Turkish forces, allied militants launch major assault on key northern Syria town

Turkish military forces and allied militants have launched a fierce assault on a key town in Syria’s northern province of Raqqah, more than a month after they mounted a cross-border offensive to clear the region of YPG Kurdish militants.

Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that Turkish troops and their proxies attacked residential neighborhoods in Ayn Issa, located around 45 kilometers north of the provincial capital city of Raqqah, with artillery rounds, rockets and mortar shells on Saturday, causing heavy damage to citizens’ properties, public facilities as well as urban infrastructure. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties.

The report added that local residents fled the town fearing for their lives.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, reported that the Kurdish-led SDF militants, whose ranks mainly include YPG fighters, “are trying to prevent Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies from advancing towards the town.”

Elsewhere in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah, local sources, requesting anonymity, have told SANA that Turkish military forces are apparently establishing a new base on the outskirts of Ra’s al-Ayn city.

The sources noted that Turkish military engineering vehicles are flattening the terrain, and setting up bulwarks.

Local sources also said tens of families, dressed in outfits similar to members of the Daesh terrorist group, have settled in the southern sector of Ra’s al-Ayn.

On October 9, Turkish military forces and Ankara-backed militants launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion of northeastern Syria in a declared attempt to push YPG militants away from border areas.

Turkey launches military invasion into northeastern Syria against YPG forces

Turkish military and allied forces have launched a cross-border offensive against Kurdish YPG militants in northeastern Syria.

Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.

On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a memorandum of understanding that asserted YPG militants had to withdraw from the Turkish-controlled "safe zone" in northeastern Syria within 150 hours, after which Ankara and Moscow would run joint patrols around the area.

Turkey, Russia agree to remove Kurdish militants from NE Syria, launch joint patrols

Russia and Turkey have agreed to remove Kurdish militants from border areas in northern Syria and launch joint patrols there.

Ankara has threatened to launch another military operation in the swathe of land bordering Turkey unless the pullout of Kurdish forces from the area is completed.

Just last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu complained that the United States and Russia had failed to fulfill what was required under agreements that put a stop to the Turkish offensive against Kurds in early October.

In the wake of the flare-up, Syria deployed units of its army to areas in the northeast following a deal with Kurds to hand over control of key cities in the region to government forces in exchange for support against Turkish strikes.

Ankara wants to see a 32-kilometer “safe zone” established in northeastern Syria which is clear from Kurdish militants and where it can relocate a great percentage of the more than three million Syrian refugees living in Turkey.

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