Turkish Forces Shelled Russian Patrol In Northeastern Syria

Sergei Novikov/TASS

On September 16, the Turkish military and its proxies shelled a patrol of the Russian Military Police in Syria’s northeastern region, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The London-based monitoring group said that the Russian patrol came under fire while it was building barriers along the strategic M4 highway in the northern Raqqa countryside. The highway links Raqqa with al-Hasakah to the east, and Aleppo from the west.

The Russian patrol quickly withdrew from the highway after the shelling, which didn’t result in any casualties or material losses.

There is still no official comment on the alleged incident by Russia, or Turkey. The shelling was likely the result of poor coordination. The Russian and Turkish troops conduct joint patrols on the M4 highway and in other parts of northeastern Syria on a regular basis as a part of a de-escalation agreement that was reached three years ago.

The Turkish military and its proxies have been shelling areas held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along the M4 highway in the northern Raqqa countryside for the last two days. However, no losses were reported.

Turkey’s repeated attacks on northeastern Syria are meant to pressure the SDF. Ankara has been threatening the group with a new military operation since last May. Now, it is reportedly working to forge an unlikely alliance with Damascus against the US-backed group.

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