At least 14 civilians including several children have been killed and dozens injured in a series of Turkish air and artillery strikes in northern Syria over the past three days, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reported. The attacks have targeted villages and towns in the al-Dirbasiyah (Zarkan), Ain Issa (Eyn Îsa) and Sarrin (Sirîn) regions, where Turkish forces and their allied groups have been escalating hostilities.
The deadliest attack occurred on 28 January when a Turkish combat drone allegedly bombed a crowded marketplace in the town of Sarrin, south of Kobani (Kobanê), killing at least nine civilians and injuring 20 others. On same day earlier, artillery bombardment struck the village of Umm Harmalah in the countryside near al-Dirbasiyah, killing three civilians, including a child, and injured nine more, the SDF said. Shelling hit al-Jamas village in eastern Ain Issa on 27 January, killing two children and an adult.
“Over the past two days, the Turkish occupation has committed three massacres,” the SDF said in a statement, accusing Ankara of deliberately targeting civilians. “The Turkish Ministry of Defence has published false reports claiming that 14 of our fighters have fallen as martyrs. These allegations are entirely untrue and are intended to conceal the crime committed in Sarrin, where 12 civilians lost their lives – most of them children.”
The SDF stated that in the past 30 days alone, Turkish strikes have killed at least 40 civilians and injured 270 in areas including al-Dirbasiyah, Ain Issa, Sarrin and the area around the Tishreen (Tişrîn) Dam on the Euphrates. Photographs accompanying the statement purportedly document the destruction caused by the bombardments, Roj News reported on Tuesday.
Turkey, which considers the SDF an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has intensified its military attacks in northern Syria. Ankara claims it is targeting “terrorist threats”, but human rights organisations and local authorities have repeatedly reported the civilian casualties as a result of its attacks.
The latest wave of violence has sparked renewed calls for international intervention. The SDF condemned what it described as the international community’s “silence” over Turkey’s military actions and urged global actors to hold Ankara accountable.
