YPG claims to be behind downing of Turkish attack helicopter in Syria
TURKISH soldiers have been killed when a Turkish military helicopter crashed in northern Syria in Ankara’s offensive on Syrian Kurdish militia.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the helicopter had been “downed” in its Afrin operation.
President Erdogan did not mention by name the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, but hinted he believed they were to blame.
However, Turkey’s Prime Minister said the cause of the crash was not yet clear and investigations were ongoing.
“We don’t have exact evidence or document to determine it went down with any outside interference,” said Binali Yildirim.
The Turkish military said two soldiers were killed when its attack helicopter crashed and was destroyed. A technical team launched an investigation.
A spokesman for the Kurdish militia, Mustafa Bali, said his fighters brought down the aircraft in Raju, north-west Afrin.
In a video posted online by the Ypg-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, a helicopter is seen flying over a tree-lined hill and another helicopter is filmed just before it crashed. A helicopter is seen firing two rockets as plumes of smoke from the crash rise over the trees.
Turkey launched a military offensive on January 20 to oust the YPG from Afrin, citing national security.
Meanwhile, an Israeli minister has said that by striking key Iranian sites in Syria, Israel sent a clear message it would not tolerate an Iranian military foothold on its doorstep.
The wave of air strikes came after Israel intercepted an Iranian drone in its airspace, and an Israeli F-16 returning from Syria was downed on Saturday.
It was Israel’s most serious engagement in neighbouring Syria since fighting there began in 2011 and the most devastating air assault on the country in decades.
The military said it destroyed the drone’s launch site along with four other Iranian positions and eight Syrian sites, including the Syrian military’s command bunker.
The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, which monitors the war, said at least six Syrian troops and allied militiamen were killed in the airstrikes.
The six included Syrian troops as well as Syrian and non-syrian allied troops, they said.