Eleven were killed and eight others were injured when the YPG, the Syrian wing of the terrorist group PKK, attempted to infiltrate into a territory held by the Syrian opposition forces on Sunday. Local media outlets reported clashes broke out near al-Bab and heightened violence forced authorities to close schools on Monday. Also on Monday, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced seven PKK/YPG terrorists were eliminated in operations in the “Operation Euphrates Shield” area, which also covers al-Bab.
Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that YPG terrorists tried to enter safe zones in Manbij, firing at guards. A deadly clash ensued and the YPG had to withdraw from the area. The number of losses of the terrorists is not clear. Syrian opposition forces responded to the attack by pounding an area controlled by the terrorist group with Grad rockets.
The YPG occasionally launch attacks against opposition-held areas though their offensives often fail. On Saturday, an attack launched from the Ayn al-Arab district in Syria’s Aleppo killed a child. The incident triggered protests on Sunday in Tal Abyad where the child hailed from.
Dozens of civilians gathered in the town center, carrying placards in Arabic that read: “PKK’s terror will not end without an operation” and “The hands of traitors reach even our children.”
Speaking to AA, Tal Abyad local council President Salih Hac Abdullah said the PKK terror group has maintained its existence by targeting civilians since its founding. “They are a terrorist organization that does not recognize international law,” he said.
Since 2015, the PKK/YPG has occupied several Syrian provinces, including Arab-majority Deir el-Zour, a resource-rich region bordering Iraq, bisected by the Euphrates River and home to dozens of tribal communities.
The terrorist group has forced many locals to migrate, bringing in its members to change the regional demographic structure, conducting arbitrary arrests, kidnapping children of local tribes for forced recruitment and assassinating tribe leaders to yoke local groups.
It has also seized the region’s oil wells – Syria’s largest – and smuggles oil to the Syrian regime, despite U.S. sanctions, to generate revenue for its activities.
U.S. forces in Syria have trained thousands of YPG/PKK terrorists in their military bases in the region under the pretext of combating terrorism. The U.S. has also provided YPG/PKK terrorists with huge amounts of weapons and combat equipment. Türkiye, which has troops inside Syria, and Turkish-backed opposition groups in Syria’s northwest routinely clash with the PKK/YPG, which seeks to establish a terror corridor along the country’s border.
Ankara, which has taken some steps for possible normalization with Damascus since last year, has also repeatedly called on its NATO ally to cut off support to the PKK/YPG.
Last week, Turkish media reported that the terrorist group was confiscating land from Arab farmers in occupied areas of Deir ez-Zur in Syria to construct watchtowers with technical support from the U.S. military. Stretching approximately 75 miles (122 kilometers) from the Iraqi border along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, the terrorist group has built dozens of observation towers, allowing them to monitor Iran-backed groups stationed west of the river. With these towers, the terror group can also oversee arms and oil smuggling activities on both sides of the Euphrates.