عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Unidentified Aircraft Targeted Truck Convoy in Syria, Says Iraqi Official 

An Iraqi soldier patrols the border with Syria. (Reuters file photo)
An Iraqi soldier patrols the border with Syria. (Reuters file photo)
TT
TT

Unidentified Aircraft Targeted Truck Convoy in Syria, Says Iraqi Official 

An Iraqi soldier patrols the border with Syria. (Reuters file photo)
An Iraqi soldier patrols the border with Syria. (Reuters file photo)

Unidentified aircraft targeted a truck convoy stationed on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq on Sunday night, an Iraqi border official said on Monday.

Multiple air strikes destroyed part of a 10-truck convoy that had used the Qaim border crossing from Iraq to cross into Syria on Saturday, the border official said.

The border crossing is close to the Syrian town of Abu Kamal, also known as Al Bukamal, which is near to where the US military carried out air strikes on Friday against two facilities it said were used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and groups it backs. Those air strikes were carried out in response to a spate of attacks against US forces in both Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon said.

Two Iraqi militia sources also said on Monday that air strikes by unidentified aircraft on Sunday hit a building the militia was using near Abu Kamal.

The building struck by the attack was evacuated by their militia fighters on Saturday and no casualties were reported, the sources said.

Reuters was unable to independently verify that the attacks occurred.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
TT
TT

Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was no place for "terrorist organizations" in Syria under its new leaders, in a warning regarding Kurdish forces there.

The fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad last month raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.

Erdogan's comment came during a meeting in Ankara with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, the Turkish leader's office said in a statement.

Erdogan told Barzani that Türkiye was working to prevent the ousting of Assad in neighboring Syria from causing new instability in the region.

There is no place for "terrorist organizations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said.

Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Türkiye.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of PKK links.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "The elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time."

He cited a call by Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group has long had ties with Türkiye, for the Kurdish-led forces to be integrated into Syria's national army.

The United States has backed the YPG in its fight against ISIS, which has been largely crushed in its former Syrian stronghold.

But Fidan warned that Western countries should not use the threat of IS as "a pretext to strengthen the PKK".