Syrian Kurdish forces and the Kurdistan workers’ party are accused by Ankara of the attack which killed six dead in Istanbul on November 13.
Mo12345lemonde with AFP
Roquette fire from Syrian territory targeted a Turkish border post, Sunday, November 20, making at least three injured among the security forces, reported the official Turkish Anadolu agency. The latter accused the YPG, people’s protection units, a movement of Kurdish fighters established in northern Syria, targeted by the operation baptized “sword claw”.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, Turkey launched this air operation in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria, killing about thirty people. She targeted regions under the control of the Syrian Kurdish forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), accused by Ankara of the attack in Istanbul who left six dead and 81 injured on November 13.
Between 2016 and 2019, Turkey had already carried out three large -scale operations in northern Syria, which targeted Kurdish militias and organizations, taking control of Afrine and pushing many civilians to flee.
In a press release, the Turkish Ministry of Defense wrote: “The sword clawing air operation was successfully carried out as part of our strategy aimed at eliminating terrorist attacks from northern Iraq and Syria , ensure border security and eliminate terrorism at its source “. A total of 89 targets, including shelters, tunnels, ammunition deposits, command posts and training camps were “destroyed”, and “many terrorists have been neutralized”, added the ministry.
The strikes mainly targeted the city of Kobane and its surroundings, near the Turkish border, in particular grain silos near Al-Malikiyah and a power plant in the south of this province, located in areas under the Control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS, Armed Coalition dominated by the Kurds).
The Turkish strikes have completely destroyed the fourth power plant of Taql Bakl, near Al-Malikiyah, in the south of the province of Hassaké, reported a photographer from the France-Presse agency (AFP), who has Seen on site Sunday morning corpses near a car. The bombings also targeted positions where the forces of the Damascus regime are deployed, in Raqa, Hassaké and Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH).
no victim in the Iraqi Kurdistan
“These attacks by the Turkish state of occupation will not remain unanswered. At the appropriate time and place, we will respond with force and efficiency,” promised the FDS in a press release, before the announcement of Roquette shots against the Turkish border. The official Syrian agency Sana, for its part, confirmed the death of several Syrian soldiers, without specifying the number. The Syrian Ministry of Defense denounced “Turkish attacks” in which “soldiers were killed”.
In war since 2011, Syria is fragmented because of the intervention of multiple groups and foreign powers in the conflict. Turkey, whose soldiers are present in areas in northern Syria, threatens since May to launch a major offensive against the SDFs, which it considers “terrorists”. Ankara says he wants to create a 30-kilometer “safety zone” in width at its southern border.
On the other hand, Turkish strikes have “not made a victim” in northern Iraq, a head of the regional government of Kurdistan in Iraq told AFP. According to a spokesperson for the PKK “These operations are not new, they have lasted without discontinuing for seven months”. He said that “the Turkish army made 3,694 bombings on the ground of Kurdistan d’Irak” during this period.