Turkey claims heavy Kurdish-led force losses in northern Syria as threat of invasion persists
Turkey claims heavy Kurdish-led force losses in northern Syria as threat of invasion persists
Turkey said Sunday that it had killed, injured or arrested several members of Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, a claim denied by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
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Ankara has already carried out numerous incursions into northern Syria against Kurdish armed groups [Getty]
Turkey claimed Sunday that it had killed, injured or arrested several members of Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, amid its sustained threats of a full-scale operation in the area.
The Turkish defence ministry said Sunday that its forces had "neutralised" - a term Ankara uses to denote the killing, injuring or arrest of enemy forces - ten members of Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria.
Eight were 'neutralised' in opposition-held areas of northern Aleppo province, the ministry said in one tweet.
Two were 'neutralised' in the northwest of the province, another tweet from the ministry read.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control parts of northern Syria denied the casualties.
Turkey has for months threatened to invade parts of northern Syria to 'clear' the area of Kurdish militants.
It claims that the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militant group that makes up a large part of the SDF, is linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group that has fought a bloody conflict with Ankara for greater Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for decades.
Turkey frequently strikes Kurdish military targets in northern Syria. It has also conducted three full-blown invasions of the area since 2016, seizing territory from Kurdish-led forces.
The SDF-linked Hawar News Agency reported Turkish forces also attacked SDF-controlled areas with heavy artillery on Sunday, without causing deaths or injuries.
Ankara stepped up its preparations to conduct a military operation against Kurdish militia in northern Syria after a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul last November, which it blamed on the militants.
Both the PKK and SDF denied involvement in the bombing.
Before the new year, Turkey revealed it was in talks with Russia - a Syrian regime ally - about using Syrian airspace in a possible operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
The SDF have warned that up to a million people could be displaced if a Turkish invasion of northern Syria goes ahead.
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