Turkey “neutralizes” thirteen Kurdish militiamen in northern Syria

Aug. 7 () –

The Turkish government has reported that it has “neutralized” thirteen suspected militiamen from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in a military operation in northern Syria.

The “terrorists” opened fire on troops from the Olive Branch and Spring of Peace operations, near the border with Turkey, as reported by the Turkish Ministry of Defense and reported by the Turkish news agency Anatolia.

The Turkish authorities use the term “neutralized” to mean that the suspects have been killed, captured or handed over to the authorities. The Ministry of Defense has not given further details.

For its part, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the YPG, reported this Sunday the death of four people in a drone attack in the city of Qamishli on Saturday. Among the dead are a militiaman and three civilians, including two children.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose main element is the YPG, denounced the death of two civilians on Monday in an artillery attack carried out on Monday by the Turkish Army against the Syrian town of Ain Issa (north).

At the beginning of June, the United Nations called on the Government of Turkey to “maximum containment” after the announcement by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the beginning of “a new phase” in the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria against the YPG.

Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian affiliate of the armed group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with a presence in Turkey. The YPG are in turn the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), key in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.