Two journalists from Türkiye's south-east have been killed — reportedly by a Turkish drone — while reporting on fighting between the Syrian National Army (SNA) backed by Türkiye and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish forces in northern Syria, journalists' groups said on Friday.
Nazim Dastan, 32, and Cihan Bilgin, 29, were killed on Thursday near the Tishrin Dam east of Aleppo when their car was hit, the Turkish Dicle Firat Journalists' Association said.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two journalists had been killed in Aleppo province by a "Turkish drone strike".
"We condemn this attack on our colleagues and demand accountability," the Dicle Firat Journalists' Association said.
"Nazim and Cihan were two valuable journalists who brought the truth of the war in northern and eastern Syria to the public. With the strength we receive from them, we will continue to tell the truth persistently and stubbornly."
According to the Mezopotamya Agency, the driver of the vehicle, Ezîz Hec Bozan, was also injured in the attack.
In a speech in the Turkish parliament on Friday, the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) co-chair Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit condemned the killing of the journalists.
"This attack is a crime against humanity," she said.
"We call on the Turkish government to immediately address the issue and ensure press protections are upheld."
The pair worked for Syrian Kurdish media outlets Rojnews and the Anha news agency. The Coalition for Women in Journalism said in a statement that they were reporting on attacks at the Tishrin dam at the time of the attack.
The Turkish Journalists Union also condemned the attack as a murder, saying they were "allegedly targeted by a Turkish UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle]".
"We condemn the attack. Journalists cannot be subjected to attack while performing a sacred duty. Those responsible must be found and tried," the union's branch in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir said.
Turkish officials did not immediately comment on the incident.
The Turkish army insists it never targets civilians but only terror groups.
Islamic State, PKK must be 'eradicated' from Syria, Turkish president says
The incident comes amid mounting concerns over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab.
Ankara is hoping Syria's new HTS administration will take steps to address the issue of Kurdish fighters in the north.
The Syrian rebel group toppled Bashar al-Assad's government and seized control of the capital Damascus earlier this month.
Türkiye pushed for Bashar al-Assad's ouster when the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011 with the violent suppression of peaceful protesters.
[MAP EMBED]But it more recently shifted its focus to blocking what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2019 dubbed a "terror corridor" in northern Syria, meaning the large area controlled by the Kurdish-dominated and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
Türkiye sees the SDF as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose militants have battled the Turkish state for 40 years.
"Islamic State, the PKK and its versions which threaten the survival of Syria need to be eradicated," Mr Erdogan told reporters on Friday.
"In the upcoming period, we do not believe that any power will continue to collaborate with terrorist organisations. The heads of terrorist organisations such as Islamic State and PKK-YPG will be crushed in the shortest possible time."
"The PKK terrorist organisation and its extensions in particular have reached the end of their life span."
US has twice as many troops in Syria than previously declared
The Pentagon on Thursday said it has 2,000 US troops in Syria, more than twice the 900 it has previously said it had, and that the additional troops are considered temporary forces that were sent to support the mission against Islamic State militants.
Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told reporters he did not know how long the number had been 2,000, but it was probably months at a minimum and pre-dated the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"I learned the number today … as somebody who's been standing up here telling you 900, I wanted to get you what we had on that," Mr Ryder said.
The US military has continued carrying out strikes against Islamic State militants since the Assad government's fall.
The US had said publicly for several years that it had 900 troops in Syria who were working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
US President Joe Biden's administration has said that US troops will be staying in Syria, though president-elect Donald Trump could remove them when he takes office on January 20.
During his first administration, Mr Trump attempted to remove US troops from Syria but had been met with resistance from officials and ultimately some troops remained.
ABC/Wires
