Turkey strikes Syrian regime outpost, kills three: War monitor

Turkish raids in northern Syria hit outposts operated by the Syrian army and Kurdish-led forces on Sunday, killing three people, a UK-based war monitor said.

The raids near the Kurdish border town of Kobane targeted Syrian army and Syrian Democratic Forces positions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The three victims were wearing Syrian army uniforms, according to the observer.

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Several other fighters were injured, some in critical condition, according to the Observatory, which relies on an extensive network of sources inside Syria.

The strikes were preceded by cross-border shelling from near Kobani against Turkish forces, according to the observer.

Last month, the Syrian government said it would respond to Turkey‘s direct attacks on its forces.

The warning came after a Turkish raid on a regime outpost near Kobane killed at least three soldiers in mid-August, according to the official SANA news agency.

Turkey has launched a series of cross-border offensives targeting Kurdish forces and the ISIS terror group since 2016, but such operations have rarely resulted in the deaths of Syrian regime fighters.

Ankara has stepped up its attacks in Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria since a July 19 summit with Iran and Russia failed to greenlight a new offensive against Kurdish fighters Ankara sees as terrorists.

Regime forces have deployed in areas controlled by Kurdish fighters near the border with Turkey under agreements to stem a new Turkish operation.

Last week, the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria said ‘another Turkish ground operation’ remains a threat in northern Syria, amid ‘continuous mobilization and fighting’ between Turkish and Turkish-backed forces and Kurdish-led opponents.

“Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that’s where it could be heading,” warned Paolo Pinheiro, the commission’s head.

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