At least eleven civilians have been killed and some 50 Kurdish militiamen and elements of pro-Syrian government forces have been killed or wounded in recent hours in at least 25 bombings unleashed by Turkey on the so-called Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, the semi-autonomous entity under the control of the Kurdish militias of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and ordered in retaliation for last weekend’s attack in Istanbul.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced late on Saturday the start of operation «Sword Claw» in northern Iraq and Syria against the Kurdish groups which Ankara blamed for last Sunday’s explosion on Istiklal Avenue, which left at least six dead and 81 wounded.
«It is time to settle accounts,» the Ministry sentenced in the communiqué announcing the operation and justifying the bombings «in accordance with the right of self-defense arising from Article 51 of the UN Charter,» as reported by the official Turkish news agency Anatolia.
The spokesman of the SDF, Farhad Shami, denounced the death of 11 civilians during these attacks before accusing the Turkish forces of hitting «a hospital, an electric station and several grain warehouses». Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed on its website at least 24 fighters killed — 12 members of the SDF and 12 other members of the Syrian forces — in several attacks in Al Hasaka and Raqa.
The Observatory, which is based in London but has sources inside the country, estimates that there are at least 38 others missing or wounded among the fighters, some in serious condition, so the death toll could rise in the final hours.
The Syrian Army has confirmed that a number of its military personnel «have been killed as a result of the attack by the Turkish occupation forces on a number of safe areas and military points in the countryside of Aleppo and Hasaka at dawn,» military sources told the official Syrian news agency SANA.
The agency also reported attacks in Darbasiyah, the vicinity of Al Malikiyah and the village of Tal Harmal, north of the northern countryside town of Abu Rasin.
These attacks come days after Ankara blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for being behind last Sunday’s deadly bombing in central Istanbul. In addition, Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF, an extension of the PKK, considered terrorist in that country.
Both groups have denied any involvement in the attack that claimed the lives of six people, however, the Turkish Interior Minister has pointed out that he «has suspicions» that the order was given from the city of Kobane, one of the main targets of this new campaign.
In his first assessment this Sunday, 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.
STATE OF «CATASTROPHE»
SDF Commander General Mazlum Abdi said Sunday that what happened in AANES was a «great catastrophe» and called on families in the area to stay at home. «We are doing everything possible to avoid a major catastrophe. If war breaks out, everyone will be affected,» he warned in statements reported by the Kurdish Rudaw news agency.
In its first statement after the operation, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), one of the most important pro-Kurdish political formations in Turkey has called Ankara’s latest military offensive «extremely dangerous» and called on the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan «to abandon his dangerous attempts» before urging the international community to condemn the operation.
Kobane was captured by Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, but was driven out by Kurdish forces allied with the United States. The SDF has been a key US ally during the war against ISIS and has received extensive military training from Washington Precisely on Saturday, the US Consulate General in Erbil issued a security warning about an imminent Turkish offensive in the Kurdistan Region and northeastern Syria, while the State Department advised its citizens against travel to the area.
