Turkey should immediately stop targeting critical civilian infrastructure: HRW

HRW on Friday said that Turkey should immediately stop targeting critical civilian infrastructure.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2024/02/10 00:19

Kurdish Syrian firemen put out a blaze at a power station in Qamishli which was reportedly targeted by Turkish drones on January 15, 2024 (DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Syria HRW Turkey northeast Syria Turkish drone strikes PKK SDF YPG

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Turkey should immediately stop targeting critical civilian infrastructure, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Friday.

Turkey's airstrikes on Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria had already resulted in water and electricity disruptions for millions of people. Now, intensified strikes have hit medical facilities and crucial access roads used by humanitarian responders. https://t.co/7KdzDAuDy1
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) February 9, 2024

“As the crisis in Northeast Syria escalates, action is needed to mitigate the humanitarian impacts on the civilian population,” HRW said.

According to a report of the Syria INGO Regional Forum (SIRF), Turkey carried a wave of airstrikes in October, December and January.

Damage to medical facilities targeted in December has disrupted the oxygen supply to more than a dozen private and public hospitals, and strikes on 28 health facilities have disrupted their services, increasing the risk of water-borne diseases.

As a result of Turkish strikes, SIRF said more than 1 million people in eleven major cities and over 2750 villages have been cut off from electricity.

Moreover, it caused critical shortages and prohibitive inflation rates in diesel, kerosene, and cooking gas threaten access to cooking and heating for both IDPs in camps and local populations.

HRW also called on Turkey to “respect international humanitarian law and hold to account those responsible for serious violations.”

Turkey in the last years carried out several military operations and airstrikes in northeast Syria, including a drone strike that killed four Asayish members near Qamishlo on Feb. 2.

Ankara considers both the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and People's Protection Units (YPG) as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)’s Syrian offshoots in northern Syria, both the SDF and YPG deny links to the PKK.