Suspected Turkish drone kills, injures civilians in Tal Rifaat

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish drone targeted northwestern Syria on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring over a dozen others, reported a local media outlet.

Nine people, including women and children, were wounded in the attack on the Kurdish-controlled Tal Rifaat town, Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said.

A war monitor said the drone is “believed to be a Turkish one.”

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,” despite the international community’s warnings against the offensive.

Seven people were injured in an alleged Turkish drone attack in Tal Rifaat earlier this month.

Tal Rifaat and Manbij city have been the focal point of Turkey's fresh threats. The former houses hundreds 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 the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Turkey has labeled both terrorist organizations.