ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday refuted a statement hours earlier by the Turkish defense ministry claiming it had killed 12 fighters in an operation in northern Syria.
Turkey’s defense ministry claimed it had killed 12 SDF fighters in areas of the “Euphrates Shield,” an area in northern Syria under the control of Ankara and its Syrian proxies.
The SDF issues a statement several hours later rejecting the claim.
“According to today's statement of the Ministry of Defense of the occupying Turkish state, it is claimed that 12 of our fighters were martyred in the attacks against our forces. This claim is not true,” the SDF tweeted.
The Euphrates Shield was a cross-border operation launched by the Turkish armed forces on the west of the Euphrates River to push back the Kurdish forces from the area. Turkey claims the goal of the operation was to protect its borders from what it labels as "terror".
Turkey considers the SDF and its Kurdish backbone People’s Protection Units (YPG) as the Syria offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is an armed group that fights for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey, labeled as a terrorist group by Ankara.
Turkey’s statement and the subsequent denial by the SDF come amid an increase in clashes. On Friday, the SDF announced that four of its fighters were killed in a drone strike in the Amuda district of Hasaka in northeast Syria (Rojava).
The SDF accused Turkey of “undermining the security and the stability in the region” with its attacks.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Turkish drones have carried out 29 attacks on areas controlled by the SDF in 2023, killing a total of 44 people - 10 civilians, including a child and a woman, 31 military personnel and three soldiers of the Syrian regime.
