Syria: artillery duels continue between the Turkish army and the Kurds

Mazloum Abdi, commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, at a press conference in Hassakeh, Syria, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. He said his forces halted operations against the IS group due to Turkish attacks against northern Syria.

AP - Baderkhan Ahmad

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Violent artillery duels continued this Saturday, November 26 between the Turkish army and its Syrian auxiliaries on one side, Kurdish forces and Syrian government troops on the other, in northern Syria.

According to a count by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 67 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in the past five days in the ongoing escalation.

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With our correspondent in Beirut,

Turkish artillery fired dozens of large-caliber shells on Saturday against military positions and residential areas in a dozen localities located in the border region north of the Syrian province of Aleppo.

Kurdish forces have targeted Turkish military bases on the same front.

Turkish shelling was concentrated around Kobané, a stronghold and symbol of Kurdish resistance to the Islamic State group.

This city, called in Arabic Aïn al-Arab, is the priority target of the Turkish army in the event of a possible ground offensive.

The Syrian government army, which shares the ground with the Kurdish forces in this region, has sent significant reinforcements there.

The NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) indicates that the troops of Damascus deployed on Saturday on this front about twenty armored vehicles, including tanks and artillery pieces.

On Saturday evening, Turkish aircraft fired flares over Syrian regular army positions around Kobane.

This unprecedented escalation for years is accompanied by threats from Turkish leaders to launch a land operation to drive Kurdish forces thirty kilometers away from the border.

Ankara accuses the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of being the author of an attack which killed six people and injured more than 80 in Istanbul on 13 November.

►Read again: The Turkish army continues its bombardments against positions in Syria

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• Syria

• Turkey

• Kurds