Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he plans to launch a “ground operation” in Syria, a day after several bombings were carried out against Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq and several rockets were fired at Turkey from Syria.
Text: Andres Mourenza
Tension has risen on the Turkey-Syria border since Turkish Armed Forces drones and fighter jets began bombing Kurdish militia positions last Saturday night in response to the previous Sunday attack in Istanbul, which left six dead and more than 80 injured.
Turkish aircraft have bombed dozens of positions in northern Syria and Iraq, where the Kurdish armed group PKK and Syrian Kurdish YPG militias maintain their bases. More than 60 people have been killed including Kurdish fighters, Syrian Army soldiers and about a dozen civilians.
Kurdish groups have denied their involvement in the Istanbul attack and have described the Turkish accusation as an excuse to justify the Turkish military intervention in northern Syria. But at the same time they have vowed to take revenge for the Turkish attack and, since Sunday afternoon, have launched rockets at towns in southern Turkey. This morning, one of those projectiles hit a school in the Turkish town of Karkamis. Three people have died, including a child.
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In turn, the Turkish government has stated that it will continue to respond to these attacks by harshening its punishment for groups it considers terrorists, which could increase the escalation of violence.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he plans to launch a “ground operation” in Syria.
“It is not a question of this operation being limited solely to an air operation,” the head of state told the Turkish journalists who accompanied him on the return trip from Qatar, where he attended the opening ceremony of the World Cup.
“The competent units, our Ministry of Defense and our general staff will decide together on the power with which our land forces” should act, said the president, who indicated that “consultations” are being carried out in this regard.
“We have already warned: those who bother us in our territory will pay for it,” he insisted.
(and AFP)
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