Image: aa.com.tr
On August 20, two soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) were killed and four others were wounded when the Turkish military and its proxies shelled the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, according to the Hawar News Agency.
The news agency said that the strikes targeted army positions near the villages of Tokhar and Auon al-Dadat. Both villages are located near the town of Manbij, one of the main strongholds of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeastern Aleppo countryside.
The SAA was deployed around Manbij a few years ago to prevent the Turkish military and its proxies from attacking the town under the pretext of fighting the SDF.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, confirmed Hawar’s report. However, the Syrian Ministry of Defense is yet to make any comment on the claims.
Turkey escalated its drone and artillery strikes on SDF-held areas in northern and eastern Syria in recent weeks in what appears to be an attempt to deter the group.
Last month, a Syrian soldier was killed and six others were wounded when a Turkish suicide drone struck Menagh Air Base in the northern Aleppo countryside. The air base is jointly controlled by the SAA and the SDF.
The recent Turkish strikes could have a bad impact on the Turkish-Syrian normalization process, which is sponsored by Russia and Iran. Talks between Ankara and Damascus slowed down in recent weeks despite reports of a near meeting between the foreign ministers of the two.
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