Turkey goes ahead committing violations in northern Syria
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Series of arrests, demographic change, trees logging, security chaos, explosion, and daily infighting between the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions continue in the northern countryside of Aleppo, north Syria.
The last week of April, villages in Shahba region and Sherawa areas, north of Aleppo witnessed successive shelling by the Turkish forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian armed factions.
Two Syrian government soldiers were wounded Tuesday in a Turkish drone attack against a government military post in the vicinity of Tel Rifaat town in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, a military source told North Press.
The Turkish forces and the affiliated factions targeted the villages of Sheikh Issa, Harbel, Samouqa, Abiyan, Irshadiyeh, Alqamieh, al-Malikiyah, and the vicinity of the town of Tel Rifaat in the northern countryside of Aleppo, with artillery shelling.
Material damage to farmers’ properties and uninhabited homes, were reported, no casualties were reported, according to a local source from Tel Rifaat.
On Sunday, Turkish forces and the armed factions of the Syrian opposition backed by Turkey struck the center of Tel Rifaat with five artillery shells.
No casualties were reported.
On April 23, Turkish forces stationed in Mar’e city and southern Azaz city, northern Syria, fired around 60 shells on several villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
On April 22, Turkish forces pounded the village of Sheikh Issa and its surrounding area with 30 shells, and fired scores of shells in the vicinity of Tel Rifaat.
Successive arrests:
Eight people were arrested, bringing the number up to 41, including a woman, since early April, according the Afrin Human Rights Organization-Syria, which is concerned with documenting violations in Afrin.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that on April 26, members accompanying a leader in the Northern Brigade faction severely beat a person in the city of Afrin over a traffic mess while the leader’s convoy was passing through the city.
On 25 of this month, members of the military police arrested three residents of a village in Bulbul district and imprisoned them, SOHR reported.
On 24 of April, a patrol affiliated with the Turkish intelligence raided several houses in the village of Basuta in Sherawa district.
Three days earlier, they arrested three people on charges of dealing with the former Autonomous Administration.
On Monday, Turkish intelligence agents arrested Fares Hamza, a resident of a village in the district of Jindires, to be released in turn for a ransom, according to the Afrin Human Rights Organization-Syria.
Meanwhile, members of Levant Front (al-Jabha al-Shamya) arrested Muhammad Kaso, a resident of a village in the countryside of Ma’batli district, and Luqman Hassan, a resident of a village in the countryside of Jindires district, on April 23.
Assassinations and security chaos:
On Sunday, the 80-year-old Bayram Ma’mo succumbed to injuries he sustained while caught in the crossfire of infighting between the two Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions of al-Hamza Division and Sham Legion in early April in the countryside of Afrin, north Aleppo.
On Wednesday, Abdulhai known as Abu Hozayfa, Hamza Division leader who hailed from Kafr Halab town in the western countryside of Aleppo, succumbed to his injuries he sustained in a shooting by unknown attackers in Afrin, an exclusive source told North Press.
In the same day, Abu Abdo Tahun, a leader of the Turkish-backed Faylaq al-Rahman faction (al-Rahman Legion), accompanied with other members were injured in an IED explosion planted inside their car in Afrin, a local source told North Press.
The SOHR said on Wednesday that a body of a young man was found hit with a bullet in Afrin bearing signs of torture.
So far the killers have not been identified.
As a result of a fierce infighting between two groups of settlers, Mustafa al-Bersh, a resident of Rif Dimashq governorate, was killed and Eid al-Jassim, a resident of Hama countryside, was wounded in Afrin.
Demographic change:
During April, over 600 olive trees were chopped down by the opposition factions in Afrin villages, the Afrin Human Rights Organization-Syria revealed.
The Sultan Murad faction in cooperation with people of Homs residing in the Gulf states worked to construct a new settlement in Sharan district in Afrin, according to the organization.
Each settlement includes 360 houses (121 square meters each house) built on a land that was cultivated with trees, which were chopped down and sold as firewood.