The Turkish Ministry of Defense said on its official Twitter page, “It’s payback time,” in reference to last week’s attack in Istanbul that Turkey blamed on Syrian Kurdish forces, threatening more escalation.
Fighters from the Syrian National Army (SNA) affiliated with the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) assaulted Nov. 16 civilians protesting in the city of al-Bab in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo. The protesters were calling for holding accountable the killers of media activist Mohammed Abdul Latif, nicknamed Abu Ghannoum, and his pregnant wife, purportedly shot dead by members of Al-Hamza Division, an armed opposition group linked to the SNA, in October.
