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Operation Forked Sword: New Turkish bombings in northern Syria – Ground operation ‘coming soon’

Defying calls for restraint from Washington and Moscow, the Turkey struck several targets in Syria on Tuesday, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again threatened to launch a ground operation against Kurdish fighters in the north of the country “soon”.

Mr Erdogan has been threatening since May to order a large-scale ground operation in Syria’s northbut the Nov. 13 bomb blast in the heart of Istanbul, which his government blamed on the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the YPG (People’s Protection Units), may accelerate developments.

Since Sunday, “we have been smashing terrorists with our planes and drones,” the Turkish head of state said during a speech yesterday. “God willing, we will soon annihilate them with our soldiers, our cannons and our tanks.”

Sunday mornings, the Turkish Air Force began Operation “Gampso Xifos”hitting some 89 PKK and YPG positions in northern Iraq and northern Syria, killing some forty Kurdish fighters, according to the non-governmental organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Last night, Turkish artillery continued to bombard the iconic city of Kobani, a stronghold of the YPG that was captured in 2015 from the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) organization with the support of the West, the same NGO said.

During the day, new strikes by Turkish UAVs were reported, particularly against a joint base of Kurdish forces and the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition, 25 kilometers from the city of Hasakah, where two people were killed, according to Kurdish forces and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Five civilians, including a child, were also killed in Azaz, Aleppo province, while three Syrian soldiers were killed and many others wounded in a shelling of an airbase not far from Azaz.

Russia, for its part, expressed the “hope” that Turkey will show “restraint” and refrain from “any use of excessive force” in Syria.

“We understand Turkey’s concerns (…). But at the same time, we call on all parties to refrain from any initiative that could lead to serious destabilization,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

On Monday, Berlin and Paris called on Ankara to act in a “proportionate” manner and “show more restraint” respectively.

For its part, Turkey yesterday demanded that its allies, above all the US, “stop all support” to the YPG.

The SDD assures that they seek “de-escalation”.

From 2016 to 2019, Turkey’s military conducted three large-scale operations in northern Syria against Kurdish paramilitaries and other organizations.

Ankara has repeatedly expressed its intention to create a 30-kilometer-deep “security zone” along its southern border.

For American analyst Anthony Skinner, the conditions are now in place for Turkey to launch a “brutal” operation against the PKK and YPG as the “presidential and parliamentary elections” of June 2023 approach. In his view, President Erdogan is determined to play “the security card” ahead of the elections.

Source: News Beast

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