Turkey kills YPG commander in drone strike in Raqqa, Syria

Turkish Armed Forces have killed a commander of the Kurdish-Syrian militia People’s Protection Units (YPG) in a drone strike in Ain Issa, in the Syrian province of Raqqa.

The deceased is Mehmet Gurbuz, alias ‘Rojhat Karakocan’, as reported Sunday by the state-run Anatolia news agency, which claims that the deceased was the “commanding officer for the Euphrates region.”

The YPG have not yet commented on this attack, nor have they confirmed or denied the death of Gurbuz in an attack in which, according to Turkey, his bodyguard was also killed.

In a second drone attack also on Friday, three other YPG members were killed and “two Grad missiles and various ammunition” were destroyed.

The YPG are the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-Arab militia that controls northeastern Syria. However, Turkey considers the YPG to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist guerrilla group which it brands as a terrorist organization.