Mazloum Abdi: Terrorist bombing in Afrin a result of the destruction policy of Turkey and its affiliated groups

General Mazloum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces

North-Press Agency

 
General Mazloum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), condemned the bombing of Afrin that occurred yesterday, saying that it was a "terrorist act" that claimed innocent lives.

 

On Wednesday, Gen. Mazloum Abdi said on Twitter that this "criminal" act is the result of the policy of destruction pursued by the Turkish occupation and its affiliated armed opposition groups, in the city of "peace and olives" of Afrin.

 

Yesterday, Tuesday, the city of Afrin in northern Syria witnessed a huge explosion that killed at least 46 people and injured dozens.

 

On Wednesday, the Defense Department in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria held Turkey responsible for the bombing of Afrin and demanded that concerned countries work to remove the Turkish military and its affiliated armed groups from all the Syrian territories.

 

While earlier on Wednesday, The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) accused Turkey and its affiliated armed groups of "opening the door wide for terrorist groups to organize their ranks and carry out their cowardly attacks under Turkish protection."

 

SDC added that "these armed groups practice killing and kidnapping of the indigenous people of Afrin, and not even the elderly people have escaped from it, as well as the confiscation of civilian property and agricultural lands in order to displace them and change the demography of the region."

 

In a related context, the U.S. State Department condemned on Tuesday-Wednesday night the Afrin bombing in the northern countryside of Aleppo, calling for a ceasefire in Syria.

The State Department's spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus, said that the attack "claimed the lives of dozens of people shopping in the central market as they prepared to break the Ramadan fast."

 

The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed, on Twitter, the renewed call by the United States to support and implement a nationwide ceasefire in Syria. He said: "Following today’s cowardly act of terror carried out on innocent victims in Afrin. Such acts of evil are unacceptable from any side in this conflict."

 

For his part, the U.N. Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, condemned the bombing and confirmed his call for a ceasefire in all Syrian territories.