Turkish forces are seen near Mount Barsaya, northeast of Afrin, Syria January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
On June 4, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced that one of its service members had been killed in Syria.
According to the ministry, the service members was killed in an attack in the area of Afrin in the northern countryside of Aleppo. The Kurdish-majority area was occupied by the Turkish military and its Syrian proxies more than three years ago.
The service member was most likely killed when Kurdish fighters struck a post and two vehicles of Turkish forces near the towns of Burj Haidar and Basselhâya with ant-tank guided missiles on June 3.
The fighters were likely members of the People’s Protection Units or the Afrin Liberation Forces, which are known for carrying out such attacks against Turkish forces in northern Aleppo.
Also on June 4, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced the death of three service members in Turkey. One of the causalities was killed in clashes with elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) near the eastern town of Tatvan, while the remaining two were killed as a result of an accident on Kırıkhan- Reyhanlı road in southern Turkey.
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) June 4, 2021
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) June 3, 2021
The Turkish military is active against the PKK and other Kurdish guerrilla groups on several fronts inside Turkey as well as in Syria and Iraq.
