South Front
A Bayraktar TB2 combat drone. Source: Baykar.
On April 25, a commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed in a Turkish drone strike on Syria’s northern region.
The Kurdish-led group said in an initial statement that a vehicle belonging to one of its members was targeted by a combat drone to the south of the town of Kobane, which is located in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.
Later, the slain member was identified as Sabri Abdullah, a field commander of the SDF who was known by his nom de guerre “Mazloum Doghan”.
Click to see full-size image. Source: the Hawar News Agency.
A few hours after the deadly drone strike, a bast destroyed a vehicle in the SDF-held town of Manbij, some 53 kilometers to the southeast of Kobane. Sources affiliated with the SDF said that the blast was caused by a landmine and didn’t result in any casualties. However, opposition activists alleged that a commander of the SDF was aboard the vehicle.
Video footage of the incident that surfaced online suggests that the vehicle was blown up with a heavy explosive device or targeted by a combat drone.
Turkey carried out dozens of drone strikes against fighters and commanders of the SDF and its affiliates in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq over the last few years.
A commander of the SDF was killed in a Turkish drone strike near the town of al-Qumishli in the northern countryside of al-Hasakah in northern Syria on April 14. Turkish security sources told the state-run Anadolu Agency on April 25 that the drone strike was carried out by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and identified the slain commander as Mehmet Sari, who was also known as “Baran Kurtay”.
The Turkish escalation against the SDF comes as Ankara is working to restore relations with Damascus. Both sides are reportedly looking to coordinate and cooperate against the group, which established a de-facto state in northern and eastern Syria with support from the United States.
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