Turkish Air Force planes are conducting intensive reconnaissance flights over areas bordering Turkey in Aleppo, Al-Hasakah and Raqqa provinces, SANA news agency reported on Wednesday.
The Syrian news agency quotes reports that the flights were carried out amid reports from these areas about the continuing concentration of Turkish troops.
It is also said that Turkish soldiers used loudspeakers in the mosques to call the residents of the Turkish territories around the city of Jarabulus not to leave their homes. According to SANA agency, this was done due to the preparation of Turkish forces to "commit a new aggression in the Syrian territories."
On Tuesday, Syrian media reported that Turkish planes struck Syrian army positions near Aleppo, killing three Syrian soldiers and wounding six more.
Turkey has conducted three military operations in northern Syria since 2017: Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch and Peace Spring. As a result, a security buffer zone was created between the cities of Azaz and Jarabulus north of Aleppo, Afrin was occupied, and the border areas east of the Euphrates River were taken under control. On June 3 this year, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the armed forces of the republic intend to conduct a new transborder operation in the north of Syria and to include the territories on the western and eastern banks of the Euphrates River, which are now controlled by the Kurds.
The Syrian command earlier moved military reinforcements and armored vehicles to the north of the country to repel possible Turkish aggression. On July 2, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused the Turkish leadership of trying to "justify, under far-fetched pretext, the impending invasion of Syrian territory." According to him, "Ankara's actions are a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter, as well as the principles of good neighborliness."
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Based on materials from TASS