Alleged Turkish bombardment kills Syrian army soldier in Hasaka

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An alleged Turkish shelling in Hasaka province on Sunday killed a member of the Syrian government forces and injured several others, local media reported following renewed calls from Turkey to launch an offensive on northern Syria.

The suspected Turkish bombardment targeted the center of Zirgan district in Hasaka, killing a Syrian army soldier and injuring four others, including two children aged five and seven, according to Hawar News Agency (ANHA).  

The attack comes following renewed calls by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch an operation in northern Syria aimed at expelling Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers to be the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Another suspected Turkish bombardment in the Sherawa sub-district of Afrin on Sunday injured two Syrian army soldiers, ANHA reported.

On Friday, an alleged Turkish drone killed three unidentified people near a residential area in Hasaka province, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) noting that the drone attack was the fourth in the region in two days. 

Ankara has carried out two major military operations against Kurdish forces in Syria since 2018, and Erdogan in recent months has threatened to carry out a new offensive in Manbij and Tal Rifaat in Syria's north. Kurdish forces said that they have taken the threats seriously and begun making preparations.

Turkey said on Thursday that its cross-border operations southward into Syria will continue.

A recent trilateral summit in Tehran did not give Erdogan the green light to carry out its offensive, with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling Ankara's planned offensive "detrimental" to both Syria and Turkey and saying it "will not achieve the expected political results from the Syrian government." 

French President Emmanuel Macron also opposed a potential northern Syria offensive by Turkey and supported Iran's stance against the attack in a Saturday phone call with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian state media reported.