A senior commander in the Kurdish security forces was killed, and another person wounded, in an explosion near a prison in Umm Farsan, on the outskirts of Qamishli, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The incident occurred while a Turkish drone was reportedly flying in the area.
The commander, who belonged to the Asayish security forces, had played a significant role in leading military operations against the Islamic State (IS) group in Raqa province, a former stronghold of the jihadists in Syria, the Britain-based Observatory reported.
A local Kurdish news agency mentioned that the explosion resulted from a targeted car in the area. This incident followed the release of 50 Syrian prisoners accused of IS affiliation by Kurdish authorities in Hasakeh province as part of a general amnesty.
The Kurdish forces, under a semi-autonomous administration in northern and northeastern Syria, have been instrumental in dislodging IS militants from their last strongholds in 2019, with support from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey, which views the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)—a dominant force in the SDF—as a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group it designates as “terrorist,” regularly conducts strikes in Kurdish-held areas. Turkey also controls large stretches of territory along the Syrian border after multiple military campaigns expelling Kurdish forces.
