MANBIJ, Syria (North Press) – For fear of being bombed by Turkish forces and the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, known as Syrian National Army (SNA), Lo’ay al-Mahmoud, from the village of Arab Hassan, 16 kilometers north of Manbij, northern Syria, on the contact lines between Manbij Military Council, affiliated with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Turkish forces, has to flee from his home at night and return to it in morning.
“Sometimes we flee from the village more than one time during the day, due to the repeated shelling,” al-Mahmoud said.
The Turkish forces and the SNA factions successively target 11 villages, extend 20 km along the front lines, starting from the village of Um Adasa, north of Manbij, to villages of Arima district, west of Manbij.
In June, the areas on contact lines witnessed an unprecedented escalation, following Turkish threats to launch a military operation against Syria’s north.
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 July 1, Erdogan said that Ankara’s new military operation in northern Syria could begin at any moment.
“I always say that we can start [the incursion] at any moment at night. We should not worry and rush, especially since we are working in the area,” Erdogan told reporters after returning from the NATO summit in Madrid.
Since releasing these threats, the Turkish forces and the SNA factions have intensified their shelling of the villages and towns on the front lines.
Because of the successive Turkish bombardment, residents of the villages of al-Hoshariya, Umm Adasa, Awn al-Dadat, Arab Hassan, al-Farat, Sayyada, al-Dandaliya, al-Kawkli, al-Yanli, Qara Wiran, al-Boughaz, Kor Hyuk, al-Hamra, and al-Arima district, west of the city, are forced to leave their homes at night and return to them during the day.
The Turkish bombardment causes a state of panic among the residents, as well as human casualties and damages in residents’ property are reported.
On June 29, two children lost their lives in a Turkish bombing that targeted the village of Arab Hassan, north of Manbij.
Since early this year, 16 civilians, including five children and three women, have lost their lives due to theTurkish bombing of villages in the northern and western countryside of Manbij, according to a statistic of the Manbij Military Council.
According to the council’s statistics, the villages located on the contact lines have been hit with more than 600 mortars, 13 rockets, 10 tank shells, and 30 artillery shells, in addition to 10 drone attacks.
In 2014 ISIS militants took control over the city and its countryside, but it was liberated in 2016 by the SDF supported by the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS following fierce battles.
Since then, the SDF-affiliated Manbij Military Council has been controlling the city.
In 2019, Russian troops and Syrian government forces deployed in then city after an agreement with the SDF to stop Turkish threats to invade the region.
Hussein al-Obeid, a resident of Arab Hassan, is also afraid of the Turkish bombardment.
al-Obeid said that the Turkish forces bomb indiscrimintly, which “increases our fear.”
Al-Obeid calls on the international community and the Russian forces, as the guarantor of the ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria, to take a firm stance to stop Turkish threats against the region.
Following the Turkish military operaton Peace Spring against Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad in 2019, Turkey signed two ceasefire agreements one with Russia and the other with the US stipulating ceasing all hostilities and the withdrawal of the SDF 32 km away from the Turkish border.
The SDF did withdrew from the border areas according to the agreement, but Turkey continues targeting the area..