A targeted drone attack by the Turkish state claimed the lives of YPJ (Women's Defense Units) Military Council Command members Nûcan Ocalan and Canda Cûdî, and Manbij Military Council and YPJ Commander Şervîn Serdar in Manbij on 15 September, 2023.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they have arrested a group of agents of the Turkish state. The four-member group is said to be responsible for the deaths of the three YPJ members.

According to the statement released by the SDF Media Centre on Friday, the Joint Operations Team found clear evidence after lengthy investigations and surveillance that the four people worked for the Turkish secret service. The perpetrators were arrested and confessed during interrogation that they had acted in an organized manner on the instructions of the Turkish secret service and were involved in the attack in question. According to the SDF, their statements will be published at a later date.

Şervîn Serdar's real name was Îman Mehmûd Derwêş and she came from Dirbêsiyê in northern Syria. She was active in the Kurdish women's liberation movement for 25 years and fought against ISIS in Kobanê, among other places. As a commander of the YPJ, she was also known internationally and took part in diplomatic talks in various countries, including at the Élysée Palace in France.

In the autonomous region of northern and eastern Syria, people are repeatedly dying as a result of drone attacks carried out by Turkey on the basis of information from local agent networks in violation of international law. The attacks are directed at representatives of Autonomous Administration structures, members of combat units and the civilian population. Unmanned aircraft are mainly used in this war, which are operated and navigated autonomously by a computer or from the ground via remote control without a crew on board - and move unchallenged in Syrian airspace controlled by the USA and Russia.

The international community is ignoring Turkey's anti-Kurdish drone war in northern and eastern Syria, which began in June 2020 with the murder of three representatives of the women's umbrella organization Kongra Star in Kobanê. Since then, hundreds more drone attacks have taken place. According to a report by the Rojava Information Center, the Turkish state carried out at least 141 drone attacks between January and November of this year, resulting in 92 deaths and 89 injuries. 64 of these drone strikes were carried out during a five-day wave of attacks at the beginning of October - in addition to 25 air strikes with fighter jets during the same period. Since then, further attacks have been carried out, most recently this morning near Til Temir.