(Newswire.net — October 9, 2019) — Turkish aviation has attacked a Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces base in the Syrian province of Hasakah, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television reported.
“Turkish planes attacked the headquarters of Kurdish forces in the outskirts of El Maliki, in the province of Hasakah in northeast Syria,” the television report states.
Syrian state radio also confirmed that the Turkish Air Force launched an air strike at a checkpoint on the Syrian-Iraq border, which destroyed two bridges. This checkpoint is controlled by Syrian Democratic Forces Arab-Kurdish detachments.
The statement said there was no information on the victims of the attack so far.
Photos of Turkish ground forces concentrating near the Syrian border have also been posted on social media, with the White House claiming that Turkey has not launched an announced offensive on Syria.
Earlier, Syrian Democratic Forces reported that US forces had withdrawn from the border with Turkey in northern Syria, in violation of agreements previously reached with Kurdish allies. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said the US military is leaving territories in northern Syria, where Turkey plans to conduct a military operation against Kurdish forces.
A senior US administration official, however, said Turkey had not launched the announced offensive on Syria. “For the time being, we do not see this operation underway,” the administration representative added despite airstrike reports.
He also referred to the withdrawal of US troops from the area, saying that Washington is not withdrawing all troops from Syria, but only moving those located in the north.
A Defense Department official said the US president had not approved a Turkish attack on the Kurds. “The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey — as did the president — that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in northern Syria,” Jonathan Hoffman, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. “The U.S. armed forces will not support or be involved in any operation.”
According to him, there are 50 US soldiers left in the region. He added that the United States had earlier succeeded in persuading Turkey not to conduct a military operation in northern Syria. Since Turkish forces already started with airstrikes as preparations for full scale invasion – the persuasion failed epically.
US President Donald Trump has warned Turkey that it should not harm US troops in the area during the operation the country is conducting in northern Syria.
“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” the president wrote on Twitter. He did not explain what exactly would be off limits, but aides insisted he had not given a green light to an invasion.
Trump added that in northern Syria, there are close to 70,000 captured terrorists of the DAESH group and their families, as well as about 50 US soldiers remain on location under attack.