Turkish artillery shells two villages in Syria’s Aleppo
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Using heavy artillery, Turkish forces and their affiliated Syrian National Army (SNA) renewed on Monday their shelling of the villages of Umm Qura and Kafr Qares in Aleppo northern countryside. However, no casualties were reported.
A military source told North Press that the Turkish forces shelled the two villages with four artillery shells from their Thulthana military base, which is located on the outskirts of the town of Marea, north of Aleppo. The shells landed on farmlands.
The town of Tel Rifaat, 35 km north of the city of Aleppo, has been a shelter for Afrin displaced people since 2018 following the Turkish invasion of Afrin and its countryside which resulted in the displacement of about 300,000 of the original inhabitants.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced plans to carry out another major military cross-border incursion into northern Syria. Erdogan specified his targets in the two northern Syrian cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat.
On Sunday, a Turkish drone bombed a military post affiliated with the Syrian government forces in the town of Tel Rifaat in the northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate, causing the injury of two soldiers and material damage.
On the same day, the Turkish artillery targeted Tel Rifaat and its surroundings with 20 shells. The government forces, in response, shelled the Turkish military post in the town of Marea where the shells were fired.
Two weeks ago, the villages of Aleppo northern countryside, also known as Shahba region and where Tel Rifaat lies within it, started witnessing a Turkish military escalation, as they are bombed and shelled almost daily.