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Turkish forces began withdrawing from Ankara’s largest base in Syria’s northeastern Idlib province shortly after midnight Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The group reported that convoys carrying military personnel and equipment were seen leaving the Morek base, one of 12 Turkish observation posts established in the region to monitor a fragile cease-fire in the nine-year-old conflict.
France accused Turkey on Wednesday of “military involvement” on the side of Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, the latest volley in a war of words between Paris and Ankara.
“The new aspect is that there is military involvement by Turkey which risks fuelling the internationalisation of the conflict,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament.
Turkey struck two sites in the Sidakan sub-district of Erbil province in the early hours of Friday, according to Sidakan town’s mayor.
Turkish artillery fired at the Sari Zraran area of Sidakan’s Khalifan village, and a Turkish drone struck the nearby area of Birkma, mayor Ihsan Chalabi told Rudaw on Friday.
Turkey and Iran agreed to conduct joint operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Iran affiliate, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), on Tuesday, state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Ankara and Tehran agreed to enhance existing cooperation mechanisms against the activities of the armed groups along common borders, including joint military operations, Anadolu said, without providing any further details.
Turkey has intensified attacks against the fighters of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an opposition group to Tehran, killing seven of its fighters in two separate attacks in recent days, the group said in a statement.
“In the past days… Turkey targeted twice from the air the villages in Mawat town in Sharbazher region using drones and warplanes,” the statement reads. The first attack occurred on Tuesday, with no casualties, says the statement