Türkiye Says It Killed 23 Kurdish Militants in Syria

Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, in a picture taken from the Turkish side of the border where the Turkish flag is seen near Akçakale, Oct. 10, 2019. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, in a picture taken from the Turkish side of the border where the Turkish flag is seen near Akçakale, Oct. 10, 2019. (AFP)
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Türkiye Says It Killed 23 Kurdish Militants in Syria

Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, in a picture taken from the Turkish side of the border where the Turkish flag is seen near Akçakale, Oct. 10, 2019. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, in a picture taken from the Turkish side of the border where the Turkish flag is seen near Akçakale, Oct. 10, 2019. (AFP)

Türkiye said on Sunday it had killed 23 Kurdish militants in northern Syria, the latest in a series of strikes against them which have continued since US President Donald Trump took office last month.

The defense ministry said the militants belonged to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

Türkiye regards the PKK and YPG to be identical, while the United States views them as separate groups, having banned the PKK as terrorists but recruited the YPG as its main allies in Syria in the campaign against Islamic State.

Türkiye has long called on Washington to withdraw support for the YPG, expressing hope that Trump would revise the policy of the previous administration of President Joe Biden.

Turkish forces and their allies in Syria have repeatedly fought with Kurdish militants there since the toppling of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in December.

Türkiye has said that the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF - a US-backed umbrella group that includes the YPG - must disarm or face military intervention.

Under the Biden administration the United States has had 2,000 troops in Syria fighting alongside the SDF and YPG.



World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

The World Bank has presented a $1 billion program for the reconstruction of Lebanon, the Lebanese prime minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The program would include $250 million as a loan, with the rest of the financing to come from international aid, it added.

The cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at $11 billion, the World Bank said in a new report Friday.
The war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands and caused widespread destruction in the nation.
The report by the World Bank’s Lebanon Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covered damage and losses in ten sectors across the country from Oct. 8, 2023 until Dec. 20, 2024.
A US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November.