The Turkish state carried out new drone attacks in the Cizir Canton in northeast Syria on Friday afternoon, killing four fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and injuring 11 civilians, some of them seriously, as reported in a statement by the SDF. The number of injured has been updated to 12 by the Hawar News Agency (ANHA).
The four SDF fighters were killed after their vehicles were attacked by a Turkish UAV. In addition, a Kurdish Red Crescent ambulance trying to reach the injured was also attacked, which resulted in the ambulance being put out of action.
Some of the injured civilians, who are now being treated in a hospital of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), spoke to the Hawar News Agency about the attacks. They explained that they saw the fields near their village in the countryside of Tel Hamis on fire and that they were attacked by a Turkish drone when they tried to put out the fire. Most of the people injured in the attack belong to the same family and are between 10 and 60 years old.
During the last weeks, there have been several reports of the Turkish army purposefully setting fire to agricultural lands in northeast Syria.
According to reports, there was another attack on the canton of Shahba in the Turkish-occupied region of Afrin, in which a 60-year-old citizen, Hussein Mahmoud Alia, from the town of Tal Rifaat was injured.
The AANES issued a statement on the attacks, calling them “another war crime by the Turkish state” and a “continuation of the genocidal and siege policy of the Turkish state”.
Because the attacks occurred during the preparations for the upcoming municipal elections in the region, the AANES calls them “an attack against the construction of a strong and democratic society”.
The attacks come just one day after Turkish President Erdoğan had called North and East Syria “Terroristan”, claiming that the region is a threat to Turkish national security.
According to the Rojava Information Center, 28 people have been killed and 44 people have been injured in 103 Turkish drone strikes since the beginning of the year.
