Turkey has launched airstrikes in northern Syria and northern Iraq, in areas controlled by the Kurds, centered on Kobani. Dozens of people (at least 31) lost their lives, while the number of injured is unknown. In the majority of them, however, these are Kurdish fighters and Syrian soldiers.
According to the announcements of the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the raids were carried out in retaliation for the terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Istiklal Street. After the operation, named “pençe-kılıç”, Hulusi Akar informed President Tayyip Erdoğan of the results, who, according to Anadolu, had given the order for the bombings. A video was also released, in which the Turkish president is sitting at the head of a table with the cards in front of him and Akar is standing next to him, explaining to him how the attack of the Turkish forces will take place. The president and the defense minister of Turkey are accompanied by military officials.
According to the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Turkish bombardments targeted positions of the Kurdish forces in the provinces of Aleppo (north) and Hasakah (northeast), mainly in the city of Kobani, a short distance from the border with Turkey. “Kobani, the city that defeated Islamic State, is being bombarded by the Turkish air force and the Turkish occupation forces,” said Farhad Sami, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led SDF with the YPG. From the beginning, he categorically denied that the Kurds were behind the bombing in Istiklal, in Istanbul.
Despite this, there have been more than 20 Turkish attacks in the two provinces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based NGO that relies on a wide network of sources in war-torn Syria. In a newer announcement, it is stated that 38 people have lost their lives and dozens of others have been injured.
The Turkish Defense Ministry announced at midday that 89 targets in Syria and Iraq had been hit, saying they were terrorist hideouts. “The time of reckoning has come,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Twitter over a photo showing a Turkish F-16 fighter jet taking off for a night operation. “The bastards will be held accountable for their insidious attacks,” added Turkey’s defense minister. According to the official announcements of the Turkish Ministry of Defense, airstrikes were carried out in northern Syria and northeastern Iraq, on YPG and PKK positions, respectively. The Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that these attacks in the context of the Pence-Kilic operation were carried out in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter on the right of lawful self-defense.
“Terrorists’ nests are leveled with precision strikes,” he added in a second post, accompanied by a montage of the destruction of a target from the air, without specifying where it was. The Turkish Ministry of Defense has so far not officially released any details about the operation. The airstrikes were watched from the operations center by Hulusi Akar, who immediately declared that they were “successful”. According to the North Press website based in northern Syria, Turkish warplanes carried out three attacks in the area of Mestanur Hill.
One of the airstrikes targeted the broadcasting service, west of Kobani. No information has been given on any civilian casualties. Also targeted were “the facilities of the Daqel Baqel power station in al-Malikiyah in northeastern Syria, resulting in a blackout in the area.” The shelling also targeted areas in the north of Aleppo, the Shahba area, where displaced residents of the Afrin region have been living in camps since Turkey captured Afrin in 2018, following the military invasion known as “Olive Branch”. The Kurdish forces of the YPG in northern Syria released a map of the bombed areas and spoke of many dead, calling on the world to react to the Turkish attacks.
The US State Department had, however, said days earlier that it feared “possible military action by Turkey” in northern Syria and northern Iraq, urging Americans to avoid these two areas.
After the Turkish air force’s deadly raid in northern Syria, a missile also hit Turkish territory originating from Syria. A Turkish soldier and two policemen were injured in the Turkish province of Kilis, on the border with Syria.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had indicted five suspects for the November 13 attack in Istanbul on Istiklal Street. “Charges were brought against five people for helping one of the alleged perpetrators of the attack to escape,” said Siika Mileva, a spokeswoman for Sofia’s general prosecutor. Their role, he said, was logistical, and added that the Prosecutor’s Office requested the pre-trial detention of four of them. According to Bulgarian news networks, three are from Moldova and another from an unnamed Arab country.
