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Signs Emerge of Turkish Decision to Freeze North Syria Operation

Mourners attend the funeral procession of a fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), in Syria's northeastern Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, on December 7, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
Mourners attend the funeral procession of a fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), in Syria's northeastern Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, on December 7, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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Signs Emerge of Turkish Decision to Freeze North Syria Operation

Mourners attend the funeral procession of a fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), in Syria's northeastern Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, on December 7, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
Mourners attend the funeral procession of a fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), in Syria's northeastern Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, on December 7, 2022. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Türkiye has reaffirmed that it will not be asking anyone for permission to wage a ground military operation in neighboring Syria, but indicators for it launching the campaign remain absent at a time the country is facing Russian and US pressures to fall back on its planned operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that Türkiye doesn’t require any party’s approval to carry out military operations against what he labeled as terrorists.

Türkiye labels the People’s Defense Units (YPG), a mainly Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the SDF, as terrorists and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

“The terrorist organization targets Türkiye’s peace and security. For the protection of our country and borders, we use our right to self-defense arising from Article 51 of the UN Charter. In doing so, it is out of question to get permission from anyone,” Hulusi Akar told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

“Recognized as a terrorist organization by the EU, NATO and the US, the PKK operates under different names to mislead the international community. The key point is that the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, are one and the same organization,” stressed the defense chief.

Akar pointed out that Türkiye respects Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and hosts large numbers of Syrians fleeing the war.

In other news, Kurdish media reports mentioned US pressure prompting Türkiye to back down from the military operation it threatened to carry out after the terrorist bombing that took place on Istiklal Street in Taksim district in Istanbul on November 13.

Ankara blamed the attack, which left six dead and 81 injured, on the YPG and carried out Operation Claw-Sword in northern Syria and Iraq in retaliation.

Washington intends to deploy its forces again to areas it withdrew from in northeastern Syria three years ago, Kurdish media reported.

This comes at a time when the SDF has not yet shown approval of the Russian proposal to withdraw forces and weapons from Manbij and Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) and hand them over to Damascus.

Handing over control to the Syrian regime would achieve Türkiye’s demands of having Kurdish forces pushed 30 kilometers away from its southern border.

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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.