Suspected Turkish drone injures seven civilians in Tal Rifaat

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish drone targeted Tal Rifaat downtown in northwest Syria on Thursday, injuring seven people, including children, reported local media and a war monitor.

Hawar News Agency (ANHA), a media outlet affiliated to Kurdish administration in northeast Syria, reported that seven civilians, including five children aged between 6-15, were killed in a Turkish drone attack in the Tal Riffat which is under the control of Kurdish fighters. 

The condition of one of the injured is serious, according to ANHA. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported the "Turkish" attack, saying only two of the injured are children.  

Turkey has renewed threats to launch a fresh military operation against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria in recent months, with Turkish officials saying the campaign could begin “any moment.” However, the international community has warned against such an offensive, saying it will further escalate tensions in the war-torn country. 

Tal Rifaat is located in Aleppo province. Along with Manbij city, it has been the focal point of Turkey's fresh threats. It is a small pocket of territory with Turkish-backed militias to the west, north, and east, regime forces to the south, and rebel-held Idlib to the southwest. It houses hundred of thousands of Kurds who fled Afrin when Ankara and its Syrian proxies invaded in 2018, forcing the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) out.

Turkey accuses Kurdish forces of using the Tal Rifaat area to attack its forces.

Ankara claims that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group struggling for increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Turkey has labeled both terrorist organizations.