SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Saturday denied seven of its fighters had been killed during an attack on a Turkish military post in Syria.
“Turkish Defense Ministry continue to spread fake news. Our forces did not enter, move or attack anywhere,” the YPG said in a tweet.
The Turkish defense ministry said on Friday that its forces had “neutralized seven PKK/YPG terrorists who attempted to infiltrate into the Peace Spring region”, referring to the operation dubbed Operation Peace Spring.
The YPG also said allegations about the loss of its fighters “are false and have been claimed for the purpose of special warfare”.
Turkey launched the Operation Peace Spring across its border in northeast Syria in October 2019.
Turkish authorities said the offensive was aimed at removing Kurdish fighters from the border region and establishing a “safe zone” to resettle some of the refugees in the country.
It was Turkey’s third military operation in three years targeting Kurdish fighters, after Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016 and Operation Olive Branch in 2018.
Turkey says the YPG, the main component of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that have fought in Turkey for years.
