Turkey says its warplanes have carried out more than two dozen airstrikes against Kurdish positions in northern Syria, killing scores of militants.

Jets carried out 26 airstrikes against YPG targets, killing 160 to 200 militants, the Turkish army said in a statement on Thursday.

The army said jets hit militant targets in the villages of al-Hasiya, Um al-Qura and Um Hosh and destroyed nine buildings, one armored vehicle and four other vehicles that belonged to the Kurdish YPG militia.

The YPG forces had recently captured the areas from Daesh militants.

Turkey’s attacks on YPG positions have been an ongoing source of contention between the United States and Turkey.

The US says it supports YPG and considers the militia group to be an effective force against Daesh Takfiris in Syria.

Ankara, however, says the YPG is an extension of its own outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which it considers to be a terrorist organization.



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo by AFP)[/caption]

Ankara won’t "wait for terrorists to come and attack" Turkey, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the airstrikes.

In August, Turkey sent troops and tanks into northern Syria, without Damascus' consent, to help drive out Daesh militants and Syrian Kurdish forces from the area.

Ankara, who is an open backer of the forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is using its armor and air power to help the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants take territory near the border.

The FSA and its affiliated groups, including Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, as well as more than a dozen other militant groups are fighting the government in Damascus since the conflict broke out in 2011.

By Press TV