Turkey launches air strikes in heart of Syria as retaliation for bomb attack

Turkish air strikes in northern Syria threatened the safety of US military personnel and the escalating situation jeopardized years of progress against Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. (AP Photo)

"Immediate de-escalation is necessary in order to maintain focus on the defeat-ISIS mission and ensure the safety and security of personnel on the ground committed to the defeat-ISIS mission," Pentagon's spokesman, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said. (AP Photo)

Turkish airstrikes on northern Syria over the weekend that killed and wounded a number of Syrian soldiers could pose a setback to the recent move toward a rapprochement between the two countries after 11 years of tension and hostility. (AP Photo)

Ankara launched air operations over the weekend in retaliation for an Istanbul bomb attack a week earlier that killed six people, and which it blamed on the Kurdish fighters from the YPG (People's Protection Units). In the image, locals inspect a burned truck hit by one of the rockets fired from northern Syria in the Karkamis district, near a border gate in Gaziantep province, Turkey November 21 2022 IHA (Ihlas News Agency)via Reuters

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey's air operations were only the beginning and it would launch a land operation when convenient after an escalation in retaliatory strikes. In this photo released by Turkey's defense ministry, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, right, and top army commanders work at the Air Force command center, in Ankara, Turkey, early Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. (Turkish Defence Ministry via AP)

Medics wheel a wounded person to an ambulance in the town of Karkamis, in Gaziantep province, Turkey. (IHA agency via AP)

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said dozens of people including 11 of its fighters were killed in the strikes, which mark the first time Turkey has systematically targeted oil fields in the SDF-controlled region. (Reuters)

Relatives of a journalist, who was killed after Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes in northern Syria, mourn during his funeral in Derik countryside, Syria November 21, 2022. (Reuters)

The SDF, a US partner in the fight against Islamic State, said Turkey had struck deeper into Syrian territory than in its previous operations. It said in a statement the strikes had killed 15 civilians and 25 Syrian government soldiers. (AP Photo)