Turkish air force carried out air strikes on the evening of Saturday March 20 against an area held by Kurdish militias in northern Syria, the first for seventeen months, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. man (OSDH).
“A Turkish fighter plane targeted military positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF, dominated by the Kurds] in the village of Saïda, near the town of Aïn Issa,” said this non-governmental organization established in the Kingdom. -United.
“These are the first air raids since Operation Source of Peace,” launched in October 2019 by Ankara and allied Syrian groups against the SDF in northern Syria, Agence France informed -Press (AFP) the director of OSDH, Rami Abdel-Rahmane.
The operation, interrupted after two agreements negotiated by Ankara with Washington, then with Moscow, had enabled Turkey to seize a border strip 120 kilometers long and some 30 kilometers in Syrian territory.
The town of Ain Issa and its surroundings, however, remained in the hands of Kurdish forces.
The fighting rages on in Aïn Issa
The raids come as fighting rages on the outskirts of this strategic location, according to OSDH. “Clashes have continued between the two camps for twenty-four hours, (…) the Turkish forces are struggling to advance while the SDF managed to destroy a Turkish tank,” Abdel-Rahmane told AFP. .
The People’s Protection Units (YPG), an integral part of the SDF. Are seen by Turkey as the Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A group classified as “terrorist” by Ankara and its Western allies. But this Kurdish militia has also been at the forefront of the armed struggle against the Islamic State (IS) organization in Syria, with the support of the international anti-jihadist coalition.
“Our forces retaliated after PKK-YPG terrorists opened fire on our special forces,” the Turkish defense ministry said on Sunday. “The terrorists (…) are trying to give the impression that the Turkish armed forces carried out strikes there which Turkish security sources have denied to spread the lie that ‘the civilians of Aïn Issa are being targeted ”. They affirmed.
In order to stem the territorial expansion of the YPG in northern Syria, Ankara has since 2016 carried out three military offensives targeting both ISIS and Kurdish fighters. These operations allowed him to control an area of more than 2,000 square kilometers in northern Syria, including the region of Afrin, one of the three cantons of the self-proclaimed Kurdish “federal” region in 2016.
At least five civilians dead under regime fire
At the same time. At least five civilians were killed in artillery fire by the Syrian regime on Sunday in a hospital in the town of Atarib. In northwestern Syria, according to OSDH.
“Regime forces fired six shells at the town of Atarib,” located in Aleppo province, said Abdel-Rahmane. The strikes hit “the courtyard and the entrance to the hospital (…) inside a cave. Killing five civilians including a child and a hospital worker.” Eleven other people were injured. Including health workers.
In March 2020, a precarious truce came into effect, sponsored by Russia, a staunch ally of Damascus, and Turkey, which supports rebel groups. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 337 attacks on medical infrastructure took place in northwestern Syria between 2016 and 2019.
The conflict in Syria, triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy protests by the Damascus regime, has grown in complexity over the years, involving several regional and international actors. The war has left more than 388,000 dead and millions displaced.
