Early on Saturday morning, the Turkish army carried out strikes as part of a new air operation it called “claw – sword” in northern Syria and Iraq, about a week after an explosion rocked Istiklal Street in Istanbul, killing 6 people and dozens of injured. Ankara accused the Kurdish forces of being behind the attack, while these forces denied it.
The Syrian state news agency quoted a military source as saying: “A number of military martyrs died as a result of the Turkish occupation forces’ attack on a number of safe areas and military points in the countryside of Aleppo and Hasakah at dawn today.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the death toll from the Turkish air strikes during the night hours on separate areas in Aleppo, Al-Hasakah and Al-Raqqa has risen to 31, “and the death toll is still expected to rise due to the presence of about 40 wounded and missing, some of the wounded are in serious conditions.”
The Observatory stated that members of the armed Kurdish factions, the Syrian government forces, and a media activist were among the dead.
State media: Turkey congratulates the forces on “successful” air operations in Iraq and Syria
And the official Turkish Anatolia news agency reported that the Turkish Minister of Defense congratulated his country’s air forces, on Sunday, on the “success” of air operations in the regions of Iraq and Syria.
“The terrorists’ shelters, hideouts, caves, tunnels and warehouses were successfully destroyed. We followed them closely. The so-called terrorist organization’s headquarters was also bombed and destroyed,” Hulusi Akar said in his speech to the Operations Center in the region.
The Turkish cross-border air operation targets the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the People’s Protection Units (YPG), and the Union of Sects in Kurdistan, according to Anadolu Agency.
Both Turkey and the United States consider the PKK a terrorist organization. The two countries differ over the status of the military wing of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) of the Democratic Union Party, which was an ally of the United States in the fight against ISIS in Syria, but Turkey considers it the Syrian extension of the PKK.
