(Qamichli) A Kurdish fighter was killed and three others injured on Wednesday in a drone attack carried out by the Turkish army against a Russian base in northeastern Syria, a Kurdish forces official told AFP.
The strike comes as Turkey has been carrying out a series of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq since Sunday against Kurdish fighters belonging to “terrorist” groups according to Ankara.
The victims are members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, a coalition dominated by the Kurds) who have a position in the Russian base, located in the province of Hassaké, said the head of the SDF, Farhad Chami.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom and which has an extensive network of sources in Syria, a Russian soldier was also injured.
Russia did not react immediately to this information.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threatened to launch a ground offensive in northern Syria, raising concerns among several countries that have deployed forces in the region. The Kremlin on Tuesday urged Turkey not to “destabilize the situation” in northern Syria.
The Russian army has been engaged in the Syrian conflict since 2015 alongside Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Initially having bases in the west of the country, it also deployed at the end of 2019, under an agreement with Turkey, in the northeast, where the Kurds have set up an autonomous administration. The aim was to serve as a buffer force between Turkey and Kurdish fighters.
American soldiers have been on Syrian soil since 2014, as part of an international coalition supporting Kurdish forces in their fight against jihadists.
The SDF spearheaded the fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group driven from its strongholds in Syria in 2019.
Also in the province of Hassaké, Turkish artillery also targeted Wednesday the surroundings of a prison in Qamichli, where IS jihadists are detained, according to the OSDH and the head of the FDS.
The OSDH also reported Turkish drone strikes on Wednesday against four oil and gas sites, including a gas refinery and an oil pumping station, in the same province.