The attacks by Turkish-backed local mercenaries on the villages of Tell Abyad (Girê Spî) in North East Syria continue as they attempt to drive residents away. However, the residents state that they would rather die in their homes than leave their villages.
The local gangs backed by Turkey continue their attacks against the civilian settlements on the south side of Tell Abyad, particularly targeting the civilian settlements of Erîda, Qiz Elî, Kor Hesen, Evdiko and Kopirlik using heavy weapons. Dozens of homes, as well as gardens and the land around the villages, have been damaged and badly affected.
Turkey hopes to use these attacks to drive people away from the villages in order to expand its area of encroachment, ANF reports.
The residents of Bîr Zinar in Girê Spî state that their village is bombarded every day and that they know what Turkey is trying to do, but that they would rather die in their homes than leave them.
One of the residents, Xelîl Derwêş, said: “We cannot stay in our homes because of the attacks by the Turkish state. It is against all human conscience to attack innocent people and kill children. We never know where the missiles will fall when the attacks come. Our livestock, our land, our houses, are all destroyed.”
“Erdoğan’s aim is to terrorise us and force us from our land, but we are not afraid of Erdoğan,” he added. Another villager, an elderly woman named Yadê Selvi, spoke to ANF. Selvi said her home was completely destroyed.
“My house has been destroyed and I have no usable land left because of the attacks from the Turkish state and the criminal gangs. I will die in the ruins of my home if I have to. I am not going anywhere,” she said. “Where could I go anyway? Is there anywhere left for us to go?”
Fatma Zinar stated that mortar fire hits them from the east every day. “Children of ours have died. Our homes and our lands are destroyed. All our animals are gone, we have nothing left,” she said.
Zinar views Turkey as an occupying force and she believes Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan directs the attacks targeting North East Syria. “Erdoğan has occupied Girê Spî, Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ayn) and Efrîn (Afrin). He cannot get enough of it, he keeps going on with the occupation and the attacks,” she said.
