ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish drone on Wednesday hit a vehicle in Hasaka province, northeast Syria (Rojava), causing the injury of a number of people, according to local media and a war monitor. Hawar News Agency, a media outlet affiliated to Kurdish authorities in Rojava, reported that a Turkish drone targeted a pick up vehicle on Qamishli-Derik (al-Malikiyah) main road, adding that a number of passengers and a person who was near the incident area were injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported the attack, saying that the “Turkish drone” caused casualties without elaborating. The UK-based war monitor also said that Ankara has carried out seven aerial attacks against the Syrian Kurds in January, killing a civilian and three members of the security forces. Turkey has conducted three offensives against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) since 2016, and it is threatening to carry out a fresh military campaign against them in the near future. Ankara claims that the YPG, which is the backbone of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is the Syrian offshoot of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but listed as a terrorist group by Ankara.
