Turkish military says another soldier killed in Syria
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s military announced the death of another soldier in its operation against a syrian Kurdish militia in northern Syria, on Sunday.
Sunday’s announcement brings to 31 the number of Turkish soldiers killed since the operation against the Syrian Kurdish militia started on Jan. 20 with Ankara’s cross-border incursion into the enclave of Afrin.
The military’s statement said the soldier died in clashes with the Syrian Kurdish group known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Turkey considers the YPG to be “terrorists” and claims it is linked to an outlawed Kurdish insurgent group operating within Turkey’s own borders.
Turkey continued its operations Sunday, targeting YPG areas with air and artillery strikes. It is commanding a joint operation with Syrian opposition forces on the ground, as well, though they have been held to limited territorial gains by the YPG. Some 148 YPG fighters and 157 Syrian opposition fighters have been killed in three weeks of fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.