The bombing aimed at a position of the Syrian regime near the Turkish border, but the identity of the victims is not known. If it turns out that they have come from the regime’s forces, the attack would mark one of the most important escalations since 2020.
Le Monde with AFP
A Turkish strike on a position held by regime forces in northern Syria left Tuesday, August 16, announced the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). According to the NGO, the strike “targeted a position of the Syrian regime (…) near the Turkish border”: the village of Jarqali, to the west of the border town of Kobane.
The director of the OSDH, Rami Abdel-Rahmane, was not able, however, whether the victims were “from the regime forces or if they are Kurdish fighters who control the area “.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS), led by Kurdish forces, also communicated on this strike and announced in a statement that “Turkish military planes” had led “twelve air strikes against positions of the Syrian army Deployed on the border band west of Kobane “. The raids made “victims,” said FDS spokesperson Farhad Shami, without providing more details.
threatening a major offensive
If it turns out that the fighters killed come from the regime’s forces, the attack would mark one of the most important escalations since clashes between Ankara and Damascus in 2020, following a strike from the Syrian regime which had killed thirty-three Turkish soldiers in the northwest province of Idlib.
Violent fighting had broken out on the night of Monday to Tuesday between the SDFs and the Turkish forces, which intensified their bombings against Kurdish positions after a position, Turkish on the border, was attacked, According to the OSDH. The Kurdish attack in Turkish territory cost a soldier’s life, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry. “Thirteen terrorists were neutralized” during ankara reprisal attacks in Syria, claimed the ministry, adding that operations in the region were continuing.
The Kurdish forces control most of Northeast Syria, countries fragmented since the war launched in 2011. In recent years, the regime forces have been deployed in areas controlled by the Kurds near The Turkish border as part of agreements intended to stem the cross -border offensives of Ankara against the Kurdish fighters.
Turkey has launched a series of offensives in Syria targeting the Kurdish forces and the Islamic State jihadist group since 2016. Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, threatens since May to lead a major offensive targeting the Kurds in the Northeast of Syria.
Since the start of the war, his country has fiercely opposed the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, supporting the rebels. But last week, the Minister of Turkish Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt çavusoglu, called for reconciliation between the Syrian government and the opposition, which irritated the rebels and led to antitural demonstrations.