A car bomb planted by Kurdish YPG has killed 17 people and wounded 20 others in Tel Khalaf village near the border town of Ras al-Ayn, the Turkish Defence Ministry said Tuesday.
Car bombs have become the new attack tactic used by the Kurdish militias to target Turkish-backed fighters, but this deadly tactic has claimed the lives of tens of people this week as blasts hit marketplaces and bus terminals in the towns of Azaz, al-Bab, Jarablus and Tel Abyad.
On Monday, two civilians were killed and three others were injured in a car bomb attack in the northwestern city of Azaz.
On Oct. 9, 2019, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria, east of the Euphrates River, secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group dominated by the YPG, has been controlling some 28 percent of the Syrian territories, including the most of the 911-kilometer-long Syria-Turkey border.
Turkish troops and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army last month took control of Tel Abyad and other border towns from Kurdish forces, after US troops – who were protecting the Kurds – pulled out, according to BBC.
In October, tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the border towns in northern Syria, including Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, as Turkish forces pushed into the area.
Turkey’s military took the Kurdish-held border areas in northern Syria immediately after US forces were withdrawn. Turkey has a longstanding enmity with the Kurds and wants to push back the YPG from its border.
Turkey claims the YPG is a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
