Turkey’s defense ministry said two have been martyred and two were wounded in an attack on an armored vehicle in northern Syria. The ministry said Turkish forces immediately launched retaliatory fire. Initial reports by the Turkish Ministry of Defense suggest that 7 terrorists were eliminated during the retaliatory fire.
A statement shared on Twitter said the attack was carried out in the region where Turkey launched a cross-border operation called Euphrates Shield in 2016 to drive away Islamic State (ISIS) and Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) terrorists. Media reports state that the attack was in the al-Bab district of the Aleppo Governorate.
Turkey remains in northwestern Syria as a peacekeeping force and has a significant military presence in the region to combat the YPG/PKK.
Ankara and others regard the YPG as a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been conducting more than a three-decade campaign of terror against Turkey. The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the UK, and the European Union.
