3 killed in Turkiye raids on Syria Arab Army, Kurdish forces sites 

Turkiye has carried out several air raids on Sunday on sites of the Syrian Arab Army and Kurdish forces in northern Syria, killing three people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The raids targeted sites of the Syrian Arab Army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the countryside of the Kurdish-controlled Kobani city east of Aleppo, according to SOHR.

SOHR, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, confirmed that the three deceased were Syrian soldiers, noting that the death toll is likely to rise because some of the wounded are in serious condition.

Last month, the Syrian government warned that it would respond to any direct Turkish attacks targeting its forces.

The warning came after a Turkish raid in mid-August that killed at least three Syrian Arab Army soldiers, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Since 2016, Turkiye has launched a series of cross-border military operations against the Kurdish forces and Daesh, but these operations rarely killed members of the Syrian Arab Army.

OPINION: Israel will use the Kurds as a tool, yet Turkiye still normalised relations

Since its summit with Iran and Russia failed on 19 July, Ankara has escalated its attacks in the Kurdish-controlled areas after it gave the green light to launch a new military operation against Kurdish fighters it classifies as terrorists.

Syrian regime forces are deployed in the areas controlled by Kurdish fighters near the border with Turkiye as part of agreements to stop a new Turkish military operation.

Last week, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic indicated that “another Turkish ground operation” still poses a threat in northern Syria amid “the continued mobilisation and fighting” between Turkish forces and their Kurdish opponents.

Commission Chairperson Paulo Pinheiro warned: “Syria cannot afford to return to fighting on a larger scale, but this is what it may be heading to.”