Turkish army hits YPG/PKK targets in Syria's Tal Rifat

Turkish Armed Forces on Friday struck the YPG/PKK terror group targets in northern Syria's Tal Rifat region.

Howitzers deployed in area-of-operations in norther Syria, which was liberated by Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield, fired 20 rounds against YPG/PKK posts in several villages of Tal Rifat.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Turkish army had struck YPG/PKK targets in the area as well.

- SITUATION IN TAL RIFAT
For the last three years, Tal Rifat has been occupied by the YPG/PKK, which has dubbed the territory between Tal Rifat and Manbij as the "Shahba Canton."

The YPG/PKK occupied Tal Rifat in 2016 in hopes of linking Afrin, a city in northwestern Syria, to areas under its control east of the Euphrates River, thus establishing a zone of influence along Syria's border with Turkey.

Syria's Al-Bab district, however, which is located between Tal Rifat and Manbij, falls within Operation Euphrates Shield's area-of-operations, thus disrupting the YPG/PKK's sought-for territorial link.

Some 250,000 refugees from Tal Rifat and its outskirts have taken up temporary residence in the opposition-held city of Azaz, located adjacent to the Euphrates Shield zone.

Since 2016, Turkey's Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region, including Al-Bab, Afrin and Azaz, of YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who fled violence there to return home.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people. The YPG/PYD is the group's Syrian branch.