South Front
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On May 18, two Turkish drone strikes hit the northern Syrian village of Kharoufiyah, which is held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Kharoufiyah is located near the town of Manbij in the northern Aleppo countryside. Manbij is one of the largest Arab urban centers controlled by the SDF and a known stronghold of the Kurdish-led group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group, said that the first drone strike targeted a vehicle of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), the all-female branch of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) which forms the core of the SDF.
Two personnel of the YPJ were wounded in the strike. Minutes later, a second drone strike hit civilians attempting to rescue the casualties. One of the civilians sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead later.
This was the second Turkish drone strike to target SDF territory this month. On May 5, a drone strike hit a vehicle near the village Kairouan in the northeastern countryside of al-Hasakah. The strike killed two security personnel of the SDF. Later on May 11, a strike near the town of Kobane in the northeastern Aleppo countryside claimed the life of Tuba Karakoc, a financial affairs official of the group. The strike was carried out by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization.
Turkey considers the YPG, YPJ and the SDF to be the Syrian branches of the terrorist-designated Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Ankara threatened to launch a new ground operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on several occasions over the last few years. However, it refrained from carrying out its threats due to pressure from both the United States and Russia.
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