Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threatened to launch a ground operation in Syria after cross-border airstrikes on Kurdish positions and deadly shelling in Turkey.
Speaking to reporters on his return home from Qatar after attending the opening ceremony of the World Cup, Erdogan said, “There is no question that this operation should be limited to air operations only.” The Turkish leader has threatened a new military operation in northern Syria since May.
Overnight, Turkey struck dozens of targets in northern Syria as well as northern Iraq, a week after an Istanbul bomb attack killed six people and Ankara blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Kurdish groups and authorities have denied responsibility for the November 13 bombing, which also injured 81 people, and which brought back bitter memories of a wave of attacks in Turkey between 2015 and 2017.
At least three people, including a child, were killed in the Turkish border town of Karkamis on Monday as a result of rocket fire from Syrian territory, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
Swallow vowed a “strong response”. “Authorized authorities, our Ministry of Defense and the Chief of Staff will together decide the level of force that our ground forces should use,” Erdogan said.
“We have already warned that we will pay compensation to those who violate our territory.”
Funerals
According to the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Turkish raids, mainly targeting positions held by Kurdish forces in northern and northeastern Syria, have killed at least 35 people and wounded 70 others. .
Ankara said the targeted Kurdish bases were being used for “terrorist” attacks on Turkish soil.
On Monday, thousands of people gathered in northeastern Syria to bury 11 people who died, including a journalist working for a Kurdish news agency, whose coffins were draped in red, white and green Kurdish flags was wrapped.
“We urge the world, all people who care about human rights and the great powers” to put pressure on Turkey to stop its attacks, Shaaban, 58, said at the funeral. “We are being targeted by planes and drones”.
In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry urged Turkey to “react proportionately and respect international law”, adding that “citizens must be protected at all times”.
SOHR said Kurdish fighters and Syrian troops suffered casualties during the attacks in the areas of Raqqa and Haskeh in the northeast and Aleppo in the north.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), among the attackers, said Turkey launched new airstrikes on Monday.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry said the strikes also targeted PKK positions in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq and positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.
The PKK has waged a bloody insurgency for decades and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies.
’70 planes and drones’
Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group linked to the PKK. Erdogan said “70 planes and drones” had carried out strikes over the weekend that “penetrated 140 kilometers into northern Iraq and 20 kilometers into northern Syria.”
An SDF spokesman said Turkish aircraft launched a fresh attack near Kobani on Monday. SOHR confirmed the attacks. The SDF said government forces’ positions were targeted.
On Monday, artillery was exchanged between Syrian proxies and Turkish forces backed by the SDF, according to a reporter.
