SDF: It is our right to protect the people and our region from attacks

In the early hours of August 4, Turkish artillery destroyed a house in the village of Sefawiyê, east of the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa. A 54-year-old man and three of his children were killed. The mother and other children were injured and are being treated in Raqqa hospital. In a written statement on the massacre, the General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) warned the Turkish occupation forces and their militias, and called on the U.S. and Russia to stop the crimes of war and war crimes that are taking place despite the major powers’ agreements with the Turkish state.

The statement said, “The Turkish occupying state has again committed war crimes against the people of northern and eastern Syria. Turkish tanks attacked civilian settlements and refugees from occupied Girê Spî. In an attack on the village of Sefawiyê, a father and three of his children were killed.

The atrocious crimes of the Turkish state show that it insists on occupying Syrian territory, waging war and displacing the population. In this way, the Turkish state is violating agreements with the states of the region, as well as with Russia and the United States.

We express our condolences to the relatives of the murdered people and condemn the massacre of the Turkish state. We call on Russia, as a guarantor power in the region, to stand against the crimes of the Turkish occupying state. It is our right to protect the people and our region from attacks within the framework of self-defense. We call on the international community and international human rights organizations to investigate the rights violations of the invading Turkish state and its mercenaries and bring these criminals to international courts.”