Türkiye eliminates 23 US-backed YPG terrorists in Syria’s volatile north
Türkiye’s National Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that 23 YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria were eliminated.
“There is no place for terrorists to escape; nowhere is safe for them. The breath of our soldiers will continue to be on the back of terrorists!” the ministry said on X as it also shared a video showing tanks and artillery shooting and soldiers engaged in operations.
In northern Syria, Türkiye has carried out a series of successful counterterrorism operations since 2016, including Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019), to prevent the establishment of a terror corridor and ensure the peaceful settlement of local residents. In its 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU, has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, infants and the elderly. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.
Since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria last December, the terrorist organization YPG/PKK has attempted to exploit regional instability to create a “terror corridor” along the border with Türkiye.
A Syria war monitor said 10 fighters linked to the Syrian National Army (SNA) were killed on Saturday during fighting with YPG/PKK in the country’s north, while nine people were killed in a car bombing.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 members of the SNA were killed in clashes with the YPG/PKK, which launched attacks south and east of the city of Manbij, an area that has experienced weeks of violence. Manbij and Tal Rifaat were the first two districts SNA captured from the YPG/PKK when it launched Operation Dawn of Freedom in parallel with anti-regime forces’ advance toward Damascus in December 2024.
The Britain-based observatory also said nine people, including an unspecified number of SNA fighters, were killed “when a car bomb exploded near a military position” in the city of Manbij, without saying who was behind the blast. Syria’s White Helmets emergency rescue group said “four civilians, including two children and a woman, were killed” in the car bomb, updating an earlier toll of three dead, with nine other civilians wounded, adding that the blast damaged nearby shops and buildings.
The YPG/PKK said in a statement on Saturday that its terrorists had targeted several positions held by the SNA in the Manbij area a day earlier.
With U.S. support, the YPG/PKK claimed victory against the Daesh terrorist group in Syria in 2019.
Both Türkiye and the U.S. have designated YPG’s umbrella group, the PKK, as a terrorist group and Ankara often complains that Washington ignores this fact, though Türkiye and the U.S. are key NATO allies for counterterrorism.
Syria’s new rulers have called on the YPG/PKK to hand over their weapons, rejecting demands for any self-rule in Syria’s northeast, where the it controls a so-called autonomous region.
Turkish security forces have eliminated a total of 278 PKK terrorists so far in 2025, the Defense Ministry said last Thursday. “In the past week, 57 terrorists were eliminated in northern Iraq and Syria,” ministry spokesperson Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk said at a weekly press briefing. “Continuous and comprehensive” counterterrorism operations are being conducted to eliminate threats at their source, he said.
Aktürk reaffirmed the country’s commitment to countering groups such as the PKK, YPG and Daesh, saying, “No terrorist formations or unilateral faits accomplis would be allowed in the region.” “Türkiye will continue taking decisive measures against terrorist organizations threatening Syria’s territorial integrity and regional stability,” Aktürk added. “We will maintain close cooperation with the new administration in Syria to enhance the war-torn country’s defense and security capacity and to facilitate the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Syrians.”
The statements come amid the uncertainty looming over the fate of the U.S.-backed YPG/PKK, which poses a direct threat to Türkiye.
As the civil war escalated in Syria, the terrorist groups Daesh and PKK/YPG emerged as major threats, especially in the country’s north.
Last month, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that they might launch a military operation against the PKK/YPG unless they accepted Ankara’s ultimatum for a bloodless transition in post-Assad Syria. “We will do what’s necessary,” Fidan said. He asked what that might entail, “A military operation.”
Assad’s ouster raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening directly in the country against YPG/PKK, which was behind a string of terror attacks targeting Turkish cities and civilians in recent years.
Ankara has said the YPG/PKK should expel terrorists who joined from Türkiye, Iran and Iraq, and they should leave Syria immediately. It has also offered to take over the management of prisons and detention camps holding Daesh members in Syria if the new leadership were unable to do so. Currently, those camps are under the control of YPG/PKK.
Source » dailysabah.com
