Turkey Says Hundreds Killed in Syria Invasion

Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria continues apace, with the Defense Ministry claiming 228 Kurdish militants killed so far in the offensive. The Syrian Observatory had reported only 23 Kurdish fighters and 6 pro-Turkey fighters killed so far, along with 9 civilians.

Heavy fighting is reported in the area around Tal Abyad, as Kurdish-led forces quickly mobilized to try to resist the invasion. So far that’s not working well, as Turkey and its rebel allies have seized several villages.

The next priority, according to Turkey’s Maj. Youssef Hamoud, is to take Tal Abyad and nearby town Ras al-Ayn outright. Both towns are reportedly surrounded at this point, with Turkish-backed Arab rebels eager to participate.

Those towns are both majority Arab towns, and would be part of what the rebels are hoping would be a new rebel heartland carved out of former ISIS possessions. That region fell to Kurdish forces in a prolonged US-backed offensive, and despite lip-service to letting Arab towns be locally ruled, the Kurds quickly came to dominate the areas.

For the time being, Turkey says that the goal is to simply take the 30 kilometer stretch along the border, the so-called “safe zone” they’d been trying to arrange with the US. Turkey has also said they won’t allow the US to deny them airspace in the region, saying that territory doesn’t belong to the United States in the first place.

Turkey’s interest in fighting the Syrian Kurds may make it difficult for the government politically to end the offensive at 30 km, though that point is still a ways into the future. With Kurdish forces holding almost the entire northeast end of the Euphrates River, the temptation will be strong to delve much deeper, particularly with rebels hoping to gain more valuable territory bordering the Syrian government.