Status: 11/23/2022 1:10 p.m
Turkey continues to crack down on Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq. Hundreds of targets have been attacked since Sunday. The stronghold of Kobane was also under artillery fire.
According to Turkey, it has attacked almost 500 Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria from the air since Sunday. “So far, 471 targets have been hit and 254 terrorists neutralized,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
Turkey launched a military offensive against Kurdish units in northern Syria on Sunday. The airstrikes were directed against bases of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the YPG, which Turkey sees as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. The United States, on the other hand, supports the YPG, which played a major role in expelling the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia from Syria.
Turkey’s offensive in Syria began days after an attack in Istanbul that Ankara blamed on the PKK left six dead. The banned Workers’ Party and the Syrian Kurds deny any involvement in the attack.
Activists: Five civilians killed in rocket attack
According to activists in north-western Syria, five civilians were killed on Tuesday. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the city of Asas, which is controlled by Syrian rebels allied with Turkey, has been hit with rockets. Five people were killed, including a child. Three other people were injured.
The northern Syrian city of Kobane, which is considered a stronghold of the YPG, was under sustained Turkish artillery fire yesterday evening. Turkish drones also attacked a small oil field near the border town of al-Kahtaniya, an AFP correspondent reported.
Earlier, a Turkish drone strike hit a base in northeastern Syria used by both Kurdish units and a US-led coalition, the Kurds and the observatory said. According to the SDF military alliance led by Kurdish units, two SDF fighters were killed. US soldiers were not in danger, according to the US Army Central Command (Centcom).
Debris lies on a street in the city of Asas (Syria).
Image: AFP
Erdogan substantiates threat with ground offensive
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has now reinforced his threat of a ground offensive against Kurdish militias in Syria, but left the date of the start open. “We will continue the operation from the air and will take tough action against the terrorists from land at the most convenient time for us,” said Erdogan in a speech to the MPs of his AKP party. This was reported by the Reuters news agency. Turkey is more determined than ever to secure its southern border with a security corridor. The territorial integrity of Syria is taken into account, as is that of Iraq.
Russia, on the other hand, asked Turkey to refrain from a comprehensive ground offensive in Syria. “We hope that our arguments will be heard in Ankara and that other ways of solving the problem will be found,” Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentiev said after another round of Syria talks with Turkish and Iranian delegations in Kazakhstan. The USA had also called for restraint.