Turkey’s air force on Sunday launched an attack on Kurdish bases in northern Syria, in response to the Istanbul blast, the country’s defence ministry informed.
Taking to Twitter the Turkish defence ministry tweeted, “The hour of reckoning has come”. In another post, the ministry shared a video of the Kurdish base being hit with the precision strikes.
Notably, Turkey has blamed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliate Syria Kurdish groups for the blast that rocked central Istanbul last week, killing 13.
According to reports, the target of Turkish attacks has been the northern Syrian border city of Kobane. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirmed that the city had been targetted in the attacks.
“Kobane, the city that defeated ISIS, is subjected to bombardment by the aircraft of the Turkish occupation,” tweeted SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami.
updated#Kobane, the city that defeated ISIS, is subjected to bombardment by the aircraft of the Turkish occupation.
— Farhad Shami (@farhad_shami) November 19, 2022
“The Turkish occupation aircraft are shelling the al-Beilonya village which is heavily populated with Afrin IDPs who were forcibly displaced from Afrin in 2018,” he added.
Notably, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu in the aftermath of the blasts said that the order for the attack was given in Kobane, where Turkish forces have carried out operations against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in recent years.
Soylu added that the bomber had passed through Afrin, another region in northern Syria, which has been bombed by Turkish jets on Sunday.
The PKK and YPG have denied any involvement in the blast. Meanwhile, Turkish police has captured the chief suspect Alham Albashir — a Syrian woman who is said to have been working for Kurdish militants, in an Istanbul suburb.
(With inputs from agencies)
