Turkey escalates shelling on northeastern Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – During the past few days, Turkey has escalated its shelling of dozens of villages in northeastern Syria amid media apathy on a new possible military operation announced by Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan days before.
On May 23, Erdogan announced taking steps to complete the remained portions of the “safe zone” plan along Turkey’s southern border saying, “We will soon take new steps regarding the incomplete portions of the project we started on the 30-km deep safe zone we established along our southern border.”
During the past days, Turkey has promoted for a new military operation against north and northeast Syria, a geography held by the Kurdish-majority Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), but the regional and international rejection of any change in the map of the military control in northern Syria, prompted Ankara to postpone its operation.
After that, media statements about the military operation subsided, but Turkey has escalated its shelling of the area.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
A source in the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) told North Press on Monday, “the announcement of a possible Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria was only a kind of formality.”
The source, who is a leader in the National Front for Liberation and who asked not to be named, added that “the postponement of the operation until this moment is due to American and Russian pressure on Turkey.”
Turkish forces repeatedly target villages and towns in northeastern Syria despite the ceasefire agreement with Russia and the US signed in October 2019.
Following Turkish invasion of the two cities of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in October 2019, Turkey signed two ceasefire agreements, one with Russia and the other with the US stipulating ceasing all hostilities and the withdrawal of the SDF 32 km away from the Turkish border.
On May 29, the Turkish forces shelled the village of Umm Hawsh and al-Wahshiya in the northern countryside of Aleppo, near a position of Syrian government forces, according to a military source.
A day before, they shelled the village of Soghanah in Afrin countryside, north of Aleppo.
On the same day, the towns of Abu Rasin and Tel Tamr, north of Hasakah Governorate, were heavily shelled by the Turkish forces, including the villages of al-Dashisha, al-Tawila and Tel Tawil, west of the town of Tel Tamr.
In Ain Issa, north of Raqqa Governorate, a young man, Fadi Khalawi, was injured in the Turkish shelling, according to a military source.
Media center of Manbij Military Council of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that the Turkish forces shelled on May 28 the villages of al-Yalinli and al-Sayyada in the northwestern countryside of Manbij, in northern Syria.
Also, the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), shelled the village of Umm Jeloud, north of Manbij, with heavy and medium weapons, according to the media center.
The initial toll of three consecutive days was 41 shells, the media center added.