SDF denies shelling Turkish-held Jarabulus

“Our forces have not bombed the area in any way, and that news is false and fabricated.”
Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand atop a roof next to their unfurled flag in Baghouz, Deir al-Zor (Photo: AFP)
Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand atop a roof next to their unfurled flag in Baghouz, Deir al-Zor (Photo: AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The media center of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday rejected news reports that the group targeted Turkish-controlled Jarabulus with mortar shells.

“Websites and news web pages affiliated with the Turkish occupation-backed warring militias claimed that our forces had shelled with mortar shells the outskirts of the occupied city of Jarabulus. Otherwise, our forces have not bombed the area in any way, and that news is false and fabricated,” the SDF media center said.

The SDF statement added that Turkish-backed groups resort to misinformation to prevent the public from “accessing the correct information about internal fighting, killing, kidnapping, and forced disappearances of people in the occupied territories.”

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported clashes between Kurdish and Turkish-backed forces in Kafr Khasher and Ain Daqna villages in northern Aleppo on Tuesday. 

Moreover, Turkish-backed forces shelled the Kurdish-held villages of Maranaz Al-Shawargha Al-Malikiyah in the Sherawa district near Afrin and the villages of Kafr Khasher and Ain Daqnah. Kurdish forces responded by shelling the vicinity of Merdmirimin.

After Turkey conducted a cross-border attack into northeastern Syria in October 2019, Russia and the US reached separate ceasefire deals with Ankara, allowing Turkish troops to control the area between Tal Abyad and Serekaniye that Turkey and its Syrian paramilitary proxies captured from the SDF.

Despite such agreements, Turkish-backed groups and the Turkish army continuously target SDF-held areas with artillery bombardments and shelling.

A Turkish artillery strike killed one and injured 11 on Jan. 8 in Kobani. Among the wounded was a 4-year-old boy who lost his leg. 

Read More: Civilian killed in suspected Turkish bombing of town in northern Syria

That strike came after an IED (improvised explosive device) attack killed three Turkish soldiers on the Syrian border.

Moreover, on Jan. 13, a Syrian soldier was killed by sniper fire from Turkish forces in the border village of Qaramogh, 20 kilometers east of the northern Syrian-Kurdish city of Kobani.

Read More: Syrian government soldier killed near Kobani

Last week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (UCIRF) chair Nadine Maenza visited northeast Syria and warned that the ongoing Turkish strikes are destabilizing that region.

Read More: Turkish strikes destabilize northeast Syria: USCIRF Chair

Maenza met with SDF spokesperson Aram Hanna and discussed the situation in Tal Tamr and on the frontlines that “witness the continuation of violations targeting civilians directly, besides to the places of worship.”