Turkey escalates attacks on northeast Syria
TEL TAMR, Syria (North Press) – Turkey, for the second consecutive week, has continued violating the ceasefire agreement, and escalated attacks on the areas of contact lines, north of the cities of Hasakah and Raqqa in northeast Syria, amid the silence of the guarantors of the agreement.
The Turkish forces and the affiliated opposition factions have violated the ceasefire agreement more than ten times this week, despite the presence of the Russian guarantor in the area, according to North press Agency.
Background: Following the Turkish invasion of the cities of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in October 2019, Turkey signed a ceasefire agreement with the Russian and American sides.
Destruction, displacement and wounded
Turkish forces’ artillery and drones have intensified bombing the populated villages in the towns of Tel Tamr and Zarkan (Abu Rasin), north of Hasakah, and Ain Issa, north of Raqqa, since the beginning of this week.
As a result of the heavy bombardment on the town of Zarkan, dozens of houses, in the countryside and the center of the town, were destroyed, and the infrastructure and public facilities were largely damaged as well.
Turkish drones also bombed twice this week the Asayish headquarters in the center of the town, destroying parts of it and wounding three members.
A 13-year-old child called Shamsa Mustafa Ibrahim lost her fingers of her right hand in the artillery shelling by Turkish forces on a farm in the village of Qabr al-Khadrawi in the countryside of Abu Rasin, Dr. Thamer Sheikho al-Kikani, director of the Martyr Khabat Hospital in Derbasiyah, told North Press.
On the humanitarian level, a local source in the town said that the residents of the town of Zarkan and its countryside sleep in the open at night for fear of renewed shelling, and they return to their homes during the day.
Furthermore, the Turkish artillery bombed many populated villages on the frontlines in the countryside of Tel Tamr, causing significant material damage to civilians’ homes, amid cases of displacement of the villagers.
On April 17, several Turkish shells also fell near the Russian military base, north of the town, to which Russia did not respond.
The media center of the SDF said on April 17 that the Turkish forces bombed the village of Tel Shanan, east of the town and as a result a member of the Assyrian Khabur Guard, Alaa al-Ahmad, lost his life.
The recent Turkish escalation on the villages of Tel Tamr and Abu Rasin “aims to empty the area of its residents and strike security and stability in it,” Matai Hanna, the official spokesman for the Syriac Military Council, said.
The Turkish forces bombed the villages of Mu’allaq, Sayda, Jadida, Ain Issa camp and the vicinity of the M4 highway ten times, and about 48 different shells have fallen on the aforementioned areas, since the beginning of this April.
insecurity
In light of the simultaneous attacks on the contact lines, the areas under the control of the Turkish forces and the opposition factions have witnessed a continuing state of security chaos amid resentment by the local population.
On Wednesday, clashes erupted between gunmen belonged to the opposition factions and members of al-Akidat tribe in the center of Sere Kaniye, in which light and medium machine guns were used in residential neighborhoods, local sources told North Press.
According to the sources, the clashes erupted at the backdrop of the armed factions’ arrest of a number of members of al-Akidat tribe.
An explosive device exploded in a vehicle belonging to the opposition Military Police near the village of Tash Bash in the countryside of Tel Abyad, amid reports of deaths and injuries, a local source told North Press.