Alwaght-The Turkish army has shelled Syrian government forces in Aleppo and Latakia provinces, while also hitting Kurdish targets near the city of Azaz in northwestern Syria, including an air base recently retaken from ISIS terrorists.
Anatolia news agency reported that the Turkish military hit Syrian government forces on Saturday, adding that the shelling had been in response to fire inflicted on a Turkish military guard post in Turkey’s southern Hatay region.
Turkish artillery targeted Syrian forces again late on Saturday, according to a military source quoted by RIA Novosti. The attack targeted the town of Deir Jamal in the Aleppo Governorate.
The agency also cited details of an earlier attack on Syrian government army positions in northwestern Latakia.
Meanwhile, the Turkish airstrikes and shelling of Kurdish positions continued for more than three hours almost uninterrupted. According to RT, Turkish forces are using mortars and missiles and firing from the Turkish border not far from the city of Azaz in the Aleppo Governorate.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish bombs hit areas of Aleppo, including Minnigh, which was recently recaptured by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces from ISIS Takfiri terrorists.
Ankara accuses Syrian Kurdish group Democratic Union Party, also known as the PYD, and its military wing the YPG of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group that has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.
According to YPG sources, the shelling struck the strategic Minnigh military airport.
The development came after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a televised speech Saturday threatened military action against Syrian Kurdish fighters, saying, “We can, if necessary, take the same measures in Syria as we took in Iraq and Qandil.”
Meanwhile The United States pressed Turkey on Saturday to halt military strikes on Kurdish and Syrian government targets Saturday in the northern province of Aleppo, as Ankara weighs a joint ground assault with Saudi troops.
"We are concerned about the situation north of Aleppo and are working to de-escalate tensions on all sides," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
The attacks came as Turkish foreign minister said Saturday that his country and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation in Syria.
"If there is a strategy (against IS) then Turkey and Saudi Arabia could enter into a ground operation," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the Yeni Safak and Haberturk newspapers after taking part in the Munich Security Conference.
