𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐊𝐊 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐏𝐆 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 “𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬,” 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐲’𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧.

After the suicide explosion in Ankara, The PKK/YPG’s infrastructure in Iraq and Syria are “legitimate targets,” according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. In reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliate, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), he threatened “very unambiguous” reprisal. On Sunday, a bomb went off outside of the Turkish police headquarters, killing two attackers and wounding two police officers.

For years, Turkey has urged the United States to cut ties with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and pull its roughly 900 special operations personnel out of the Kurdish-run autonomous zone in northern Syria. US forces, according to the Biden administration, would remain in northeast Syria indefinitely to suppress any remaining members of the jihadist terror organization.

According to American military sources, a spate of assassinations of high-level YPG officials appears to be meant to degrade morale and weaken the long-term coherence of the multiethnic SDF alliance, and Ankara’s new threats foreshadow a potential escalation in Syria. In addition, the Turkish military has launched three major combat operations against Kurdish factions in Syria.

Concerned about a fresh military escalation in northern Syria, the SDF has called Turkey’s warnings “pointless” and has called on the international community to take action. Following Sunday’s attack, Turkey has continued its airstrikes against PKK camps in the highlands of northern Iraq, with additional strikes on Wednesday bringing the total number of targets struck to 58. As a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, Baghdad has criticized Turkish airstrikes and ongoing military operations against PKK bases in the nation.

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