“Turkey aims at the lives of thousands of people every day”

During the past two days, the occupying Turkish army and its mercenaries targeted Til Rifet, Afrin, Azaz, and Mari with more than 20 artillery shells and unmanned aerial vehicles from the areas they have occupied in North-East Syria.

Many villages in Afrin’s Sherawa district were also bombed by the Turkish army. The attacks on the villages of Soxanekê and Xirbek caused damage to people’s homes and property.

The attacks also injured Sipan Mistefa (7), İbrahim Mihemed Ebdo (8), Newroz Mihemed (38), Zilan Arif Qasim (7), and Fayiq Ibrahim (50).

Til Rifet is home to over 21 thousand people, the majority of them are immigrants from Afrin who were displaced after the Turkish invasion in 2018.

Til Rifet residents Ehmed Silêman, Til Rifet Council Co-chair İbrahim Rihani, and Doctor Azad Reşo, who works at Afrin Hospital, spoke about the damage inflicted by Turkish attacks.

‘AREN’T THOSE WHO DIE IN AFRIN CHILDREN?’

Til Rifet resident Ehmed Silêman stated, “Many neighborhoods in the district were targeted by Turkish artillery fire. This demonstrates that the aggression specifically targeted civilians. Civilians were harmed as a result of the bombardment.”

Silêman said that the Turkish state is trying to evacuate them from Til Rifet, but they will resist until they liberate Afrin and return to their home.

Silêman went on to ask why international organizations do not help the children killed by the Turkish army daily: “I want to ask the institutions that mourned when a boy named Reyan fell into a well in Morocco, why don’t you mourn for the children who die every day in Afrin, aren’t they children?” 

MORE THAN 20 SHELLS FIRED

Til Rifet Assembly Co-Chair İbrahim Rihani said that more than 20 shells were fired into Til Rifet after a protest march against the worldwide plot against Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The attack lasted until late at night.

Rihani remarked that drones are regularly bombarding the Til Rifet district center, creating a danger to humans, and seeking to displace the local citizens.

DAMASCUS WAS AWARE OF THE ATTACKS

Rihani referred to the first and second Til Rifet massacres, in which children were slaughtered, and added that the Turkish forces have carried out yet another massacre against civilians, in which many people were injured.

Rihani remarked that the bombardment of Shehba canton and Til Rifet has not stopped in the last four years, while the Damascus government has not taken any counter-measures, and a heavy embargo has been imposed on the region. He noted that the Damascus government was aware of the Turkish state’s attacks.

Rihani highlighted that international forces should bear responsibility for the attacks as the situation in Til Rifet is not peaceful and there is always a possibility of repeated bombardment by the Turkish state and its mercenaries.

THE CONDITION OF THE INJURED IS NOT PROMISING

Doctor Azad Reşo, who works at Afrin Hospital, stated that the situation of civilians injured in the Turkish state’s bombardment, particularly children, is not promising.

Reşo stated that 7-year-old Zilan Arif Qasim was transferred to an Aleppo hospital for treatment due to a lack of medical resources and medicines. He reported that most of the injured were in mild to moderate condition, and that a youngster named İbrahim Mihemed Ebdo (8), who was injured in his left leg, had surgery.

Finally, Azad Reşo noted that attacking civilians and immigrant regions in the camps is illegal by international standards and agreements, and that the Damascus government’s embargo hinders Afrin Hospital from treating civilians.