Turkey strikes multiple SDF sites across northeastern Syria

At least six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed and others wounded on Saturday after Turkey launched a series of attacks against the groups’ sites in northeastern Syria, while Syrian regime forces struck a Turkish military base west of Aleppo.

The headquarters of the SDF in al-Hasakah governorate was targeted by a Turkish drone, and artillery fire was reported near Qamishili in the northeast, The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Saturday.

Local activist Jan Ali told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that three women were killed when a Turkish drone hit the headquarters of the SDF near al-Malikiyah in the northeast Hasakah province.

Another Turkish airstrike killed three SDF fighters west of the Kurdish city of Kobane in eastern Aleppo province, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported. Turkish drones also struck several SDF sites in the northern Aleppo province.

Turkey has been launching intensive strikes on Kurdish-held areas of northern Syria after an attack last Wednesday, claimed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), on an aerospace company in Ankara which killed five people.

Turkey claims that the SDF is a front organisation for the PKK.

It has been launching dozens of airstrikes on what it says are PKK sites in Syria and Iraq over the last few days, killing some 59 people. The SDF said 12 children were among the dead.

The Turkish Ministry of Defence said on Friday that its armed forces killed “11 terrorists” from the PKK and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which makes up the main component of the SDF.

Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the SDF, called on Turkey to cease its attacks and accused it of targeting civilians in a recorded video statement on Saturday.

“In these four days the Turkish state continues its attacks without reason and is illegally escalating its aggression against our regions, targeting in these attacks the infrastructure and service institutions affiliated with the AANES as well as civilians,” Abdi said, referring to the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which is associated with the SDF. 

Abdi denied any SDF role in the attack in Ankara and said that the “the attackers did not pass through Syrian territory,” as claimed by the Turkish government.

He threatened a strong response if the attacks continue and said they harm “efforts for dialogue”.

The Turkish government has been in conflict with the PKK since the 1980s and the group is classed as a terrorist organisation in Turkey, the US and UK. The group has been fighting for autonomy or independence for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

The PKK said it targeted Turkish Aerospace Industries in Ankara on Wednesday in retribution for the “thousands of Kurds” killed by the weapons it produces.

Elsewhere in Syria, regime forces and Iranian-backed militias reportedly bombed towns in the countryside of Aleppo, Idlib and Hama on Saturday. Three civilians were injured in drone attacks, the Syrian Civil Defense Organization reported.

A Turkish military observation point was reportedly hit by a suicide drone launched by the Syrian regime forces west of Aleppo.

Al Araby Al Jadeed reported that another drone struck a vehicle in front of the Turkish military base in Taqad in western Aleppo, citing Syrian opposition sources.

The SDF has controlled northeastern Syria since 2015 but has faced successive incursions by Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies, which have resulted in the loss of the Afrin area and extensive areas along the Syrian-Turkish border