The War for Turkey

The Syrian Civil War just doesn’t know how to stay put inside Syria:

Officers on the hunt for an ISIS suicide squad, which reportedly slinked into Turkey from Syria in recent days to stage attacks, began coordinated raids at several houses in Diyarbakir in the predominantly Kurdish south-east of Turkey early on Monday. In the Huzurevleri neighborhood, the initial attack by police on a house was brought to a halt when booby traps prepared by the militants triggered explosions. Two police officers were killed and five others wounded.

In the hours that followed, armored police vehicles cordoned off streets around the area in Huzurevleri, as masked police officers with rifles drove back spectators and reporters from a street lined with trees. Shots from automatic rifles and heavy machine guns rang out and the staccato reverberations triggered car alarms. A police announcement told people in neighboring streets to “close your windows and go inside.” One woman, holding her hands to her ears, tried to run away from the terrifying noise. Television footage showed smoke rising from one of the houses under police attack.

Eight hours after the start of the initial raid, government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said seven ISIS members had been killed and another 12 detained.

Gun battles like this one are playing out politically, with the opposition claiming the Erdogan government is too lenient or even cooperating with jihadis in Syria.