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

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Turkish drone on Sunday struck and destroyed a car west of the northern Syrian town of Qamishlo (Qamishli), according to a local source who spoke to Kurdistan 24.

Although casualties are not yet known, Turkey’s military appears to have struck the car in the village of Himo, located on the road between Qamishlo and Amude.

Just one day earlier, a separate drone attack appeared to have targeted a car in the village of Mezra in southeastern Kobani, the local Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported.

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

In the past few days, at least four Turkish attacks employing either drones or warplanes were carried out in northeast Syria against varying targets.

Renas Roj, a commander of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) who is originally from Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat) was killed in a Turkish strike on Thursday along the same road between Qamishlo and Amude where Sunday’s attack occurred.

Also on Thursday, four fighters from the local Tal Tamir military council were killed in yet another Turkish air strike. Among them was Sosin Birhat, a commander and Military Council member for the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) as well as a member of the SDF Military Council.

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.

In some cases, civilian villagers living in rural areas along the Syrian-Turkish border were killed in attacks by the Turkish troops and the rebel forces Ankara supports.

On Tuesday, shelling by Turkish-backed groups killed two civilians and injured 15 others in the eastern countryside of Syria’s northeast town of Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain). 

In the neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the bodies of two Iraqi tourists were found dead after being killed in their vehicle by what local authorities are saying was also Turkish bombardment, according to local sources who spoke to Kurdistan 24.

Read More: Two Iraqi tourists killed by Turkish strike in Kurdistan Region's Duhok: Sources

The bodies of the two, who had been visiting from Iraq’s nearby province of Nineveh, were discovered still inside a car that sustained damage by the impact of what appears to be an artillery shell in the village of Banke, located in Batifa subdistrict outside Zakho.

The personal identity of the slain tourists has not been publicly released. The area struck by the attack had previously been evacuated in fears it would likely be hit by Turkish airstrikes targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Editing by John J. Catherine