Turkish forces’ and armed opposition shelling kills child in northern Syria’s Ain Issa

AIN ISSA, Syria (North Press) – On Friday morning, Turkish forces and Turkish-backed armed opposition groups bombed the town of Ain Issa, 50 kilometers north of the city of Raqqa, causing civilian casualties.

Artillery shelling on the town began on Friday morning, and videos and photos obtained from local sources by North Press show the smoke and destruction caused by the bombardment in civilian areas.

Videos also showed the Free Burma Rangers humanitarian group attempting to treat a 13-year-old critically wounded child, who appeared to have had his left leg at least partially severed by the bombing.  The child later died from his injuries.

Civilians in Ain Issa, which was liberated from the Islamic State by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in June 2015, have been severely affected by Turkish bombardment and attacks on the area since the town ended up on the front lines between Turkish-backed forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after the Turkish invasion of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in October 2019.

The area around Ain Issa and the M4 Highway which passes through it was previously under the control of the SDF and the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, but Russia became the region’s guarantor after the withdrawal of US troops. 

Though Russian and Turkish forces struck a deal to halt the Turkish operation on the region on October 22, 2019, Turkish-backed forces have regularly violated the ceasefire, consistently carrying out violations and launching bombardments in Ain Issa, Tel Tamr, and their surrounding countrysides since the agreement was reached.

On August 1 this year, three children were heavily wounded in Turkish shelling on Ain Issa.

In March this year, many residents of the Ain Issa region were left without power when Turkish shelling damaged power lines in the area near the village of al-Dibis and prevented maintenance workers from fixing the damage. 

Turkish attacks on the town and its neighboring camp in October 2019 led to a security vacuum which allowed 950 ISIS supporters living in the camp to escape and flee to areas under the Turkish-backed opposition’s control after attacking guards and storming the gates.

Reporting by Lucas Chapman