Turkish army starts offensive in northern Syria The Nobel Prize for Literature goes to the Norwegian Jon Fosse

According to media reports, the Turkish military has launched an air-to-ground offensive in northern Syria.

As state broadcaster TRT reported on Thursday, citing security circles, Turkish forces attacked “terrorist targets” in northern and northeastern Syria. A few days earlier, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) carried out an attack in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacks mainly targeted posts of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish militia YPG, in the area around Hasakah in the country’s northeast. At least ten people were killed, including civilians.

Five other people were reportedly injured in the airstrikes. According to Kurdish activists from Hasakah, Turkish warplanes and drones bombed the area on Thursday.

Attack in Ankara

Turkey had previously threatened new military strikes in Syria and Iraq. On Sunday, two police officers were injured in a suicide bombing outside the Interior Ministry in Ankara. Another attacker was killed in a gun battle. The banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK claimed responsibility for the attack.

Immediately after the attack, Turkey carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq, where the PKK has its headquarters. Turkey’s Defense Ministry said 22 “terrorists were neutralized” in Syria last week. This usually means they were murdered. Fifteen other people were also killed in Iraq during the same period.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, Europe and the US. The SDF, led by Kurdish militias, is a close ally of the US in the fight against Islamist terrorists in Syria. Turkey is taking military action against both the SDF and the PKK and lists both as terrorist organizations. (saw/sda/dpa)