Turkey has introduced fatal airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Sunday, Kurdish teams that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bombing of Istanbul.
The warplanes attacked bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the ministry said in a statement, accompanied by photographs of F-16 jets taking off and photographs of a drone airstrike.
The ministry cited Turkey’s right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter when it launched an operation called Sword-Claw on Saturday night. He said he was targeting spaces “used as a base by terrorists in their attacks on our country. “
Syrian Kurds claimed civilians were killed in the airstrikes.
The airstrikes came after a bomb rocked a busy street in central Istanbul on November 13, killing six others and wounding more than 80. The Turkish government blamed the attack on the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the YPG. Kurdish militant groups However, they have denied any involvement.
Both Ankara and Washington the PKK is a terrorist organization, but they disagree over the prestige of the YPG. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG has allied with the United States in the fight against the Islamic State organization in Syria.
The PKK has been waging a war in Turkey since 1984. The clash has killed tens of thousands of people since then.
After the attacks, the Defense Ministry released a photo of an F-16 fighter jet with the phrase: “It’s time for revenge!The scoundrels are found guilty of their treacherous attacks. The DHA news firm reported that the F-16s took off from Malatya and Diyarbakir airfields in southern Turkey while Batman drones were introduced.
The ministry claimed that a total of 89 targets had been destroyed and that a “large number” of its “terrorists” had been killed in movements ranging from Tall Rifat in northwestern Syria to the Qandil mountains in northeastern Iraq.
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar oversaw the airstrikes from an operations center and praised the pilots and ground staff. A statement from the ministry.
Akar claimed that a wide diversity of targets “were destroyed with wonderful success,” adding what he described as “the so-called headquarters of the terrorist organization. “
Other Turks responded to the attacks. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted a photo of the Turkish flag with the comment “Recovery time for Istiklal,” a reference to the street where last week’s attack occurred.
The airstrikes targeted Kobani, a strategic Kurdish-majority Syria, the town near the Turkish border that Ankara had tried in the past to take in its plans to identify a “safe zone” in northern Syria.
Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Farhad Shami said in a tweet that two villages densely populated by displaced people were under Turkish bombardment. He said the movements killed 11 civilians and destroyed a hospital, a forced plant and grain silos.
The Women’s Protection Units, or YPJ, which are connected to the YPG, said the airstrikes targeted spaces along the Turkey-Syria border, adding Kobani, Derbasiyeh and Ein Issa. a written reaction to The Associated Press.
“People who fought against the Daesh terrorist organization are now being attacked by Turkish warplanes,” he said, an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported that the moves also affected Syrian army positions and that at least 12 other people were killed, adding SDF and Syrian soldiers.
The observatory said some 25 airstrikes were carried out via Turkish warplanes on sites in the countryside of Aleppo, Raqqa and Hasakah.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said “several” Syrian infantrymen were killed in the countryside of northern Aleppo and Hasakah province. Syrian state media reported in the past the deaths of 3 infantrymen.
In neighboring Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government said at least 32 PKK militants had been killed in 25 airstrikes.
The Kurdish-led authority in northeastern Syria said Saturday that if Turkey attacked, then fighters in the region would have “the right and protect our regions in a primary way that will drag the region into a long war. “
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi asked others to stay at home and follow orders from security forces. “We are doing everything we can for a primary disaster. If war breaks out, everyone will be affected,” he tweeted.
An SDF later said the attacks “will not go unanswered. At the right time and place, we will respond forcefully and effectively. “
It emerged that Erdogan had given the order for the airstrikes as he returned from the G20 assembly of world leaders in Indonesia on Thursday. The president’s office released photographs of Erdogan being briefed on his plane via Akar.
Later on Sunday, Erdogan, accompanied by an organization of officials who added Akar, left Turkey for the opening rite of the World Cup in Qatar.
Turkey has invaded northern Syria 3 times since 2016 and already controls part of the northern territory. Earlier this year, Erdogan threatened an army operation in the border area.
Turkish forces introduced a new ground and air operation, dubbed Claw-Lock, opposed to the PKK in northern Iraq in April.