Three minors injured in Turkish attack on Ain Issa

Three minors were injured in an artillery attack on a village near the northern Syrian town of Ain Issa on Saturday. The victims are a ten-year-old and two teenagers aged fourteen and fifteen. They were initially taken to the “Şehîd Omer Elûş” hospital in Ain Issa before being referred to a clinic in Raqqa. Medical information on the extent of the injuries has not yet been provided.

The attack by the Turkish army and its jihadist proxy forces took place on Saturday evening in the village of Al-Hishah (ku. Hişê), sixteen kilometres east of Ain Issa. The village is located on the edge of the 712 road that connects the occupied zone around Girê Spî (ar. Tall Abyad) with Raqqa and regularly comes under artillery fire. The identities of the injured children were given as Khalaf Jassem Al-Farij (15), Awad Jassim Al-Farij (14) and Maher Nawash Onaizan (10).

Ain Issa is located south of the Turkish occupied zone in northern Syria and is strategically important as a link between the self-governing regions of Euphrates (Kobanê) and Cizîrê. Since the end of 2020, the city has been in the crosshairs of Turkey and its Islamist proxy forces. Almost every day, heavy artillery strikes target residential areas and important traffic routes. Since the occupation of Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain) and Girê Spî, sporadic attacks to wear down and displace civilians have taken place as of October 2019 as part of a low-intensity war. Dozens of villages in the region have been destroyed and depopulated as a result.