Turkish drone strikes in northeast Syria on Friday evening killed four US-backed fighters and injured 11 civilians, the Kurdish-led force said.
The strikes on areas controlled by the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after Turkey's president said his government would not hesitate to take action against Kurdish-led groups in northern Syria if they continued with their plans to organize local elections. He accuses these groups of having links with Kurdish militants banned in Türkiye.
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The SDF said drone strikes hit their positions eight times as well as civilian homes and vehicles in and near the northern town of Qamishli. Such Turkish strikes are not uncommon in northeast Syria.
The Kurdish Red Crescent said that as its paramedics tried to reach the attacked areas, a Turkish strike hit one of its ambulances, knocking it out of service. The attack took place near the town of Amouda, west of Qamishli.
A US-backed force in Syria says Turkish drone strikes in northeast Syria have killed four Kurdish fighters and injured 11 civilians. (Fox News Digital)
There was no immediate comment from Turkey.
The Kurdish-led autonomous administration, which controls northern and eastern Syria, has announced plans to hold municipal elections on June 11. Voting to choose mayors will take place in the provinces of Hasakah, Raqqa, Deir el-Zour and the eastern part of Aleppo. province.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told X on Friday that “we do not believe the conditions for such elections are ripe in northeast Syria at this time.”
These comments appear to be a message to the Kurdish-led authorities not to hold elections.
Turkey, which has carried out military operations in Syria in the past, sees the move as a step by Syrian Kurdish militants toward creating an independent Kurdish entity beyond its border. He described the planned elections as a threat to the territorial integrity of Syria and Turkey.
“We are closely following the aggressive actions of the terrorist organization against the territorial integrity of our country and Syria under the pretext of elections,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
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Turkey considers the Kurdish militia, known as the People's Protection Units, a terrorist group linked to an illegal Kurdish group that has waged an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. That conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party has killed tens of thousands of people.
The People's Protection Units form the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are a key U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group. US support for the SDF has infuriated Turkey and remains a major source of friction in their relationship.