Three SDF fighters killed in Turkish drone strike in Ain Issa: SDF

The Turkish army has stepped up drone strikes in northeast Syria, carrying out four in 2024.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2024/01/09 17:54

Three SDF fighters were killed in a Turkish drone strike near Ain Issa on Sunday (Photo: SDF Press).

Syria SDF SOHR Bedir Mulla Reshid YPG PKK

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The media centre of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday confirmed that three fighters were killed in a previous Turkish drone strike near Ain Issa last Sunday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported that on Monday, Turkish drone strikes hit the countryside of Manbij and Raqqa, injuring one Syrian soldier near Tal Abyad.

The Turkish Army has stepped up drone strikes in northeast Syria.

According to data from the SDF, the army carried out 103 drone attacks and airstrikes in 2023.

Moreover, the SOHR reported Turkey so far carried out four drone strikes in northeast Syria since the beginning of 2024.

The Turkish Defense Ministry on Tuesday also claimed they ‘neutralized’ three fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) preparing an attack on the Turkish Army and its local allies. The SDF has not confirmed the casualty count.

Ankara considers both the SDF and YPG as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)’s Syrian offshoots in northern Syria, which is denied by both.

Bedir Mulla Reshid, Director of Raman Center for Research and Consultancy, told Kurdistan24 that countries around the world are increasingly using drones due to their unwillingness to engage on the ground and the need to reduce material and human costs.

“In the case of North-East Syria, Turkey is increasingly using drones as a result of the presence of several international forces in the region and the lack of international consensus on a major military operation,” he said.

“A military force of the level of the SDF cannot confront drones because it lacks equipment that is almost impossible [for the] United States to provide. [The US] is aware of the degree of danger of the matter regarding arming forces linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and it is being fought by Turkey, America’s ally in NATO,” Reshid concluded.

Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq