ROJAVA – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement that “over the past 24 hours, the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries have waged large-scale artillery and rocket attacks accompanied by heavy reconnaissance flights against dozens of villages and towns in the north and eastern Syria.”
The statement added that “these attacks came two days after visiting the occupying army and its intelligence on the Syrian-Turkish border, resulting in threatening the lives of tens of thousands of civilians and destroying large areas of their crops.
The shelling stretched over 280 km. from villages in the Shirawa district, south of Afrin, to Manbij, Kobane, and the villages of Ain Isa district. About 53 villages were directly shelled using 40 tons of explosive materials.”
The statement said that “in Afrin and the Shehba, more than 700 artillery, mortar, and tank shells were landed on the villages of Suganka, Aqiba, Deir Jamal, Kashta’ar, Tanab, Shwarga and its castle, Maranaz, Tatmarsh, Kafr Anton, Alkmiyah, Meng, Ain Daqna, Belonia, Sheikh Issa, Harbel, Samuka, Tal Madik, al-Shahba Dam, Ta’ana, Musheirfa, Ziwan and the perimeter of the Tal Rifa’at town.
In Manbij and the vicinity of al-Bab, the villages of Hosharia, Al-Jat, Tokhar, Aoun al-Dadat, Mohsenli, Arab Hassan, Um Jeloud, Dandaniya, Al-Sayada, Al-Yalinli, Qart Wiran, Tal Torin and Kaukli were shelled by more than 177 mortar shells.
In Kobane, the villages of Zor Magar, Sheuk Foqani, Khirb Atto, Baydiya, Sevtak, Popan, Ziyara, Ashma, Ahmed Munir Farm, and Mishtannour Hill in the center of Kobane city were shelled with more than 67 artillery and mortar shells, and the border villages were subjected to machine-gun fire.
The villages of Musheirfa, Jahbal, Syda, Jadida, Al-Saqr restaurant, and the M4 international road were also shelled by more than 30 artillery shells.
The Turkish occupation deliberately targeted densely populated villages, civilian farms, towns, and cities at peak times and rush hours to intimidate civilians, preventing them from continuing their work.”
The statement continued: “The brutal Turkish bombing is considered a clear reflection of extermination plans led by the barbaric Turkish mind against the region’s peoples. Undoubtedly, it requires a concrete position from the international guarantors and international human rights institutions to condemn these continuous aggressions and occupation, which are the main cause of conflicts in the region, and transmittal of the Turkish aggression file to the international courts.
In parallel with these attacks, Turkish state media published false news about the martyrdom of 21 of our fighters during the bombing. However, we confirm that this news is false, and the shelling directly targeted civilian communities, resulting in injuring a woman and her child and causing extensive damage to dozens of houses.”
