Ankara has ordered the airstrikes as alleged “legitimate defense” against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which it blames for perpetrating the explosion in Istanbul last Sunday
At least 35 people, including Kurdish militia members, Syrian government forces and civilians, are said to have been killed in more than 20 bombings carried out by Turkish aircraft on the Syrian town of Kobane and the towns of Al Hasaka and Raqa this morning. in the north of the country, within the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria under the control of the Kurdish militias of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The attacks, which also left at least another 38 fighters injured, were ordered by the Turkish government in retaliation for last Sunday’s attack in Istanbul, which left six dead and 81 injured and for which Ankara’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) blames. ), despite this group denying any involvement in that attack.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry announced late on Saturday that it was launching the ‘Claw-Sword’ operation to bomb Kurdish positions in northern Syria and Iraq. “It is time to settle accounts,” the ministry said in a statement justifying its attack “in accordance with the right of self-defense deriving from Article 51 of the UN Charter,” according to Turkey’s official Anatolian news agency. In addition, the defense statement stated that the bombings were intended to “neutralize” the PKK and “other terrorist elements to prevent attacks on our people and security forces from Northern Syria and Iraq” and “to ensure the security of the border crossing and prevent terrorism to destroy on its territory”. source.
A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces reported this morning that Turkish shelling had killed 11 civilians by hitting a hospital, a power station and several grain depots. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed on its website that at least 24 fighters have died, including 12 members of the SDF and another 12 from the Syrian government army.
For its part, Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has assured in an initial assessment of the attacks that the operation successfully destroyed “terrorists’ hideouts, bunkers, caves, tunnels and depots” and a “terrorist headquarters”. . organization was also attacked and destroyed.” “Our goal is to ensure the security of our 85 million citizens and our borders and to respond to insidious attacks on our country,” Akar stressed.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party, one of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish political formations, described Ankara’s military offensive as “extremely dangerous”, and urged the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to “stop his dangerous efforts strike.” and asked the international community to condemn the bombings.
Source: La Verdad
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