Kurdish-Iranian Fighter Killed in Turkish Strike on Eastern Syria

A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)
A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)
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Kurdish-Iranian Fighter Killed in Turkish Strike on Eastern Syria

A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)
A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter is pictured at a military position on the outskirts of the town of Kuljibrin, in Syria's northern Aleppo governorate, on August 8, 2022. (AFP)

Turkish forced killed a senior commander of the anti-Iran Kurdistan Free Life Party in a drone strike in Syria’s northeaster Qamishli province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights identified the commander as an Iranian, who died of his wounds four day after the strike.

The attack targeted his vehicle in the industrial zone in Qamishli city.

The rights monitor confirmed that the commander was the intended target. He was followed from Syria's Amuda all the way to Qamishli where the strike was carried out.

Reports said Turkish and Iranian intelligence coordinated the attack.

Four other people were killed in the operation including three civilians that included two children. Another member of the Kurdistan Free Life Party was also killed in the strike.

The Kurdish autonomous administration in northeastern Syria confirmed the killing of the Kurdish-Iranian commander, identified as Youssef Mahmoud Rabbani.

It revealed that the attack had taken place on August 7.

It said Rabbani was in the area to hold meetings with people to bridge divides between them.

The Kurdistan Free Life Party was formed in 2004 as an extension of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Its members fight alongside the PKK and Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria that control large parts of the country’s northeast since 2013.

The autonomous authority rarely declares the death of non-Syrian military members of the YPG or Syrian Democratic Forces.



Israel Presses Jenin Raid

Israeli army vehicles block a road on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles block a road on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Israel Presses Jenin Raid

Israeli army vehicles block a road on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles block a road on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

A Palestinian official reported shooting and explosions in the flashpoint West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday as Israeli forces pressed a raid that the military described as a "counterterrorism" operation.

"The situation is very difficult," Kamal Abu al-Rub, the governor of Jenin, told AFP.

"The occupation army has bulldozed all the roads leading to the Jenin camp, and leading to the Jenin Governmental Hospital... There is shooting and explosions," he added.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces launched an operation in Jenin which Palestinian officials said killed 10 people, just days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip.

According to Abu al-Rub, Israeli forces detained around 20 people from villages near Jenin, a bastion of Palestinian militancy.

The Israeli military said it had launched a "counterterrorism operation" in the area, and had "hit over 10 terrorists.”

"Additionally, aerial strikes on terror infrastructure sites were conducted and numerous explosives planted on the routes by the terrorists were dismantled," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Israeli forces are continuing the operation."

Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to continue the assault.

"It is a decisive operation aimed at eliminating terrorists in the camp," Katz said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the military would not allow a "terror front" to be established there.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency announced that, in coordination with the Border Police, they had launched an operation named "Iron Wall" in the area.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the raid aimed to "eradicate terrorism" in Jenin.

He linked the operation to a broader strategy of countering Iran "wherever it sends its arms — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen," and the West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 800 people have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 2023.