 has said Turkish Bayraktar drones are supporting a military operation by the Damascus government in Aleppo as fighting continued for a fifth day in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.){kind=link}
A security force aligned with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said Turkish Bayraktar drones are supporting a military operation by the Damascus government in Aleppo as fighting continued for a fifth day in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.
The claim appeared in a statement posted by the SDF on X and attributed to the SDF-affiliated Internal Security Forces in Aleppo.
The statement said clashes in Sheikh Maqsoud were “intense and ongoing” and claimed SDF-allied forces destroyed two armored vehicles belonging to the Syrian military during what it described as urban warfare to repel attempts to advance.
It also alleged that Damascus-aligned militias were targeting Khaled Fajr Hospital, which it said was crowded with wounded civilians, and claimed the attacks were being carried out with “direct support and backing from Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles.”
The statement said a video attached to the post showed humanitarian conditions inside the hospital, describing overcrowding and large numbers of wounded.
Turkey has previously denied direct involvement in the Aleppo operation. On Thursday a Turkish Defense Ministry spokesperson said the operation against the SDF in Aleppo was being carried out entirely by the Syrian army and that Turkey would provide support if requested.
On Friday Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler welcomed the Syrian army’s operation in Aleppo and said Turkey views Syria’s security as its own and supports Syria’s fight against what he called terrorist groups.
The violence erupted Tuesday in Aleppo’s predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafiyah and Bani Zaid after talks on merging the Kurdish-led SDF into Syria’s national army failed to produce progress.
Syrian security forces have since captured Ashrafiyah and Bani Zaid and began deploying Saturday in Sheikh Maqsoud, with at least 22 people killed and more than 140,000 displaced.
Turkey treats the SDF as a security threat because Ankara says the group is dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The SDF has accused Damascus forces of shelling civilian areas and undermining earlier integration arrangements.