Turkey Continues its Drone War in Northern Syria

A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)
A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)
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Turkey Continues its Drone War in Northern Syria

A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)
A checkpoint for the Syrian National Army loyal to Turkey in northwestern Syria (AFP)

A Tal Tamr Military Council member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed by a Turkish drone strike in Tal Jumaa on Thursday.

The areas east of the Euphrates witnessed an increase in Turkish drone attacks, which killed leaders and prominent fighters of the People’s Defense Units.

The new development comes after the Tehran summit between the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Observers believe that Turkey is following a new strategy to weaken the SDF after failing to secure international support that would allow it to carry out a military operation in northern Syria.

They considered that the Turkish escalation came after the Tehran summit, where Turkey may have obtained a green light from Russia and Iran to weaken the SDF by targeting its leaders instead of launching the military operation aimed at establishing safe areas 30 kilometers inside Syrian territory south of the Turkish border.

On July 24, Turkey announced the killing of the commander of military operations in Ain al-Arab, and a week later, the intelligence announced the death of Arhan Arman, a member of the Executive Council in Ain al-Arab.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the Turkish armed drones killed at least ten SDF fighters, including prominent leaders.

The Observatory recounted 43 Turkish drone attacks in the areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and Northeastern Syria.

Since the beginning of the year, 35 soldiers and one civilian were killed and 80 others injured.

The Turkish forces and the Syrian National Army (SNA) factions bombed the SDF locations in al-Hasakah, where several artillery shells fell on Tawila village in Tal Tamr.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement Thursday that it eliminated two SDF members who were preparing to launch an attack on the Spring of Peace area, which is controlled by Ankara and its loyal factions in northeastern Syria.

The statement said that the Turkish army continues its pre-emptive operations against terrorists in northern Syria.

Syrian regime forces directly targeted a vehicle of the Turkish troops on the Efes axis in the eastern countryside of Idlib. They shelled the vicinity of Maklabis village in the western countryside of Aleppo, coinciding with the flyover of a Russian warplane in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria.



Most Intense Fighting for Years Rocks Libyan Capital 

Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
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Most Intense Fighting for Years Rocks Libyan Capital 

Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)
Libyans walk past a burnt vehicle after Monday evening clashes between armed militias in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP)

The most intense clashes for years rocked Tripoli for a second night and continued into Wednesday morning, witnesses in the Libyan capital said, after Monday's killing of a major militia leader set off fighting between rival factions.

The United Nations Libya mission UNSMIL said it was "deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in densely populated neighborhoods of Tripoli" and urgently called for a ceasefire.

The latest unrest in Libya's capital could consolidate the power of Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, head of the divided country's Government of National Unity (GNU).

Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi and the country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.

While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.

Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups.

That announcement followed Monday's killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilization Support Apparatus (SSA) group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.

The seizure of SSA territory in Libya by the Dbeibah-allied factions, the 444 and 111 Brigades, indicated a major concentration of power in the fragmented capital, leaving the Special Deterrence Force (Rada) as the last big faction not closely tied to the GNU head.