HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Since January 2022, shelling by Turkish forces and their affiliated factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA) against north and northeast Syria left tens of deaths and caused immense damage in infrastructure in the region.
Since controlling Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in October 2019, Turkish forces and the affiliated groups have continued to shell areas in northern Syria.
SNA factions are deployed in frontlines in northern Syria. In the city of Tel Abyad, there is Glory Corps (Faylaq al-Majd), Faylaq al-Rahman, Levant Front, Hamza Division. In in the city of Sere Kaniye operate Sultan Murad Division, Ahrar al-Sharqiya, Sham Legion. North of Tel Tamr town, there are Suqour al-Sham Brigades, Jaysh al-Islam and Mu’tasim Division.
From January up to recent aerial operation, Turkish forces focused largely on villages in the countryside of the towns of Zirgan (Abu Rasin) and in Tel Tamr, northeast Syria, and against Kobani and Ain Issa in the central north.
Kobani
During this period, seven civilians, including a child, were killed and 12 others were injured including two children. Three Syrian government forces soldiers were killed and six others injured.
In detail, shelling by Turkish forces and affiliated SNA on the village of Qaramogh in east of Kobani on January 8, resulted in the amputation of the leg of Abdo Mustafa Hanifi, 4. The bombardment also wounded six members of one family.
On April 22, a civilian was injured slightly and a number of shops damaged in a shelling by SNA factions targeting the city center of Kobani.
Early in June, a woman and a child were injured in a violent SNA shelling on the village of Shesheh, 55 km distance in southeast of Kobani city. On June 12, a person was hit by shrapnel from an unknown source in western Kobani city.
On August 16, Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced that “a 14-Year-old child was martyred and three civilians were injured including a child,” owing to shelling carried out by SNA factions and Turkish forces.
On September 18, a number of people were injured in a heavy shelling against the village of Qaramogh in east of Kobani city.
Tel Tamr and Zirgan
In the period under consideration, North Press was able to document victims and losses of the Turkish shelling against Zirgan and Tel Tamr towns. A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was killed and three others were injured in a Turkish shelling targeted the town of Tel Tamr.
Five people were injured on separate occasions in the villages of Dashisha and Tel al-Laban in the countryside of the Tel Tamr.
In an earlier statement made to North Press, Co-chair of the Tel Tamr Local Council, Jiwan Ayoub, said the number of populated villages which became targets for the Turkish artillery and the opposition factions reaches 22.
On June 2, a number of villages were shelled in Zirgan. Two persons were injured.
Ain Issa
Shelling against Ain Issa was primarily focusing on infrastructure, but civilians were also targeted.
In the same period, 11 people were killed, including four members of the Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish), in a shelling against Ain Issa. Twenty-six civilians, including nine children, were injured in the same shelling.
Earlier, Laila Misho, an AANES official in Ain Issa, told North Press that Turkish forces and affiliated SNA factions targeted children as guarantor states – the US and Russia – NGOs and UNICEF remain silent.
Owing to Turkish shelling, 20 schools have become out of commission depriving more than 3.000 students/pupils of education in Tel Abyad and Ain Issa.
However, a water pumping station feeding a town and 50 villages in east Ain Issa were targeted. Co-chair of the AANES’ Water Resources Directorate in Ain Issa, Nour Amid, told North Press at the time, Turkey shells infrastructure to displace people from the region.
“Turkey and its affiliated factions have not relented from targeting safe and populated areas in north Syria especially Ain Issa and its villages. They have been targeting service centers, including al-Hisha water pump, the sole of its kind that feeds the area,” he said.
On September 14, Turkish forces targeted grain silos located about 1 km east of Ain Issa town. Today it is unserviceable.