Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the 21st that Turkey will discuss the participation of ground forces in military operations in northern Syria and Iraq. At the same time, Turkish land was hit by new shelling by Kurdish forces late last night.
Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying that Turkey’s military operations in northern Syria and Iraq would not be limited to airstrikes, adding that the Turkish General Staff and Ministry of Defense would jointly decide on the participation of ground forces.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also confirmed that the country has not held talks with the U.S. and Russian presidents on air operations.
More than 70 aircraft, including armed fighter jets and drones, took part in the Turkish military operation, code-named “Claw Sword”.
Turkish aircraft carried out airstrikes on Kurdish militia bases in northern Syria and Iraq on Sunday, destroying 89 targets, in response to a bombing in Istanbul that killed six people and injured dozens, the defense ministry announced.
On the evening of the 20th, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the scene of the Turkish army’s air strikes on the targets of the PKK and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
In the content of the scene posted on Twitter, Turkish fighter jets took off from its base and bombed the stronghold of “terrorists”.
The ministry appended this line to its tweet: “In this way the sanctuaries, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots of terrorists who threatened our country, our people and our security were destroyed, and this It’s what they call headquarters and training camp.”
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the airstrikes launched by the Turkish army on the Ain al-Arab region in northeastern Syria and parts of northern Iraq successfully destroyed some strongholds and headquarters of PKK militants and the Kurdish People’s Protection Organization.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense also announced that these actions were based on the legitimate right of self-defense enshrined in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Kurdish bombing
On the other hand, Anadolu Agency reported that an attack involving four artillery shells occurred in an area of Gaziantep in southern Turkey. The agency added that the shells, fired by Kurdish forces, came from northern Syria and hit empty, uninhabited areas.
Gaziantep Governor Daoud Gul said “terrorists” fired the shells from east of the Euphrates River.
He added in a tweet that the Turkish army had retaliated against the location of the firing, stressing that the “terrorist attack” had not caused any material or human damage.
Turkish state media had earlier said the missile strike had hit a crossing on the Syrian border and wounded eight people, including a Turkish soldier and two special forces police officers.
The YPG, which Turkey lists as a “terrorist organization,” fired a missile at the Kilis region in southern Turkey, the source added.
target library
Turkey’s Defense Ministry had earlier announced multiple targets the country’s military had bombed in northern Syria and Iraq, stressing that they were military bases of “terrorist groups” in response to last week’s bloody bombing in Istanbul.
According to media sources, the targets of the attack include the military strongholds of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Aleppo countryside of Tal Rafah and Ain Digna, as well as parts of the Raqqa countryside and the Ayrah border on the Turkish-Syrian border. Because of the Kobani region of Arabia.
Reuters quoted a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces as saying that Turkish fighter jets bombed two villages in northern Syria where displaced people live.
The spokesman also announced that one fighter, 11 civilians and 15 Syrian regime fighters were killed in the bombing, while Syrian monitoring groups said 30 people had been killed, including from the Syrian Democratic Forces, Kurdish security forces Force and other armed groups associated with it, in addition to 12 members of government forces.
The Syrian official news agency also reported that the Turkish attack caused the death of its soldiers, but the specific number has not been specified, and said that the target of the attack was the rural areas of Aleppo and Hasakeh.
According to a statement issued by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Turkish attack also targeted the Sinjar, Karakuk, Kandir and Assos regions in northern Iraq.
Turkish airstrikes in Iraq did not result in any civilian deaths, according to an Iraqi Kurdistan regional official, who also explained that the strikes hit at least eight PKK strongholds in the Sinjar and Kandir regions , and these areas are where the largest bases of the PKK are located.
It should be noted that these developments on the ground come as the SDF has pledged to fight back against Turkish airstrikes on its bases.