By Dilsoz Youssef
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Residents rushed to check on Basem Farho, 32, an employee in the Electricity Directorate in the town of Derbasiyah, northeastern Syria, after getting back home from hospital. Farho got on Jan. 15 a shrapnel while trying to put out fire that broke out in a power station due to a Turkish airstrike.
Farho told North Press that when Turkish warplanes hit the power station, he rushed with the director of the Electricity Directorate to set the fire. “While we were trying to set the fire, the station was hit again and I got a shrapnel in various parts of my body,” he said.
“I am not a military man, I am a civilian. Such attacks have frightened us, as we may be under Turkish strikes at any moment,” Farho added.
Since Jan. 12, Turkish aircraft have been targeting various sites in northeastern Syria. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said that the airstrikes have knocked vital institutions out of service and called on the international community to intervene.
The AANES said in a statement on Jan. 15 that Turkey had launched more than 70 airstrikes during its recent attacks on north and northeast Syria.
The Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish) stated on Jan. 15 that Turkey’s attacks on north and northeast Syria resulted in the injury of six civilians.
Amid destruction, young man Bilal Hisso, inspects his brother’s house in the village of Kerbetili in the west of Derbasiyah after being hit by a Turkish aircraft.
Hisso told North Press that his sister-in-law and two nephews were in the kitchen when a Turkish drone hit the house. As a result, they were injured.
“We are civilians, not military personnel to be targeted by Turkey. There are no military checkpoints in our village,” Hisso said.
On the same day, residents of Derbasiyah intercepted a Russian patrol on the northern outskirts of the town in protest against the Russian silence regarding the recent Turkish airstrikes on the region.
Hisso stressed that they are demanding the Russian forces to take a firm stance towards the Turkish attacks, saying, ” What are you doing here since you cannot protect us?”
100,000 people live without electricity and water
The town of Derbasiyah is witnessing relative calmness, as shop owner closed their shops after the Turkish warplanes hit the power station.
The Turkish forces targeted in the past three days a power station, a wedding hall, the Farmers Union building, and a civilian house in Derbasiyah.
A head of a burned generator, Fayez Omar, Co-chair of People’s Municipality in Derbasiyah, told North Press that the station used to supply the town and 250 villages with electricity, however, it is out of service now, as well as water wells are suspended due to lack of electricity.
Omar said that 100,000 people in the town and its countryside do not have water and electricity. Losses are estimated at $10 million.
“All that the municipality can do is to distribute water via tankers which definitely cannot be sufficient for all residents,” Omar said.
“Turkey targets infrastructure to displace civilians,” the official stressed.