Turkey bombs Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin, several wounded

AFRIN, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan 24) – Several civilians were wounded when the Turkish army shelled the Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin in the country’s northwest on late Tuesday, eyewitnesses said.

Speaking to Kurdistan 24 from Afrin, Mohammad Billo, a journalist and activist, said seven people were wounded when two rockets hit the center of the city.

The bombardment was followed by shelling on the city late Tuesday evening.

Witnesses in Afrin told Kurdistan 24 the mortar shells and rockets came from Turkey in the north and also from the Turkish-backed Syrian rebel city of Azaz, northwest of Syria.

The wounded, including a woman and a child, were transported to local hospitals and clinics.

The bombardment by Turkey and the armed groups it supports in Syria came as an agreement was made between the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Russians to have Russian troops stationed in a few various locations in Shehba and Afrin for military observation.

“The mission of the Russian forces involved in military observation will be to provide security for Shehba and Afrin together with YPG and Jaysh al-Thuwar fighters,” the YPG General Command in Afrin stated on Tuesday.

Afrin, which is under the control of the Kurdish YPG forces, is under siege.

The region is separated from the other Syrian Kurdish areas by Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda-affiliate Nusra from the east, the Syrian Army from the south, and the blocked Turkish borders from the north and west.

Turkey already controls a large pocket of land in northern Syria since its Euphrates Shield operation alongside the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels ended in February.

The campaign successfully denied the YPG a chance to break Afrin’s isolation and create a link with the other Kurdish canton of Kobani.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany