(Near Al-Malikiyah) Turkey on Sunday launched an air operation in northern Iraq and Syria overnight targeting several areas under the control of Syrian Kurdish forces and the PKK, accused by Ankara of the recent attack that killed six and injured 81 in Istanbul.
Immediately designated, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by Washington, rejected these accusations and denied any involvement in this attack.
The operation, dubbed “Sword Claw”, aims to “eliminate terrorist attacks from northern Iraq and Syria, ensure border security and eliminate terrorism at its source”, the Turkish Defense Ministry said. , in a press release.
“The hour of reckoning has come! The bastards will have to be held accountable for their treacherous attacks,” he tweeted overnight.
Nearly 25 airstrikes were carried out by the Turkish army in the Syrian provinces of Raqa and Hassaké (north-east) and Aleppo (north), killing at least 11 dead in the ranks of the SDF and 10 dead in those of the Syrian regime, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in London with an extensive network of sources in Syria.
In an initial commentary on the strikes, the Syrian Defense Ministry said “soldiers were killed” in “turkish dawn attacks” in Aleppo and Hassakeh provinces.
The strikes mainly targeted the city of Kobané (north) and its surroundings, near the Turkish border, in particular grain silos near Al-Malikiyah (north-east) and a power station in the south of this province, located in areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, an armed coalition dominated by the Kurds).
Turkish strikes completely destroyed the fourth power plant in Taql Bakl, near Al-Malikiyah in southern Hassakeh province, reported an AFP photographer, who saw dead bodies near a car on Sunday morning. on the spot, and large holes in the ground.
Relatives of the injured gathered outside the city’s hospital where the wounded from the violent raids on the region were transferred at dawn, chanting sad Kurdish songs about the loss of children.
According to Souleiman Abou Hawkar, a resident of the region, the Turkish air force has repeatedly bombed the plant. “We were trying to save the wounded and recover the bodies when the plane bombed again, so we fled.”
The shelling also targeted positions where Damascus regime forces are deployed in Raqa, Hassaké and Aleppo, according to the OSDH.
“Kobane, the city that defeated the Islamic State, is the target of bombardments by Turkish occupation aircraft,” said Farhad Shami, an SDF spokesman, who reported that two SDF members were killed in Al-Malikiyah, and four pro-regime soldiers in northern Aleppo.
The commander-in-chief of the FDS, Mazloum Abdi, denounced the “aggressive and barbaric” bombardments.
“The Turkish bombardment of our areas threatens the entire region. This bombardment serves no party. We are doing everything to avoid a major disaster. If war breaks out, everyone will be affected,” he tweeted.
“No casualties” in Iraq
On the other hand, the Turkish strikes did not cause ” any victims ” in the north of Iraq, affirmed an official of the regional government of Kurdistan of Iraq.
“The Turks have targeted at least eight areas where there are PKK bases without causing any civilian casualties” assured this official, citing the mountainous regions of “Shingal, Rawanduz, Bradost, Qandil, Asos, Soran, Rania and Qaladzi”, located between Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Autonomous Kurdistan and the Iranian border.
According to a PKK spokesman “these operations are not new, they have been going on for seven months without interruption”, he said, assuring that “the Turkish army carried out 3,694 bombardments on the soil of Iraqi Kurdistan ” during this period.
The day after the attack in a busy shopping street in Istanbul, the Turkish authorities accused a young woman, presented as a Syrian national, of having planted the bomb.
According to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, “the order for the attack was given from Kobané”, a city controlled by Kurdish forces.
The US State Department said on Friday it feared “possible military action by Turkey”.
At war since 2011, Syria is fragmented due to the intervention of multiple groups and foreign powers in the conflict.
Turkey, whose soldiers are present in areas of northern Syria, has been threatening since May to launch a major offensive against the SDF, which it considers “terrorists”.
Ankara says it wants to create a 30 kilometer wide “security zone” on its southern border.
Between 2016 and 2019, the Turkish army launched three major operations in northern Syria targeting Kurdish militias and organizations.