BREAKING: A US Equipment storage facility have been targeted by Turkish Drones at Tal Al-Adas/Gir Zero.
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ISTANBUL: Turkiye will continue its military operations in northern Iraq and Syria against Kurdish PKK rebels so as to “eliminate” their threat, President Recep Tayip Erdogan promised on Tuesday.
“We are preventing the terrorists who live on our borders from breathing,” said Erdogan.
“Until the establishment of a country and a region without terror, we will continue this combat in several dimensions,” the president insisted as he cited the ongoing operations.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed it was behind last week’s attack on the headquarters of Turkiye’s state-owned defense firm in Ankara, which killed five people and wounded 22.
“Where we detect a threat to our country, both within and outside our borders, nobody can prevent us from eliminating it,” Erdogan continued in an address to mark the 101st anniversary of the Turkish republic, saying he would stop at nothing to do so and “end terrorism.”
The PKK, which has waged an on-off insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated as a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Turkiye has been accused of targeting Kurdish civilians in cross-border strikes, a charge the army denies.
Erdogan dubbed last Wednesday’s attack as “the last efforts” of the separatist organization.
“We are now able to develop the weapons we need in the fight against terror and we do not require anyone’s permission,” Erdogan added.
The head of state said that Turkiye was in the process of equipping itself with “an iron dome” anti-aircraft defense system similar to one which Israel has, “but made of steel.”
He added that Turkiye had also become “the world’s largest manufacturer of drones” and that “since 2018, 65 percent of the sales of armed drones in the world have been made by Turkish companies.”
QAMISHLI, Syria — The leader of the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria in an interview with The Associated Press called for international mediators to push for diplomatic solutions to the complex web of conflicts in Syria, including the escalating Turkish bombardment of Kurdish areas.
Turkey has intensified its airstrikes in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria following an Oct. 23 attack on a defense company in Ankara that killed five people and wounded more than 20. Turkish airstrikes targeted dozens of sites believed to be linked to or affiliated with the Kurdistan’s Worker’s Party (PKK), which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that the attack in Ankara served as an excuse for a long-planned Turkish operation in Syria.
Airstrikes on Monday targeted people who the military said were senior leaders of the group, which has sharply stepped up its attacks in Iraq and Syria. U.S. airstrikes hit several Islamic State camps in the Syrian desert on Monday, killing up to 35 of the group’s operatives, the United States Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday.
The strikes targeted multiple senior leaders in the early evening, the statement said, and there were no known civilian casualties. U.S. officials did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the identities of the officials targeted.
The United States has dispatched warships and air defense systems to the region, where Israel is at war with Hezbollah and Hamas, backed by Iran, and Iran and Israel have exchanged blows directly. Syria, allied with Iran and Hezbollah, has also been entangled in the conflict, adding to international unease about the already unstable region.
#Syria looks set to surge back into public attention, as opposition fighters bear down on #Aleppo city & lines of control change for the 1st time in 4.5yrs.
SyriaWeekly.com will keep you updated on everything -- Day 2 update coming later today.