Turkish tanks shelled a village held by Kurdish forces in northern Syria overnight, wounding at least four allied fighters, AFP said.
“A number of shells fired by Turkish tanks fell on the village of Zur Maghar, which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG),” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Four fighters were injured,” the group added.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the four were members of a non-YPG rebel force fighting alongside the Kurds against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
Zur Maghar lies along the border with Turkey, east of the town of Jarabulus, in Aleppo province.
In recent days, Turkey has begun striking ISIS in Syria and arresting the group’s sympathizers at home, but it has also targeted the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a Kurdish group with strong links to the YPG in Syria.
Turkey considers the PKK a “terrorist organization,” and in recent days has hit the group’s positions in northern Iraq with the heaviest air strikes since August 2011.
“This shelling comes after Turkey declared war on Daesh [ISIS] and a war against the PKK,” Syrian Kurdish activist Mustafa Ebdi said.
“Now the YPG is facing attacks from ISIS and Turkey.”
Growing Kurdish sway in northern Syria has alarmed neighboring Turkey, which is worried about separatist sentiment among its own Kurdish minority.
The YPG, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, has taken control of the northeastern city of Hasaka this week.
Full control of Hasaka - which was split between the Kurds and Damascus until last month - would be a major gain for the autonomous Kurdish administration that is fighting Islamic State in Syria in partnership with Washington.
Hasaka is the capital of surrounding province by the same name. Assad has lost control of two other provincial capitals - Raqqa and Idlib. The army and allied militia are fighting two rebel offensives aimed at capturing two more: Aleppo and Deraa.
The YPG and the Syrian government have mostly coexisted in predominantly Kurdish areas of Syria where a Kurdish administration has emerged since the uprising against Assad erupted in 2011. (With agencies)
“A number of shells fired by Turkish tanks fell on the village of Zur Maghar, which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG),” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Four fighters were injured,” the group added.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the four were members of a non-YPG rebel force fighting alongside the Kurds against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
Zur Maghar lies along the border with Turkey, east of the town of Jarabulus, in Aleppo province.
In recent days, Turkey has begun striking ISIS in Syria and arresting the group’s sympathizers at home, but it has also targeted the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a Kurdish group with strong links to the YPG in Syria.
Turkey considers the PKK a “terrorist organization,” and in recent days has hit the group’s positions in northern Iraq with the heaviest air strikes since August 2011.
“This shelling comes after Turkey declared war on Daesh [ISIS] and a war against the PKK,” Syrian Kurdish activist Mustafa Ebdi said.
“Now the YPG is facing attacks from ISIS and Turkey.”
Growing Kurdish sway in northern Syria has alarmed neighboring Turkey, which is worried about separatist sentiment among its own Kurdish minority.
The YPG, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, has taken control of the northeastern city of Hasaka this week.
Full control of Hasaka - which was split between the Kurds and Damascus until last month - would be a major gain for the autonomous Kurdish administration that is fighting Islamic State in Syria in partnership with Washington.
Hasaka is the capital of surrounding province by the same name. Assad has lost control of two other provincial capitals - Raqqa and Idlib. The army and allied militia are fighting two rebel offensives aimed at capturing two more: Aleppo and Deraa.
The YPG and the Syrian government have mostly coexisted in predominantly Kurdish areas of Syria where a Kurdish administration has emerged since the uprising against Assad erupted in 2011. (With agencies)
Zaman Al Wasl
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