Last night, announcements were made over mosque intercoms in Gaziantep region near the Syrian border stating “The Turkish Army will soon carry out an operation against the terrorist organization PKK. Please do not leave your homes.” This was followed by an immediate investigation launched by the Turkish state to identify who was responsible for these announcements, which seemed to be the mayor of Gaziantep.

SDF intelligence refuted the announcements soon after, stating that there had been no troop movements observed and that there was no indication of an imminent invasion. This refutation was shared by Levant Front of the Turkish-backed SNA, who also confirmed that no operation had begun. Clashes south of Tel Abyad/Serekaniye last night were unrelated.

Reports of Turkish troop movements were almost exclusively sourced from Turkish outlets without any evidence, then disseminated throughout the OSINT realm. This appears to have been an act of psychological warfare, as the Turkish state has halted its invasion plans indefinitely.

This false alarm is a good reminder to take OSINT with a grain of salt when there is no definitive evidence attached to it.