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The Turkish army on Sunday fired artillery shells at a Kurdish militia in Syria backed by the United States but considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the Anadolu-based news agency reported. l & # 39; State.
The bombing was targeting YPG positions on the east bank of the Euphrates River in northern Syria, said Anadolu.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch a new offensive in Syria, east of the Euphrates, and announced Friday that he was giving a "last warning" to the YPG.
Anadolu reported that the strikes, which hit a hill near the village of Zur Maghar, near the Euphrates and the city of Jarablus in the province of Aleppo, were provoked by the firing of the region.
The bombing comes one day after Erdogan's Istanbul summit on the Syrian conflict with Russian, French and German leaders.
The YPG, which covers the north and north-east of Syria, is the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-Arab alliance that has received significant US support in the fight against the group. of the Islamic State in this war-torn country.
However, Ankara fiercely opposes the YPG, viewing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been conducting a deadly insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
Washington's support for the YPG remains a major issue of contention between the United States and Turkey, and a large-scale offensive east of the Euphrates could worsen the already tense relations between the United States and Turkey. # 39; NATO.
Turkey has also repeatedly threatened to attack the Syrian town of Manbij, controlled by the YPG, where US troops are deployed.
To ease tensions, Washington and Ankara agreed to ask their troops to conduct coordinated patrols around the city. Such a patrol took place on Sunday, announced the Turkish armed forces.
Earlier this year, Turkey launched Operation "Olive Branch" in Syria, west of the Euphrates, successfully evacuating the YPG forces from their Afrin enclave.
Ankara has long pitted the YPG, which controls a continuous stretch of territory on the Iraqi border, fearing the creation of an autonomous region, or even an independent entity, that could embolden Turkish Kurds.
The Turkish army fired artillery shells at a Kurdish militia in Syria backed by the United States but considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the Anadolu-based news agency reported. # 39; State.
