The Turkish raids near the Kurdish border town of Kobani targeted Syrian regime army and Syrian Democratic Forces positions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Turkish strikes were preceded by cross-border shelling from near Kobane against Turkish forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights [Getty-file photo]
Turkish raids in northern Syria hit outposts operated by the Syrian regime’s army and Kurdish-led forces on Sunday, killing three people, a UK-based war monitor said.
The raids near the Kurdish border town of Kobane targeted Syrian regime army and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The three victims were wearing Syrian regime army uniforms, according to the observer.
Several other fighters were injured, some in critical condition, according to the Observatory, which relies on an extensive network of sources inside Syria.
The strikes were preceded by cross-border shelling from near Kobani against Turkish forces, according to the observer.
It comes as the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Sunday that militants carried out a rocket launcher attack on a Turkish military post near the Syrian border.
It was not immediately clear if the two incidents were related.
The Defense Ministry has not identified the militants, but Turkish forces are in conflict with the SDF.
Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, a key element of the SDF, is a terrorist organization and a wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against Ankara for decades.
Ankara’s Defense Ministry said that after the attack on Suruc post in Sanliurfa province, Turkish forces retaliated.
“Targets were identified in the area and immediately fired upon, with 12 terrorists neutralized according to initial information,” the statement said.
The term neutralized generally means killed.
He added that operations were continuing in the area.
Last month, the Syrian regime said it would respond to Turkey’s direct attacks on its forces.
The warning came after a Turkish raid on a regime outpost near Kobane killed at least three soldiers in mid-August, the Syrian regime official says SANA Press Agency.
Experts say Turkey’s targeted drone strike program is designed to weaken the SDF’s leadership networkhttps://t.co/HZmcP3x5jT
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) August 22, 2022
Turkey has launched a series of cross-border offensives targeting Kurdish forces and the Islamic State group since 2016, but these operations have rarely resulted in the deaths of Syrian regime fighters.
Ankara has intensified its attacks in Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria since a July 19 summit with Iran and Russia failed to give a green light to a new offensive against Kurdish fighters seen by Ankara as terrorists.
Regime forces have deployed in areas controlled by Kurdish fighters near the border with Turkey under agreements to stem a new Turkish operation.
Last week, the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry into Syria said “another Turkish ground operation” remains a threat in northern Syria, amid “continued mobilization and fighting” between Turkish and Turkish-backed forces and Kurdish-led opponents.
“Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that’s where it could be heading,” warned Paolo Pinheiro, the commission’s head.
(AFP, Reuters)
