Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar directs airstrikes on parts of northern Syria and Iraq /
Ankara has ordered the airstrikes alleging “legitimate defense” against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which it blames for perpetrating the explosion last Sunday in Istanbul
At least 35 people including Kurdish militiamen, Syrian government forces and civilians would have died from the more than 20 bombardments carried out by Turkish planes during the early hours of the past morning on the Syrian city of Kobane and the towns of Al Hasaka and Raqa, 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 caused at least another 38 wounded among the combatants, 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 blames the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan (PKK), despite the fact that this group has denied any involvement with that attack.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced late Saturday night that it was starting 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 arising from Article 51 of the UN Charter,” according to the official Turkish news agency. , Anatolian. In addition, the Defense statement stated that the bombings were intended to “neutralize” the PKK and “other terrorist elements to prevent attacks against our people and security forces from northern Syria and Iraq” and “to guarantee security border crossing and destroy terrorism at its 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 stores. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed on its website at least 24 deceased combatants, 12 of them members of the SDF and another 12 from Syrian government forces.
“Success” of the operation
For his part, in a first assessment of the attacks, the Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, has assured that the operation has successfully destroyed “shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels and warehouses of the terrorists”, and a “headquarters of the terrorist 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 any treacherous attacks against our country,” Akar stressed.
Meanwhile, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, one of the most important pro-Kurdish political formations in Turkey, has described this military offensive by Ankara as “extremely dangerous”, has urged the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “to abandon his dangerous attempts” and asked the international community to condemn the bombings.