Turkish airstrikes overwhelm humanitarian aid efforts in Northeast Syria: NGO coordination forum
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – According to a report of the NES Forum, an NGO coordination body for northeastern Syria, damage caused by recent Turkish airstrikes far supersedes the capacity of the humanitarian community to sustain emergency life-saving service provision.
From Oct. 5-9, Turkey launched an air campaign in northeastern Syria, after it claimed fighters coming from Syria were behind an attack in Ankara. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied the accusations.
“These resulted in major damage and destruction of infrastructure critical for civilians in cities across NES, including water stations, power stations, farms, and sites in the direct vicinity of civilian villages and camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),” the NES Forum said.
Moreover, the NES Forum said there were 18 confirmed civilian casualties, including those from areas facing frontline shelling and artillery fire.
“Facilities and infrastructure critical for civilians across NES have been directly and indirectly targeted and severely damaged, with 58 verified targeted sites. The nature and severity of the damage inflicted on civilian infrastructure critical to essential services in NES (Northeast Syria) cannot be understated.”
The forum added that there were already significant gaps in water, power, and fuel in northeast Syria prior to the early October escalations.
“Now with major infrastructure offline and a near-complete reliance on provision of emergency stop-gap measures to sustain life and livelihood in northern Hasakah governorate, there are no sustainable options other than support for major rehabilitations.”
NES said it is working now with the UN to develop a contingency response plan for continued humanitarian impacts resulting from damages already felt as well as potential scenarios if the conflict escalates further.
On Oct. 15, the Co-Chair of the External Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) Bedran Ciya Kurd called on the UN to send specialized teams to investigate the Turkish strikes on northeast Syria.
“These attacks led to the destruction of parts of a vast amount of civilian infrastructure and vital facilities, which has left disastrous consequences for millions of defenseless civilians, including hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people including those in camps and makeshift shelters,” he posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“It is necessary for the United Nations to reconsider the programs and campaigns it is following in its support of the region, and to urgently search for ways to open crossings in support of current humanitarian situations and prevent their politicization,” he concluded.