South Front
A Bayraktar TB2 combat drone. Source: Baykar.
Late on May 19, a Turkish combat drone targeted a position of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) near the northern Syrian town of Manbij, according to several Syrian news sources.
Manbij, one of the largest urban centers in the northern Aleppo countryside, is held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SAA maintains a series of positions around the Arab town in coordination with the Kurdish-led group to deter the Turkish military and its proxies.
The Turkish drone strike hit a position located in the village of Majra Wastani, to the north of Manbij. The Hawar News Agency, which is linked to the SDF, said that four soldiers were killed in the strike. Other news sources reported that three more soldiers were wounded.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense has not confirmed or denied the reports yet. Turkish combat drones targeted SAA positions in SDF territory in northern and eastern Syria on several occasions in the last few years. In some cases the strikes were carried out by mistake.
The alleged deadly strike came amid efforts by Russia and Iran to restore relations between Turkey and Syria. The foreign ministers of the four countries met in Moscow earlier this month to push forward the normalization process.
Damascus insists on a Turkish withdrawal from Syrian territory before relations are fully restored. Ankara rejects this demand.
Just a few hours before the strike near Manbij, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he is keen to turn the page with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad. However, he insisted on maintaining a military presence in Syria, citing the threat posed by Kurdish forces.
“We have more than 900 kilometers of border and there is a constant terror threat from those borders on our country,” he told CNN. “The only reason we have a military presence on the border is to fight against terrorism. That’s the sole reason.”
If confirmed, the Turkish drone strike against the SAA would be the fourth to target northern and eastern Syria this month. All previous three strikes targeted personnel of the SDF and its affiliates, who are viewed by Ankara as branches of the terrorist-designated Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
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