Turks have launched
air strikes into Syria and Northern Iraq, with the usual target - Kurds- as their object.
Rationale: bomb attack in Istanbul last week.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey launched airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Sunday, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bomb attack in Istanbul. Warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the ministry said in a statement, which was accompanied by images of F-16 jets taking off and footage of a strike from an aerial drone.
The ministry cited Turkey's right to self defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter in launching an operation it called Claw-Sword late Saturday. It said it was targeting areas “used as a base by terrorists in their attacks on our country.” Turkey said it was seeking to prevent attacks, secure its southern border and “destroy terrorism at its source.”
The airstrikes came after a bomb rocked a bustling avenue in the heart of Istanbul on Nov. 13, killing six people and wounding over 80 others. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the PKK and its Syrian affiliate the YPG. The Kurdish militant groups have, however, denied involvement.
Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terror group, but disagree on the status of the YPG. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG has been allied with the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.