BEIRUT: Turkish artillery shelling continued on Thursday for the sixth consecutive day targeting posts of Kurdish militias in north-east Syria, a monitoring group reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that 13 attacks were mounted by heavy artillery on areas manned by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the north-eastern province of al-Hassakeh. “So far no airstrikes or drone attacks have been registered,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the observatory head, told dpa. According to SDF figures, since midnight on November 19 Turkey has launched at least 47 airstrikes, 20 drone attacks along with 3,761 attacks by artillery, mortars and tank shelling. On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country’s military offensive in neighbouring northern Iraq and Syria is just starting. Turkey has been carrying out airstrikes on the Syrian Kurdish militia the People’s Defence Units (YPG) in northern Syria and on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq since Saturday night. The Turkish government has linked its airstrikes to an attack on Istanbul’s Istiklal shopping street more than a week ago. It regards the YPG and the PKK as the masterminds behind the attack, but both have denied involvement. Investigations are still ongoing, and the exact circumstances of the attack are as yet unclear. Turkish officials have said their forces have attacked 471 targets since the beginning of the latest military offensive, while a total of “254 terrorists have been neutralised”. (DPA)
