AANES calls Syrian national entities to have clear stance about Turkey
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) called on Saturday “the Syrian national entities to make a clear stance about Turkey’s actions in Syria and realize Turkey is conspiring against the unity and people of Syria.”
It stressed “The necessity of having clear stances on the national and international level towards the forces that fight terrorism, and recognize the dangers of this war, which exacerbates the humanitarian and living conditions and increases migration and destruction, especially as it contradicts all international solution processes in Syria, including resolution 2254,” the statement added.
On Oct. 5, the Turkish army launched drone strikes on infrastructure facilities in several areas of north and northeast Syria that is run by the AANES. The strikes took place following a statement by Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, in which he threatened to strike a broader range of targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for the Ankara attack.
On Oct. 1, two individuals carried out a bomb attack in front of the building of the Ministry of Interior in Turkey’s Ankara injuring two police officers.
On Oct. 4, Fidan claimed that the two attackers had been trained in Syria. “From now on, all infrastructure, large facilities and energy facilities belonging to (armed Kurdish groups) in Iraq and Syria are legitimate targets for our security forces,” he threatened.
According to the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, the Turkish bombardment targeted a total of 131 positions, including 21 infrastructure sites, 76 residential areas, 23 military sites – 13 of which belonged to Syrian government forces – six farmlands, three industrial plants, one school, and one hospital.
These attacks were distributed across several cities and their surroundings, including 21 sites in Qamishli, 26 in Hasakah, 27 in Aleppo northern countryside, nine in Derik, 25 in Ain Issa, 16 in Kobani, and seven in Manbij.
The number of strikes reached 180, including 117 artillery strikes, 17 airstrikes, and 45 drone strikes, according to the department.
The casualties amounted to 25 people, with 17 losing their lives, including 10 civilians, while eight others, including five civilians (one of them is a child), were injured, according to the department.
“Turkey attacks vital service facilities, civilian objects, oil and power stations, hospitals, water stations and camps with no moral or international deterrence,” the statement added. The AANES considered the Turkish escalation “a war to undermine the efforts of fighting terrorism, a war to lie to the Turkish public opinion and mislead it towards false hypothetical threats.”
The AANES also noted that Turkish attacks “made more than two million people without services, such as water and power.”
The AANES called targeting subsistence resources such as water, power and oil stations as a “war crime.”