Insurgents attack Kurdish quarter in Aleppo
Insurgents fired mortars and rockets on a mainly Kurdish residential quarter in Aleppo, killing at least nine civilians and wounding dozens.
ALEPPO, Syria (Kurdistan24) – Al-Qaeda's Syrian offshoot Nusra Front attacked a mainly Kurdish residential quarter in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least nine civilians and wounding dozens, Kurdish military sources told Kurdistan24 on Sunday.
The spokesperson for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) Redur Khalil said al-Qaeda affiliated groups’ attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud quarter of the city killed four children, two women, and three men.
Berfin Roj, a civil society activist, told Kurdistan24 on Sunday, “The extremists of al-Nusra and Ahrar ash-Sham hit the Sheikh Maqsoud quarter with one hundred rockets and dozens of mortars, and caused extensive damage to properties.”
Roj added that the residential area has been a major frontline in Aleppo for weeks, with heavy clashes between the YPG forces and Syrian rebels who control large parts of the eastern portion of the divided city.
“The shelling destroyed eight buildings in Shiekh Maqsoud neighborhood where dozens still remain trapped under the rubble,” Roj said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in Syria, said the attack was among the biggest by rebels in the area that also adjoins state-run parts of Aleppo.
“The death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical conditions,” the Observatory stated.
The tension between Kurdish forces and opposition forces has intensified after the YPG took control of a large area in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Sheikh Maqsoud has been under the control of Kurdish forces since 2012 after clashes with the Syrian regime army.
Reporting by Hisham Arafat
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa