Turkey bombs U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters near Aleppo, killing up to 200

Kurdish YPG forces were just bombed by Turkish warplanes
(Image credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkey said Thursday that its warplanes had hit 18 targets north of Aleppo, Syria, killing up to 200 Kurdish fighters in the Maarat Umm Hawsh region. The fighters, with the Syrian People's Protection Units (YPG), are considered by the U.S. to be the most effective ground force against the Islamic State, but Turkey — also a U.S. ally — links them to Kurdish separatist guerrillas inside Turkey. Turkey's state Anadolu agency said that Turkish airstrikes Wednesday night hit nine building used as YPG headquarters, plus weapons depots and four vehicles. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack but not the death toll. The area hit had recently been cleared of ISIS by the Syrian fighters.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.