briefing on Friday.

"So we are still conducting [anti-IS] operations, obviously this incursion that was initiated by the Turks has had some effect," Milley said.

When asked if the United States will continue to arm its Syrian Kurdish partners in Syria, Milley said the United States will continue its campaign against Daesh* except in the area of the Turkish incursion.

Milley added that Turkey is responsible for security prisons within the incursion area holding captured Daesh* fighters.

*Daesh (also known as IS/ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia.

The Netherlands will freeze all its weapons exports to Turkey after Ankara launched an offensive on Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the Dutch foreign ministry said Friday.

"The Netherlands has now decided to withhold all licence applications for the export of military goods to Turkey pending the course of the situation," the ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.

The Turkish government has pledged that protecting civilians will be a top priority during the nation’s military operations in northern Syria, UN Undersecretary-General and Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said on Friday.

"I have discussed the situation with the government of Turkey," Lowcock said in a press release. "They have assured me that they attach maximum importance to the protection of civilians and the avoidance of harm to them."

Lowcock’s remarks come after he visited Ankara as well as the Turkey-Syria border region.

US personnel still co-locates with SDF forces in Syria except for two outposts in Turkish incursion area, US Joint Chiefs Chairman has said.  

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Istanbul with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the Turkish leader’s administration said in a statement Friday.

The administration did not disclose the content of the talks.

US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper during phone talks with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar urged Turkey to stop its military operation in northern Syria to provide a chance to deescalate the situation and also not put US personnel in harm’s way, Defense Department Chief Spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said on Friday.

"As part of the call, Secretary Esper strongly encouraged Turkey to discontinue actions in northeastern Syria in order to increase the possibility that the United States, Turkey and our partners could find a common way to deescalate the situation before it becomes irreparable," Hoffman said in a statement.

Esper also expressed his concern during the call on Thursday that Turkey's actions in northeastern Syria could harm US personnel. 

The international humanitarian group, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said Friday that the Turkish offensive in Syria's northeast forced the only public hospital in the border town of Tal Abyad in northeastern Raqqa Governorate to shut down as people flee the shelling.

"Our staff in Tal Abyad witnessed the town, that was once filled with life, become deserted. After eight years of war, the Syrian people have once again been forced to leave their homes and belongings behind in order to seek safety," the MSF emergency manager for Syria Robert Onus said in a statement.

The hospital, which worked under the patronage of MSF, was closed due to the fact that most of its employees left the town with their families.

One person was killed and five more injured when a car bomb explosion took place in front of a restaurant in Syria's city of Qamishli, according to a medical source.  

Turkish shelling has displaced Syrians living in al-Mabrouk camp in the northeastern Syrian province of Hassakah, the local administration said in a press statement on Friday.

The camp, located 7 miles south of the Turkish border is home to 7,000 displaced persons. Turkey on Wednesday started an offensive in northern Syria in a bid to clear a strip of land along its border of Kurdish militias.

"The administration has decided to immediately begin the evacuation of the camp’s residents. They will be moved to al-Arisha camp south of the city of Hassakah," the administration said in a statement obtained by Sputnik.

Talks are also underway to evacuate a camp at Ayn Issa, sheltering 13,000 people, of whom 785 are suspected members of the Daesh* terrorist group, the authorities added.

*Daesh (also known as IS/ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia

"Now we see what is happening in the north of Syria in connection with the Turkish military operation... There are certain things that we can't disregard: in the north of Syria there are areas where ISIS militants are concentrated," Putin said at a meeting of the council of the CIS heads of state.

"They have been guarded by Kurdish military units. Now the Turkish army enters there, the Kurds abandon these camps. In fact, these are ISIS militant detention camps. They may just scatter. I am not sure if the Turkish army can take control of this and how quickly," Mr Putin added said.

*Daesh (also known as IS/ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia

The ongoing military operations in Syria's northeast may deepen the already existing humanitarian crisis in the country, the UN Senior Humanitarian Adviser to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rochdi, said, reacting to the recently-launched Turkish offensive.

"Ongoing military operations in northeast Syria are likely to exacerbate an already challenging humanitarian situation. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of further displacement, and the delivery of assistance is currently being disrupted with some agencies temporarily suspending operations," the statement read.

Rochdi stressed that military operations must comply with the UN Charter and international humanitarian law.

"Civilians must be protected; sustained, unimpeded and safe humanitarian access to civilians in need must also be guaranteed; and any return of Syrian refugees to this area from Turkey must be voluntary, safe and dignified," the statement said.

In September, the UN and the Syrian Arab Crescent carried out a humanitarian operation in Jordan's Rukban camp to help the families, who wanted to leave and those wanting to stay. About 329 Syrian refugees have voluntarily left Rukban, and "further departures are planned in the coming weeks," according to the statement.

Rochdi also expressed concern over violence in the Al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria, which hosts 68,600 people, most of whom are women and children, calling it "an unsustainable situation" and urging the responsible parties to abide by the international humanitarian law.

According to the NTV television channel, the bullets, presumably fired by snipers, hit the windows of a local hotel's restaurant, where there were about 20 journalists covering Turkey's operation in Syria. The channel’s correspondent said there was no danger to the wounded reporters' lives.

Germany expects Turkey to fulfil its agreement with the European Union on curbing migrant flow, the German government's deputy spokeswoman, Ulrike Demmer, said on Friday, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that he could send millions of Syrian refugees to Europe if it continued criticizing Ankara's offensive in northern Syria.

"We assume that Turkey will fulfil its agreement with the EU," Demmer said, commenting on Erdogan's statement.

In 2016 the EU and Ankara signed an agreement, under which the country was supposed to curb the flow of illegal migrants who tried to transit Turkey in a bid to proceed further into the European continent. The package came with a whooping financial component of 6 billion euros ($6.6 million) to be paid to Turkey.

"Having been defeated in Syria, many militants will move to other regions, where they seek to create new strongholds - in the Balkans, in Southeast Asia and, of course, unfortunately for us, on the southern borders of the Commonwealth [of Independent States]," Putin said at a meeting of the council of the CIS heads of state, a transcript of his speech was published on the Kremlin website.