Turkey’s continuing airstrikes on civilian infrastructure and targeted drone attacks in northern Syria have put the volunteer medical personnel in “mortal danger”, relief organisation Medico International said on 10 October.
The current wave of attacks against Kurdish-held northern Syrian territories and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) began after an attack against Turkish police headquarters in the capital Ankara on 2 October.
The bomber was reportedly a member of a militia group that calls itself the Immortals Battalion, which affiliates itself with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In a statement confirming the perpetrators, PKK’s military wing said the group carried out the attack against Turkey’s “fascistic attacks”.
Following the explosion that injured two police officers and killed the bomber, Turkey conducted intense air strikes against PKK positions in the KRI. On 5 October, an aerial operation against northern Syria started.
Locals and human rights organisations in the area have reported more than 200 airstrikes in the Kurdish-held region, including those against hospitals, schools and water and energy infrastructure. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently said Ankara would not refrain from “destroying” the sources of income for the Kurdish-led administration, as the military targeted the oil fields and power plants.
According to Medico International, some 80 percent of civilian infrastructure in the region that Kurds call Rojava (Western Kurdistan) has been damaged. Some two million civilians have been without stable power or water, only having access for a few hours every day.
Turkish strikes “completely destroyed” a COVID-19 hospital in al-Malikiyah (Dêrik), and disrupted cold storage chains for medical supplies, the organisation said.
Medico has had to suspend several projects in the region, while an orphanage in al-Hasakah was forced to be evacuated. Medical personnel continue to work in conjunction with the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor).
The threat of drone strikes has placed an “enormous psychological burden” on the population, while aid workers in particular fear for their lives while traveling, Medico said. The organisation has seen its members targeted in strikes as recently as September last year.
Meanwhile, a women’s centre run by Medico in the Idlib province was also targeted in airstrikes, as Russian and Syrian militaries continue their campaigns against the area controlled by Turkish-backed Islamist groups.
