Erdogan says air raids will "continue incessantly" in Northern Syria

Erdogan says air raids will "continue incessantly" in Northern Syria
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As Turkish air raids targeting areas under the control of AANES have continued for a fourth day, a truck driver was killed in one of the most recent drone strikes.

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday that they will continue to incessantly conduct air raids in Syria, a person was killed and two were injured by a Turkish drone strike in the city of Qamisli in Northern Syria, the most recent in a series of Turkish attacks that have begun on 19 November.

The fatality was a truck driver, and one of the injured was a commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

Erdogan said in his address to the parliamentary group of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP):

"While we carry on incessantly with our air raids, we will also launch a land offensive to deliver a blow to the terrorists when the time is right. The day is nigh when we will turn these concrete safe tunnels of terrorists into their graves. The governments of Iraq and Syria should definitely not be disturbed by our presence in areas that we secured in the context of our battle against terror. On the contrary, the steps that we have taken will contribute to the territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria."

The number of air raids in Syrian territories controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which started with a wave of attacks by Turkish war planes late Saturday, has risen to 18, and almost all were carried out in areas around Al_Hasakah except for one in Aleppo province, SOHR said.

While the attacks left several people dead and injured, a Turkish drone strike on Tuesday targeted a military base shared by SDF and the US-led International Coalition, reportedly leaving two fighters of SDF's counter-terrorism units dead.

US Central Command spokesperson colonel Joe Buccino told Washington Post's David Ignatius that a Turkish strike targeted an area 130 m to a location where US troops were stationed, and that the troops in Northern Syria were endangered by Turkey's attacks. He added that the attacks have already put their mission against the Islamic State at risk.

SDF said on Thursday that 116 towns and villages have been targeted by the Turkish military through air strikes by war planes and drones, and artillery attacks in four days.