Turkish intelligence has eliminated senior official from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the biggest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Manbij, in an operation northern Syria.
It said the member was responsible for the 2020 car-bombing in Afrin, which killed 40 and injured dozens.
Heysem Cuma, codenamed Heysem Abu Dahham, was operating in Manbij, the Anadolu Agency said quoting sources.
Cuma also transferred arms to attack Türkiye's zones in northern Syria, primarily the Euphrates Shield Operation Zone, said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The figure was eliminated by the Turkish intelligence on July 9 in an operation in the city center of Manbij.
Also, Cuma was responsible for several bomb attacks in Jarablus in 2019 as well as the 2020 car-bombing in which left 40 civilians dead, including 11 children, and 47 people injured.
After the car bombing, the governor's office in Türkiye's Hatay province, bordering Afrin, said it arrested a person suspected to be behind the fuel truck.
Meanwhile, pro-Turkish factions brought in massive military reinforcement to Afrin, amid a state of high security alert in the city and countryside.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said “Al-Hamzah” and “Suleiman Shah” divisions, in addition to “Ahrar Al-Sham Islamic Movement” brought in huge military columns of heavy weapons, tanks, rocket launchers and 4×4 vehicles with submachine guns, amid a state of high alert in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-held area.
In Aleppo, SOHR sources said Turkish forces brought in a new military convoy of military and logistic vehicles, armored vehicles and personnel carriers escorted with members.
The convoy crossed through Kafar Lousin border crossing with the Turkish side and headed towards the Turkish posts in the western countryside of Aleppo, within the “Putin-Erdogan” area.
The Turkish military reinforcements came after SDF escalated their attacks on Turkish military positions in Syria.
The shelling coincided with Russian aircrafts flying over the region. No causalities were reported.
