According to the defence ministry, Turkey’s military has “neutralised” 26 Kurdish militants in northern Syria as a retaliation for a rocket attack on a Turkish base. The conflict has escalated nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara. The term “neutralised” is typically used by Turkey to mean killed. The rocket attack, carried out by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, resulted in the death of one Turkish police officer and the injury of seven officers and soldiers in northwest Syria’s Dabiq area on Thursday evening.
Additionally, the defence ministry reported that Turkey conducted air strikes and destroyed 30 militant targets in other parts of northern Syria. These targets included an oil well, a storage facility, and shelters. The PKK, which is an outlawed Kurdish Workers Party, claimed responsibility for the bombing in Ankara. Although Turkey stated that the attackers came from Syria, the Syrian SDF forces denied this claim.
Turkey considers the YPG as a terrorist organization and claims it is indistinguishable from the PKK. The PKK has been engaged in an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, resulting in the deaths of over 40,000 people. It is worth noting that while the United States and European Union designate the PKK as terrorists, they do not label the YPG as such. The YPG is an integral part of the SDF forces in the US-led coalition against Islamic State militants, causing longstanding tension between the US and Turkey.
The SDF has reported that Turkish attacks have caused the death of eight individuals since the bombing in Ankara. As a sign of escalating tension, the Pentagon announced that it had shot down an armed Turkish drone near its troops in Syria on Thursday. This marks the first time that the US has taken this action against Turkey, a NATO ally. The Pentagon spokesman explained that Turkish drones were conducting airstrikes in northeast Syria’s Hasakah region, and one drone came within a half a kilometer of US troops, posing a threat and leading to its interception by F-16 aircraft.
A Turkish defense ministry official stated that the drone did not belong to the Turkish armed forces. Nonetheless, a security source contradicted this claim, affirming that Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT) had conducted strikes in Syria against Kurdish militant targets. In response to the recent developments, Turkey expressed that a ground operation into Syria was among the options it could consider. It should be noted that Turkey has previously undertaken multiple incursions into northern Syria against the YPG.
Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Nick Macfie
Credit: The Star : News Feed
