土耳其战机星期二袭击了被取缔的库尔德工人党战斗人员以及伊叙前线重要的库尔德力量–人民保卫部队的成员。
来自叙利亚人权了望台的观察员在星期三的一份声明中说，至少28人在空袭中丧生，还有约20人受伤。
几十年来，库尔德工人党一直在土耳其东南部为争取更多的自治而战。土耳其、美国和欧盟都把库尔德工人党认定为恐怖组织。星期二，土耳其军方为扩大空袭进行辩护。
土军方在一份简短声明中说，“为了摧毁这些威胁安全、团结和我们国家和民族主权的恐怖据点，基于国际法上我们所拥有权利，我们实施了空袭” 。
目击者说，土耳其的空袭目标星期二首次扩大到包括伊拉克北部的辛贾尔山，另外一支和库尔德工人党有关的库尔德民兵也遭到空袭的打击。土耳其称辛贾尔山是库尔德的补给中心，激进分子在那里计划袭击土耳其本土。
Turkish warplanes on Tuesday targeted fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, as well as members of the YPG, a key Kurdish affiliate on the Iraqi-Syrian frontier.
Monitors from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Wednesday at least 28 people were killed in the strikes with around 20 others injured.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization for its decades-long autonomy push against the Ankara government in Turkey’s southeast. On Tuesday, the Turkish military defended the expanded airstrikes.
“To destroy these terror hubs, which threaten the security, unity and integrity of our country and our nation, and as part of our rights based on international law, airstrikes have been carried out,” a short Turkish military statement read.
Witnesses said Turkey’s target grid was expanded for the first time Tuesday to include the Sinjar Mountains, a territory in northern Iraq where another Kurdish militia with links to the PKK was also hit by the airstrikes. Turkey has described Sinjar as a Kurdish logistics hub where militants plan attacks inside Turkish territory.