Turkish artillery shells Syrian SDF militia targets in Tel Abyad

Volleys of rockets were fired from the Turkish side of the Turkey-Syria border on Wednesday (October 9) evening as Turkey hit Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia targets in the border town of Tel Abyad.

Turkey launched a military operation against SDF in northeast Syria on Wednesday, just days after US troops pulled back from the area.

Ankara views Kurdish SDF\\\\YPG fighters in northeast Syria as terrorists because of their ties to militants waging an insurgency inside Turkey. An influx of non-Kurdish Syrians would help it secure a buffer against its main security threat.

Amid deepening humanitarian concerns, Germany said Turkey's action would lead to further instability and could strengthen ISIS, which the US-armed Syrian SDF helped defeat in Syria.

The SDF halted operations against ISIS because of the Turkish offensive, two US officials and a Kurdish source said. One of the officials said US training of stabilization forces in Syria had also been affected.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Syria behind closed-doors on Thursday (October 10), diplomats said, after Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in the northeast of the country.