“I strongly condemn the missile attack on Afrin city in northwest #Syria last night which killed three civilians (including a woman),” tweeted Mark Cutts, the United Nations Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis.
He continued that the attack also “injured at least 13 others (including five children) according to latest reports,” adding the hashtag #StopKillingCivilians to the post.
The governor’s office in the southern Turkish province of Hatay blamed the attack on the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Ankara sees the YPG as part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with which it has been fighting a decades-long conflict over Kurdish rights in Turkey.
The YPG has not claimed responsibility for the action, although Syrian government forces have shelled Turkish-backed forces in and around Afrin in the past. The YPG has condemned and denied involvement in multiple similar previous attacks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also noted yesterday that the attack comes after the Syrian government deployed reinforcements near Afrin, now controlled by Turkey and allied Syrian opposition armed groups of the Syrian National Army (SNA).
In March 2018, the Turkish army and militias it supports began their occupation of Afrin. Since then, the region has been plagued by regular attacks on and by groups aligned with Turkey as well as indiscriminate bombings that have killed civilians.
In addition, the area sees frequent infighting between rival Turkish-backed armed Syrian factions that have also regularly led to civilian deaths and injuries.
On June 12, several artillery shells struck the city’s al-Shifaa Hospital in the city. The attack resulted in 15 deaths and 40 injuries, including staff, as well as devastating damage to the hospital and surrounding buildings.
A separate deadly rocket attack in Afrin killed multiple civilians in July.
The human rights organization known as Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) wrote a report on Oct. 20 that blamed the Syrian government for two such major rocket attacks over the summer.
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