Last night, Türkiye conducted an air operation Pençe-Kılıç ("Claw-sword") against the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the People's Self-Defense Forces, which forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Air strikes were carried out on the city of Kobani in the northern province of Aleppo, according to Agence France-Presse, citing a representative of the Kurdish Democratic Syrian Forces (SDF). According to Ankara, in this region, a terrorist attack in Istanbul carried out a week ago was ordered. The strikes were also carried out on targets in al-Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria.
According to TRT, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered an air operation in Iraq and Syria upon his return from the G20 summit in Bali. The channel aired a story from the presidential plane, where the head of the Turkish Defense Ministry reports to the president on the situation and hands him a document that Erdoğan signs.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense noted that the Turkish Air Force acted in accordance with the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
"Terrorist hideouts, bunkers, caves, tunnels and warehouses were destroyed with great success. The so-called headquarters of the terrorist organization was also hit with high precision", National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.
He oversaw the operation from the situational headquarters. The strikes were carried out on four regions in Syria (Kobani, Tell Rifat, Derbysia, Derik) and one each in Iraq (Shengal). "The operation has been successfully completed. Our goal is to ensure the security of 85 million of our citizens and our borders, to eliminate all threats posed to our country and to give an appropriate response to them", Akar said.
He added that Türkiye would continue the fight against terrorism until the elimination of the last terrorist.
More than 50 F-16s and 20 drones were involved in the operation. The Turkish Air Force did not enter Syrian airspace during the strikes.
According to A Haber TV channel, the strike aircrafts and drones took off from the 8th main jet base of the Turkish Air Force command in Diyarbakir, located in the southeast of the country.
"Terrorism is the enemy of humanity. Türkiye is the country, which fights against these enemies of humanity, no matter what labels they have, in the most effective way. We have the ability to destroy all terrorist organizations, no matter which country they are under the protection of", Ömer Çelik, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party, wrote on his social media on Sunday.
He noted that the operation "reflects the absolute determination" that Erdoğan had previously expressed with the words "we can suddenly come one night".
