Damascus, Syria
More than 100 people were killed on Thursday (Oct 5) after a drone attack on a military academy in Syria’s Homs, according to the Britain-based war monitor. This comes after the Syrian defence ministry, in a statement said a drone attack on a military college during a graduation ceremony has left civilians and military personnel dead and wounded dozens more people.
Separately, United States-led forces in northern Syria, on Thursday reportedly shot down a drone after US-allied Syrian Kurdish forces said Turkish attacks had killed at least eight people. The escalation in violence in northeastern Syria has been attributed to the recent bomb attack near the Turkish parliament, the responsibility for which was claimed by Kurdish militants.
What happened in Syria’s Homs?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a United Kingdom-based war monitor, in an update said that more than 100 people including at least 14 civilians have been killed and "around half of them (were) military graduates," adding that over 125 others have been wounded.
The war monitor had previously reported the death of 60 people including army officers. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Syrian military statement, as per the official news agency SANA attributed the attack to “armed terrorist organisations” who targeted “the graduation ceremony for officers of the military academy in Homs,” a government-held city in central Syria.
According to the Syrian military, the attack with “explosive-laden drones” took place “immediately after the ceremony ended”. The general command of the army and the armed forces decried the “cowardly” and “unprecedented” attack vowing to “respond with full force”.
At least eight killed in northeastern Syria
A report by Reuters citing the SOHR and a local security source said that the US-led coalition had shot down a Turkish drone near a base in northeastern Syria. However, the Turkish defence ministry said that the drone in question did not belong to the Turkish armed forces.
The alleged attack against the US-supported Kurdish forces in northern Syria – which has been a point of contention between the two NATO allies as Ankara views them as a part of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – has reportedly killed six members of the internal security forces and two civilians, in two separate strikes.
Reuters citing security forces in northeastern Syria said Turkey had launched a series of attacks on Thursday with as many as 15 drones entering their airspace and hitting multiple targets, including infrastructure and gas and oil stations.
What has Ankara said about the ‘attack’?
The PKK claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack in Ankara which killed both attackers and wounded two police officers. The attack in northeastern Syria also comes a day after Turkey said that two attackers had come from Syria.
However, Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led force backed by the US has denied the bombers passing through their territory.
“Our only goal is to eliminate the terrorist organisations that pose a threat to Turkey,” said a Turkish official, adding that they would consider a ground operation into Syria as one of the options.
Ankara has previously also said that any infrastructure and energy facilities in Iraq and Syria controlled by the PKK and People’s Protection Units (YPG) are legitimate military targets.
“The PKK and the YPG are the same terrorist organisation, they are our legitimate target everywhere,” said the defence ministry official. The YPG is said to be the spearhead of the main ally of the US-led coalition against the Islamic state, which has soured Washington’s relations with Ankara as well as Paris.
(With inputs from agencies)
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