Bloody night for 4 children in northeast Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Four children from two families lost their lives in one night and in different circumstances in the cities of Qamishli and Hasakah, northeastern Syria.
Targeted car
In August 6, at 06:30 pm, an explosion took place in al-Sinaa neighborhood in Qamishli.
The blast killed each of Ahmad Ali Shibi, 14, whose leg was amputated and his body was hit by shrapnel, and Akram Shibi, 13, who received shrapnel in the head. The two children were cousins and worked together in a vehicles’ accessories store.
After the incident, the Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish) launched an investigation to determine the cause of the explosion. Hours later, it released a statement saying that the car was targeted by a Turkish drone strike.
At a hospital in Qamishli, an anxious woman came asking about her child and her husband, who were near the site working in the accessories store. Eventually, she heard the news of her boy’s death. The woman broke down immediately and started screaming and wailing uncontrollably reaching the point of hyperventilation.
The 40-year-old father Ali Shibi, who was hospitalized with his son, was injured by shrapnel in his intestines and suffered fractures in his left hand and leg. Up until writing this report, nobody has told the father that his beloved son left the world.
The Asayish stated that the investigation would continue until all the victims are identified.
Burnt tents
Hours after the car incident, other mothers in a camp in Hasakah were about to live the same experience but for different reasons.
At 2 am, about 8 hours after the first incident, a fire broke out in one of the tents in Washokani camp, west of Hasakah, for a mysterious reason, and started spreading to the neighboring tents very quickly.
Washokani camp was established in 2019 to shelter the IDPs of the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) who fled following the so-called Turkish military operation Peace Spring which resulted in the occupation of the city and the displacement of its original inhabitants.
The fire burnt seven tents and two children from the same family: Adnan Mahmoud Hussein, 6, and Abdurrazzaq Mahmoud Hussein, 5; both of them were IDPs from the village of Umm al-Khair. The fire also injured five IDPs who were in the nearby tents.
The camp management suggested the cause to be an electrical short circuit in one of the tents.
People were raged by the incident and criticized the lack of first aid and firefighting tools in the camp.
North Press was able to obtain photos and clips showing the extent of the destruction and devastation left by the flames.