Turkey strikes Kurdish PYD in Syria twice: Turkish PM

The Turkish army has hit the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria twice for violating the red line Turkey has imposed on the western part of the Euphrates River, the Turkish prime minister has said. 

"We said: 'The PYD will not pass to the west of the Euphrates. We'll hit them if they do.' And we hit them twice.

A Syrian helicopter was downed last year. An unmanned aerial vehicle was hit as well. It's not possible to do anything in Syria without Turkey," Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu told pro-government broadcaster A Haber late Oct 26. 

Turkey considers the PYD an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and therefore as a terrorist organization, unlike the United States and the European Union which see them as a group that can cooperate with the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Military sources told daily Hürriyet that the first of the two strikes mentioned by Davuto?lu was about four months ago, following fire on the Turkish side from a region controlled by the PYD. The Turkish military responded under its rules of engagement.

The second Turkish fire against the PYD was 10 days ago when a group of 20 on three boats attempted to pass to the western banks of the Euphrates. First, Turkish soldiers opened warning fire with machine guns, but as the group advanced, Turkish tanks also fired. Military sources talking to Hürriyet gave no information about the casualties of the PYD, but said the National Security Council (MGK) was briefed on the issue on Oct. 21. 

The same sources denied recent claims that Turkey fired at Tal Abyad late on Oct. 24.

Davuto?lu said once more that the PYD and Syria's government had agreed to conspire against Turkey in a...