Drone Attack in Syria Leaves Dozens Dead and Injured

A drone attack on a graduation ceremony at a military academy in Homs province, Syria, on Thursday, October 5, left dozens dead and injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the UK, reported that 78 people were killed and over 140 others injured in the attack. Reuters cited a Syrian security source and an intelligence source from non-Syrian militias loyal to Bashar al-Assad, stating that Ali Mahmoud Abbas, the Syrian Defense Minister, was also present at the ceremony and left just minutes before the attack. The security source estimated the death toll at 66. The Syrian Ministry of Defense announced that several drones were used in the attack. While condemning the 'terrorists,' the ministry did not name any specific group. As of the time of this report, no group or organization has claimed responsibility for this deadly drone attack. In recent years, positions of the Islamic Republic and its affiliated militias, as well as occasionally the Syrian army, have been targeted by airstrikes attributed to Israel. Concurrently, Turkish drone attacks on areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Hasakah and Raqqa provinces resulted in at least eight deaths. The Syrian Observatory reported that U.S.-led coalition forces shot down a Turkish drone during these attacks. However, Reuters quoted a Turkish Defense Ministry official stating that the drone did not belong to the Turkish armed forces. The coalition forces have not commented on this matter as of the time of this report. In its drone attacks on Thursday, Turkey targeted civilian infrastructure, including oil facilities and power plants. The Turkish drone strikes came a day after Turkey declared that in response to an attack by two Kurdish militants in front of the Ministry of Interior, all infrastructure belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces in the region would be considered 'legitimate targets.' The destruction of a power plant in Qamishli resulted from Turkish drone attacks in northeastern Syria. On Thursday, October 5, 2023, Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, reacted to the Turkish attacks, stating that contrary to Ankara's claims, the two attackers did not enter Turkey through Syrian territory. He accused Turkey of 'pretexting' to attack the region's infrastructure and economic resources. Turkey claims that the People's Protection Units (YPG), the main group in the Syrian Democratic Forces, is the PKK's branch in Syria, but the YPG denies Ankara's accusations. The Syrian Democratic Forces are the primary U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS in Syria. The PKK was founded in 1979 by a group of mostly Kurdish students and began armed activities in 1984 to gain rights for Kurds in Turkey. Over four decades of violent conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK have resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 Turkish citizens, mostly Kurds, and hundreds of thousands more have been forced to relocate from predominantly Kurdish areas in eastern and southeastern Turkey to other parts of the country and other countries around the world. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has frequently been accused by Turkish government officials of being close to the PKK, holds the most seats in the Turkish parliament after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Republican People's Party (CHP) led by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.