ISIL rocket attacks on Turkey (2016)

Since early 2016, the Turkish city of Kilis and surrounding areas came under continuous rocket bombardments by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, resulting in retaliatory strikes by the Turkish military on ISIL militants located at the ISIL-occupied areas in North Syria. Since January 2016 and until early May, more than seventy rockets fired from across the border by ISIL had hit this town, killing at least 21 people.[3]

Rocket attacks on Kilis
Part of the Turkey-ISIL conflict
Date8 March 2016 – 8 September 2016 (6 months)
Location
Kilis, Turkey
ISIL territory in Northern Syria
Status With the start of the Turkish military intervention in Syria, ISIL is repelled from the Turkey-Syria border.
Belligerents

Turkey

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Commanders and leaders
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Hulusi Akar		 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Casualties and losses
None reported 54
22 civilians (12 Syrian) killed[1] and 80 wounded[2]

Background

Being a border town, Kilis has long had a reputation for smuggling and drug trafficking. Kilis is located 5 km (3 miles) from the Syrian border, where Syrian al-Bab district is located, under control of ISIL jihadists since 2014.[3] Almost 100,000 Turkish citizens live in Kilis, but the population has been more than doubled by the arrival of Syrian refugees.[3]

Timeline

March

On 8 March, two people have been killed, including a toddler, while two others have been wounded as eight rocket projectiles hit Kilis. Two of projectiles hit a local administration office in the Ekrem Çetin neighborhood and three others hit the Kazım Karabekir neighborhood. The three others hit the Turgut Özal and the Tibilevler neighborhoods of the southeastern city. Three people, including two children, were wounded after a piece of shrapnel hit an automobile on the Kilis highway. In response, Turkish military retaliated against ISIL with artillery fire[4]

April

11 April 2016 - 4 people were injured as a result of rocket barrage on Kilis.[5]

On 19 April 2016, the town was struck by rockets fired by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from ISIL-occupied Syrian territories killing 4 people and injuring 8 others.[6][7]

On April 22, three people were killed and six others were wounded when ISIL rocket projectiles hit the border province of Kilis.[8]

On April 24, two rockets fired from ISIL hit Kilis. 16 people were wounded, six of whom were Syrian citizens.[8]

On April 25, the Turkish General Staff has announced that eight militants of the ISIL were killed the same day when Turkish artillery units shelled a missile launcher.[9] Also, the same day the U.S.-led coalition hit ISIL targets in northern Syria, located directly across from the southeastern province of Kilis.[10]

On April 26, according to the Turkish army, two missile launchers belonging to the ISIL were destroyed in an artillery strike which also killed 11 ISIL militants. This was the second such initiative by the Turkish Army in the past two days.[11]

On April 27, according to Turkish sources, 13 ISIL militants were killed when Turkish artillery units shelled a building in the Duwaibik region to the north of Aleppo. The building used by ISIL militants collapsed, killing 13 militants inside and injuring another seven. Around 150 Katyusha rocket projectiles stored on the ground floor of the building were also destroyed. The same day Turkish artillery units also shelled two missile launchers and killed 11 ISIL militants.[12]

On April 28, five mortar shells targeting a border military post in the Karkamış district of the southeastern province of Gaziantep were fired by the ISIL. 11 ISIL militants were killed in Turkish artillery shellings following the attack according to Turkish sources.[13]

On April 29, two rocket projectiles fired by the ISIL hit the border province of Kilis in Turkey.[14]

May

On 12 May, it was reported that Turkish artillery pounded Islamic State targets in northern Syria and the U.S.-led coalition carried out air strikes, killing 28 militants near a Turkish border town of Kilis, repeatedly hit by rocket fire.[15]

By May 16, Turkish authorities reported at least 21 people had been killed from shelling in Kilis Province as a whole since January, in more than 70 separate incidents.[6]

June

July

August

On August 22, Turkey shelled ISIS positions after three mortar rounds hit Kilis.[16]

Aftermath

On 22 September, a rocket hit a bazaar area in the Canpolat Paşa neighborhood in the afternoon hours in Kilis injuring eight, including five children and an adult.[17]

On 1 October, two of the three rockets hit a hilly area close to the border while the third one fell into an empty field in the neighborhood of Ekrem Cetin. A police officer was killed and two soldiers were slightly injured during the destruction of an unexploded rocket.[18]

Responses
  •  NATO: On 19 May 2016, at the foreign ministers meeting to be held in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the situation in Iraq and Syria as well as Kilis, battered since January by rockets fired by Daesh in Syria, along with measures to counter Russia in Eastern Europe will top the agenda.[19]
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See also

References
  1. "Eight injured ISIL rocket attacks in Turkey's Kilis". 22 September 2016.
  2. Eight wounded as rockets from Syria pound Turkish border town
  3. "Syria conflict: Kilis, the Turkish town enduring IS bombardment - BBC News". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  4. "Two killed, two wounded as rocket projectiles from Syria hit Turkey's Kilis". Hurriyet Daily News. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  5. "Rockets from Syria hit Turkish town Kilis, at least 4 injured". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  6. ABC News Australia: "Four dead as rockets hit teachers' dormitory in Turkish town of Kilis near Syria border" 18 Apr 2016
  7. Reuters: "Anger, fear sweeps Turkish border town under attack from Islamic State" BY HUMEYRA PAMUK May 16, 2016
  8. "16 wounded as two rocket projectiles fired from Syria land in Turkey's Kilis". hurriyet.
  9. "Eight ISIL militants killed in Turkish shelling in Syria: Army". hurriyet.
  10. "Turkey, coalition hit ISIL after rockets kill two in Kilis". hurriyet.
  11. "Turkish artillery shells missile launchers, kills 11 ISIL militants". hurriyet.
  12. "13 ISIL militants killed in Turkish shelling in northern Syria". hurriyet.
  13. "ISIL fires five mortar shells near Turkish border post". hurriyet.
  14. "Two rocket projectiles hit Turkey's Kilis". hurriyet.
  15. "Turkish artillery, U.S.-led coalition jets pound Islamic State in Syria: sources". 12 May 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016 – via Reuters.
  16. Society, Peoples Printing Press. "Turks shell Isis but keep sights on Jarabulus". Archived from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  17. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-syria-rocket-idUSKCN11S1BE
  18. "3 projectiles hit Turkey's southeastern Kilis". 2 October 2016.
  19. "Daesh attacks against Kilis, situation in Syria, Iraq to top NATO meeting: Stoltenberg". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
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