Thousands of Syrian Kurds demonstrated on Sunday (November 27th) in Qamichli, in northeastern Syria, to protest against the recent Turkish airstrikes targeting this region controlled by the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, reported a photographer from the AFP. Protesters waved the red, yellow and green Kurdish flag and portraits of Abdullah Öcalan, the historic leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), imprisoned in Turkey, shouting slogans hostile to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Since November 20, Ankara has been carrying out an air operation called “Claw-Sword” against Kurdish forces in Syria and the PKK in Iraq. These two organizations are accused by the Turkish authorities of having perpetrated the November 13 attack in Istanbul, which killed six people. Kurdish forces have denied any involvement. After a three-day lull, Turkey carried out new airstrikes early on Sunday against Kurdish-held areas north of Aleppo, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). and who has an extensive network of sources in Syria.
Since November 20, around 65 people have been killed in Turkish strikes which have mainly been concentrated in northeastern Syria: 35 fighters from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their allies, 28 of the Syrian regime, as well as a journalist working for a Kurdish news agency, according to the OSDH. Most of them fell on the first day of the raids.