KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – 70-year-old Islem Baqer while leaning on a crutch wandering in the village of Qaramogh in the eastern countryside of Kobani, north Syria , she voices concern that conditions in the village’s will worsen more, forcing her to leave her home and move to unknown place.
The old woman said, “We have been trapped in this situation for about 10 years. We can no longer bear it anymore.”
She added, “We cannot sleep when night falls.”
At a distance of less than one kilometer from Syrian-Turkish border, Baqer, like other villagers and others in the countryside of Kobani, live in a state of constant anxiety as Turkey escalates its attacks on the area.
After a short tour, she sat on a rock surrounded by children, she said, “Those who have means of transport, they can flee the village, but we carry our things over our heads and flee.”
On Augustus 16, Turkish shelling of Kobani and its countryside claimed life of a child and wounded four other civilians, including a child and a woman, as well as three soldiers of the Syrian government were killed and six were injured.
On January 8, six individuals from one family, including three children and three women, were injured by Turkish shelling of Qaramogh, and four-year-old Abdo Hanifi had his leg amputated.
Given all of this, farmers of Qaramogh and the rest of the border villages cannot work on their lands, especially with the approaching of harvesting time of some summer crops.
35-year-old Muslim Na’san, a resident of the same village, confirms that Turkish border guards target farmers with snipers and other weapons, forcing them to stop farm work and return to their houses.
Na’san, like others, fears for his family members, and he also fears that his children may face the same fate of the child Abdo Hanifi.
Na’san added, “They shell the village indiscriminately.”
On August 4, Turkish border guards shot dead Ibrahim Osman Mohyaddin, a resident of the village of Goran, 28 km east of Kobani. In a village east of Kobani, northern Syria, while watering his farmland.
70-year-old Osman Rasho, a villager from Seftek in the western countryside of Kobani, feels sad for losing his nephew Maher Muhammad Hussein, who was shot dead by the Turkish border guards two years ago.
Rasho said, “Shelling affects directly villagers, especially women and children.”
He recalled the recent Turkish shelling that began from the village of Zor Maghar in the western countryside of Kobani, and targeted the government soldiers, deploying along the border strip.
Shells landed on the village of Seftek and pieces of shrapnel hit villagers’ houses, a shell also targeted a school which is only 100 metres from Rasho’s house, according to eyewitnesses.
On Augusts 16, 40-year-old Marwa Hamo was injured deeply due to Turkish shelling of the village.
“Residents fear for their lives, and they prefer to flee the area….they headed to areas far from the border due to the shelling and Turkish threats,” Rasho added.