By Jwan Shekaki
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – For the third time in 13 months, Turkish forces have conducted a wave of airstrikes in Northeast Syria. The airstrikes hit oil fields, power installations, and other facilities that provided service for the civilians.
Turkey defines the attacks against Northeast Syria as “a retaliation” to attacks hit its soldiers in southeast Turkey, like the one that killed 12 soldiers in southeast Turkey a few days ago or that targeted the Ministry of Interior in October. Turkey used to hold Northeast Syria, a region held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), responsible for the attacks against its soldiers.
However, Northeast Syria, with its civilians and its military wing represented by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – mainly involved in the fight against ISIS – did not conduct any attacks against Turkish territories. On the contrary, Turkey has intentionally chosen to conduct airstrikes against infrastructure in Northeast Syria. This was revealed by Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, when he threatened in October to strike a broader range of targets 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,” Fidan said.
Actually, Fidan’s threats have come into force. Early in October, the Turkish forces conducted a series of airstrikes on areas stretching from the city of Derik (al-Malikiyah) in the far northeast Syria all the way to Qamishli, Hasakah, Kobani, and the northern countryside of Aleppo, aka Shahba Region. The attacks effectively put gas plants and power facilities completely out of service as Turkey considered them “legitimate targets.”
The airstrikes leveled 172 sites in the region targeting residential areas and infrastructure, including oil fields, gas plants, power stations, and others, according to the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press.
The recent wave of airstrikes targeted 33 sites, including an industrial facility in the Allaya neighborhood near a prison that detains militants of the Islamic State (ISIS), Simav press printing house, a grain silos, a cement facility, a mill, a clothing factory, and the train station in the city of Qamishli. In addition, the Turkish forces bombed the village of Segerka and a cement factory in the village of Shork in the east of Qamishli.
Commenting of the attack, Mazloum Abdi, Commander in Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the “Turkish aggression took a dangerous turn today” as it expanded its targeting to include infrastructure and civilian facilities in the region.
In a recent toll documented by the Documentation and Monitoring Department of North Press, the Turkish airstrikes resulted in the killing of 10 civilians, including two women, and the injury of 25 others, including seven women and two children.
In a statement, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) called on human rights and humanitarian organizations to condemn Turkish attacks that targeted 14 sites in North and East Syria.
In November 2022, Turkey bombed vital infrastructures in northeast Syria, putting gas plants, oil fields, water pumping stations, and power generating stations out of service.
The strikes at the time caused the killing of 174 people including 14 children and three women, and the injury of 352 including 33 children and 23 women.