QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – During the past eight days, areas in northern Syria witnessed an unprecedented escalation by Turkish forces and their Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition factions, using drones and artillery shells, but on Sunday Turkey has intensified its bombardment on north of Hasakah and the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Recently, Turkey has increased its escalation on the Syrian north and northeast and contact lines as well, especially after Turkey failed to obtain a green light by Iran and Russia, in Tehran Summit, to invade the region.
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.
“The time has come to clear these lands from the terrorist organizations,” Erdogan threatened during Tehran Summit.
Tehran’s trilateral Summit brought presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey together on July 19 with Syrian issue on the top of its agenda.
Artillery attacks
On Sunday morning, the Turkish bombardment targeted 19 villages north of Hasakah, including 11 villages belonging to Tel Tamr, and 8 villages belonging to the town of Abu Rasin (Zarkan). As a result, two were killed, one of whom was a soldier of the Syrian army, the other was a civilian, and nine others were wounded, including elderly and children.
The recent escalation coincides with a large displacement wave among the remained residents of the targeted villages.
The Turkish forces and their affiliated factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), fired 58 artillery shells on several villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo (Shahba region), which resulted in the injury of two soldiers of Syrian government forces, after targeting their checkpoint in the village of Tanab.
In response to the Turkish bombardment, the Syrian government forces targeted the town of Kafr Jannah in the countryside of Afrin with five missiles.
Tel Tamr power transformer station in north of Hasakah went out of service for due to Turkish military escalation on Saturday.
The bombing also resulted in the injury of three fighters of the Assyrian Khabur Guard Council.
On July 16, the Turkish forces bombed the village of Kozaliya, in Tel Tamr western countryside, at a time when it focused its bombardment on the northern countryside of Aleppo, almost on daily basis.
The Turkish forces and their affiliated SNA factions targeted with two rockets an Iranian military base between the village of Ibbin and the town of Deir Jamal in the north of Aleppo. However, no casualties were reported.
On July 18, a woman was wounded in the village of Mayasah, affiliated with Sherawa district in the northern countryside of Aleppo, in Turkish bombardment that hit the village.
On July 17, using artillery, Turkish bases in the vicinity of the town of Marea in Aleppo northern countryside targeted a military column of Syrian government forces on the road between the villages of Herbel and Ahras, south of the town.
The day after, the Turkish forces bombed the village of al-Muhsinli with nine mortar and artillery shells, resulting in material losses, according to the Manbij Military Council, affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),.
Drone attacks
On July 23, the Russian warplanes targeted posts of the SNA in the villages of al-Mahmoudi, Tel Muhammad and Tel Alo, north of Tel Tamr town, which are the contact lines between the SNA factions and Syrian government forces, according to exclusive sources.
On July, a Turkish drone targeted a position of the Syrian government forces in the village of Zor Maghar in Kobani countryside.
On the same day, three fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were targeted by another Turkish drone attack in the city of Qamishli, northeast Syria.
The Central Command of the US military (CENTCOM) extended its condolences to the SDF, for Turkish targeting of three female commanders in the city of Qamishli.
The CENTCOM, on its Twitter page, offered its condolences to the SDF after the death of its three leaders. Meanwhile, the SDF Commander in Chief Mazloum Abdi called on “partners to expend more efforts to stop the Turkish attacks.”
On July 21, the SDF Media Center released a statement, saying that two SDF fighters lost their lives in a Turkish drone attack on Kobani, north Syria.
On July 19, an officer and a soldier of the Syrian government forces were injured after a Turkish drone struck their military post in the town of Tel Rifaat, in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
On July 18, a Turkish drone targeted a railway near a post of the Military Security Branch of the government forces in Tel Rifaat.