ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday that an alleged Turkish drone was downed while attempting to launch an attack on the town of Zirgan in northeast Syria's (Rojava) Hasaka province the night before amid an ongoing Turkish aerial campaign.
“Our forces shot down a Turkish suicide UAV while it was trying to attack the Zirgan town, causing complete destruction of the Turkish suicide UAV,” the SDF stated.
Turkey launched its latest aerial campaign dubbed Operation Claw-Sword targeting Kurdish positions of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region on November 20. The operation has led to a barrage of dozens of drones and airstrikes targeting the SDF, which presents a danger to US personnel as they maintain a presence in the proximity of the area.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the aerial operation is a prelude to a looming ground offensive that Ankara aims to undertake in order to achieve its long-desired 30-kilometer “safe zone” it began creating along its southern border in recent years.
In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, Erdogan once again affirmed his desire to complete the 30-kilometer zone along Turkey’s southern border with Syria, according to state-owned Anadolu Agency.
US officials have repeatedly called for de-escalation in northern Syria, saying a potential operation would be detrimental to their efforts to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment