Suspected Turkish drone targets Syrian army base in Tal Rifaat: Reports

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish drone on Sunday targeted a base of the Syrian army in Tal Rifaat, northwestern Syria, injuring two regime soldiers, local media reported.

"A suicide drone belonging to the Turkish army targeted a point of Damascus government forces in the Tal Rifaat district ... wounding two of its soldiers," Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported.

ANHA added that the bombing also resulted in material damages.

Local monitor Rojava Information Center (RIC), affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that the alleged Turkish attack "targeted a security center of the SAA [Syrian army] and wounded two soldiers."

Tal Rifaat is a small pocket of territory in northwest Syria that along with Syria's northern city of Manbij, is eyed as the next target of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a looming operation aimed at pushing back Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) from the area and completing a 30-kilometer "safe zone."

Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.

The operation has been condemned by the US, Iran, and Syria itself.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday warned that potential Turkish intervention in Syria would destabilize the region, and expressed Tehran's opposition to "any kind of military operation in northern Syria."

Syria has also spoken against the Turkish military plans, calling them a violation of Syrian sovereignty. 

RIC also claimed that Sunday's targeting of Tal Rifaat "is the 49th drone attack on NES [North and East Syria] since January 2022."