South Front
A Bayraktar TB2 combat drone. Source: Baykar.
On May 5, a Turkish combat drone targeted a vehicle of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the village Kairouan in the countryside of the northeastern Syrian governorate of al-Hasakah.
In a statement, the SDF said that two of its personnel were killed in the drone strike. The personnel worked as guards in al-Hawl camp, where tens of thousands of suspected ISIS members and their families are being held by the Kurdish-led group.
“The attack on al-Hawl camp prepares the ground for the revival of ISIS,” the group’s statement reads.
Contradicting the SDF, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that three personnel of the group, including a commander, were killed as a result of the Turkish strike.
According to the London-based monitoring group, this was the 13 Turkish drone strike to target areas held by the SDF in northeastern Syria this year. The strikes claimed the lives of 11 personnel of the group and five civilians, including a woman and child.
The Turkish National Intelligence Organization was behind two drone strikes that targeted the region on April 14 and 25. The strikes killed two commanders of the SDF, who were identified as Mehmet Sari and Sabri Abdullah.
Despite the ongoing normalization process with Damascus, Ankara does not appear to be ready to launch a new ground offensive against the SDF. Turkish military and security operations against the group, which is backed by the United States, remain limited to drone and artillery strikes.
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