Suspected Turkish drone kills four civilians near Syrian Ain Issa

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A suspected Turkish drone Friday morning killed four civilians in a vehicle it targeted near the Syrian city of Ain Issa, Raqqa province.

“This morning a civilian car near the village of Dibis, 7km from Ain Issa, was targeted by a Turkish drone strike, resulting in 4 civilian deaths,” the Syria-based Rojava Information Centre (RIC) said in a tweet.

Malik Muharib Hameed (25), Idan Hameed Umari (40), Hamed Hameed Jarbu (20), and Khamis Bisaili (17) were killed in the attack.

The incident “is a part of a pattern of civilian casualties in the front line areas of the Turkish occupation, many of which have been children," Clara Moore, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center (RIC), told Kurdistan 24.

The Turkish army has intensified its artillery, drone, and airstrike attacks recently in areas under the control of the Kurdish-run Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Last month, several Turkish attacks employing either drones or warplanes were carried out in northeast Syria against varying targets. In the attacks, a number of commanders and SDF fighters were killed.

Read More: Turkish drone targets vehicle near northern Syrian town of Qamishlo: Source

Last week, a Turkish drone also targeted an area near Manbij.

Despite ceasefire agreements between both Turkey and Russia and Turkey and the United States in October 2019, Turkish-backed groups and the Turkish army itself continue to regularly target SDF-held areas.

A Kurdish delegation in Moscow recently discussed Ankara’s increased attacks on Kurdish-led forces in Syria.