Turkish forces shell US-backed YPG/PKK positions east of Euphrates
Turkey's military on Sunday fired artillery shells on positions in Syria of a Kurdish militia backed by the United States but deemed a terrorist group by Ankara, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The shells targeted "shelters" of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) east of the Euphrates River in the Kobane region of northern Syria, Anadolu said.
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- Published Date: 12:00 | 28 October 2018
- Modified Date: 04:44 | 28 October 2018
Turkish forces bombarded YPG/PKK positions on the eastern shore of the Euphrates River in northern Syria, state-owned Anadolu news agency said on Sunday.
The move comes two days after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued what he said was a "final warning" to those who would endanger Turkey's borders, saying Ankara was determined to focus its attention on YPG/PKK militants east of the Euphrates.
The bombardment targeted the Zor Magar area to the west of northern Syria's Ayn al-Arab region and was aimed at preventing "terrorist activities", Anadolu reported.
Turkey considers the YPG/PYD a terrorist organisation and an extension of the outlawed PKK, which has been waging a terror campaign against Turkey for more than three decades.
Turkey carried out an offensive against YPG terrorists in northern Syria's Afrin region earlier this year.
The YPG/PKK took control of large areas of northeast Syria in 2012 as the pro-Assad forces pulled out to fight rebels in the West.