First Turkish Soldier Dies in Syria Escalation

A Turkish soldier has died of accidents sustained in a rocket assault in Syria, the protection ministry mentioned on Friday, Ankara’s first fatality because it launched a wave of air strikes this week.

Turkey stepped up cross-border air raids towards Kurdish targets in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq in retaliation for a bombing in Ankara that injured two policemen on Sunday.

A department of the Kurdistan Staff’ Occasion (PKK) — listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies — claimed accountability for the primary such assault in Ankara since 2016.

The protection ministry mentioned the soldier was wounded in a missile strike on a Turkish navy base within the northern Syrian city of Dabiq.

Turkey concluded that the 2 assailants who died within the Ankara assault got here from Syria.

Turkey’s operation in Syria is primarily focusing on oil and different amenities managed by the Kurdish Individuals’s Safety Items (YPG).

The group contains an integral a part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — the Kurds’ de facto military within the space — that spearheaded the battle to dislodge Islamic State group jihadists from the area in 2019.

United States assist for the YPG has strained Ankara’s ties with Washington because the jihadists’ defeat.

These tensions spilled over when a US fighter jet shot down a Turkish fight drone on Thursday that was deemed to be a menace to US forces backing up the YPG.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s spokesman, Fahrettin Altun, on Friday referred to as international assist for the YPG “a colossal folly.”

“Finish your misguided coverage of supporting terror teams,” Altun mentioned.

The Turkish protection ministry on Friday additionally reported the demise of a soldier who was wounded in Iraq on September 30.