Nineteen civilians have died since Thursday in northern Syria, announcing Friday, August 19 the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). In this area of the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by the Kurds and supported by the regime, confront the Turks and their local auxiliaries.
These victims were killed in two separate events. To Al-Bab, under the control of Syrian factions loyal to Ankara northeast of Aleppo, “Artillery fire by pro-regime forces in a market killed fifteen civilians, including children, and injured around forty others”said the NGO. SDF spokesman Farhad Shami assured that his forces had no “nothing to see” with this strike.
Four children killed in Hassaké
In Hassaké, in the northeast of the country, an area held by the SDF, the Kurdish Autonomous Administration announced on Friday that a Turkish strike had “killed four children and injured 11 others” falling down “in the night on a closed center for minors”. The OSDH confirmed this assessment.
Turkey has been threatening since May to launch a major offensive against Kurdish forces that control most of northeastern Syria. Since July, Turkish drones have increasingly struck areas controlled by the SDF, considered “terrorist” by Ankara, according to the OSDH and Kurdish officials.