Syrian Kurdish district outside US support repelling Turkey

At least one Syrian Kurdish fighter of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) lost his life when the Turkish army on Thursday bombed the outskirts of Syria’s northwest Kurdish district of Afrin.
kurdistan24.net

AFRIN, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan 24) – At least one Syrian Kurdish fighter of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) lost his life when the Turkish army on Thursday bombed the outskirts of Syria’s northwest Kurdish district of Afrin.

In a statement, the YPG announced fighter Tuxtir Qitlo had lost his life in the Turkish bombardment on Afrin’s countryside.

Speaking to Kurdistan 24 from Afrin, Mihemed Billo, a journalist and activist who tracks the conflict using sources on the ground, said the YPG forces destroyed a Turkish armed vehicle in the western countryside of the city.

Billo added that drones coming from Turkey targeted the Asayish checkpoints in the villages of Sanara and Marwaniya in the west and north countryside of Afrin.

Asayish is the Kurdish term for the internal security forces of Syria’s Kurdish-held areas known as Rojava.

Additionally, the Syria-based Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported that several villages in the Shia district in the west and north countryside of Afrin were shelled with heavy arms.

The Turkish military could not be reached for comment.

Regarding the security situation inside Afrin city, the spokesperson of Afrin Asayish Jigar Mamo told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday the city itself has not been targeted yet, but they tightened their procedures.

“The first defense line for us is the checkpoints and investigating the people who are coming from the other provinces,” Mamo said.  

According to the Security Authority of Afrin Canton, the displaced people from the other provinces are still welcomed and hosted.

However, there are certain conditions, and some security procedures are required as precautionary measures for the safety and security of the city.

Afrin is a town in Rojava where a majority of its people are Kurds.

The town is a vulnerable city as it is threatened by the Syrian regime and their Russian and Iranian allies on the one hand and by the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition armed groups on the other.

Moreover, Afrin is outside the boundaries of the other areas supported by the US-led International Coalition against the Islamic State (IS).

Last year, Russia deployed several units of its forces to Afrin, but Kurdish officials said this did not prevent Turkish attacks in the area.

“Russians say they are supporting us when their forces enter Afrin, but unfortunately when the Russians entered Afrin, the Turkish attacks increased,” Bahjat Abdo, a senior YPG commander and the Head of Defense Authority in Afrin, told Kurdistan 24 in an exclusive interview.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany 

(Additional reporting by Redwan Bezar from Afrin)