ESCALATING

Turkish Military Launches Ground Operation in Syria

After using airstrikes to target U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds.

Turkey’s military deployed ground troops into northern Syria on Sunday. The controversial move came after Turkish airstrikes targeted U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds in the Afrin region. Those strikes killed more than half a dozen people and wounded 13 others, the Syrian Democratic Forces General Command said. Turkey said it launched the operations as part of an effort to destroy “terrorist organizations” in the region, and said the military action was “within the right of self-defense and with respect to Syrian territorial integrity.” The YPG, the Kurdish militia group, said it had “no choice but to resist” and called on its members to “meet in the ranks of resistance.”