Tell Abyad offensive

A senior PKK member sought with red notice has been neutralized by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in a surgical attack with an armed drone in northern Syria, local media has reported.

Mehmet Gürbüz, codenamed "Rojhat Karakoçan," was killed along with four other terrorists near him in Ayn Issa, a town in the Tell Abyad district of Raqqa governorate.

Turkey's military sources on Nov. 1 announced that Syrians who hear of the comprehensive security measures taken in Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain are returning back to the area. 

Turkey's military operation against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria forced 300,000 people to displace in eight days. This was reported today by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, quoted by the AFP.

"More than 300,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive," on October 9, the NGO director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Turkish troops have taken control of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain border towns of Syria, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Oct. 14.
"Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain are under control. Work for the control of the region is ongoing," he told reporters after his meeting with the leader of opposition İYİ (Good) Party, Meral Akşener.

Turkish troops advanced 7 kilometers deep into the Tal Abyad border town of northern Syria as of 01:30 a.m. local time on Oct. 10 as part of "Operation Peace Spring," Hürriyet Daily News has learned.

By arming the YPG group in Syria, Washington "created a nightmare for Turkey," said a senior U.S. senator during a visit to the Turkish capital on Jan. 19

Turkish forces killed an YPG militant who fired into Turkey from Syria, a Turkish security source said on Nov. 7, the most recent cross-border clash between Turkey and militants east of the Euphrates River.

Two civilians were killed and at least 19 others injured by rocket attacks launched by Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants from Syria across the Turkish border on Feb. 2. 

Some 75,000 Syrians have returned to lands liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) after operations led by the Turkish army, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Dec. 15.

Relations between the U.S. and Turkey are “strategic and lasting” while Washington’s relations with the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are “temporary, transactional and tactical,” U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Jonathan Cohen has said.