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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Huddled around a lantern in a basement in a village in Afrin’s Jandaris area, a woman asks why their small region has been under the aerial bombardment of Turkey.
“Is this not shameful for Turkey and the international community? What have we done for them to attack us with such huge force? We have sat in our homes and have attacked no one,” she said.
Turkey’s military operation has claimed the lives of 67 civilians, including 20 children and 12 women since the start of the operation, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Ankara, however, denies that any civilians have died.
“No civilian has been harmed in Operation Olive Branch” by Turkish forces or their allied Syrian militias, Turkey’s National Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Tuesday, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.
While denying civilian casualties, he accused Kurdish forces in Afrin of using civilians as human shields and asserted that the lack of deaths among the civilian population showed Turkey’s “sincerity and sensitivity.”
Forces on the ground, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), however, reported that Turkey had “directly” targeted civilians on Tuesday, firing on a car and injuring two men and a woman in the Jandaris area of southwest Afrin. The men each lost a hand and the woman had to have both her legs amputated at Afrin hospital.
Sinam Mohamad, foreign representative for the Rojava administration, reported that Turkey had used “internationally banned cluster bombs” on villages in the Jandaris area.
Clashes continued on Tuesday, with the SDF reporting they killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded several more when they hit a convoy of Turkish military vehicles in northern Idlib, reported ANF, media with ties to the Kurdish groups.
The Turkish army confirmed their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, and stated that one civilian was killed and another civilian and one soldier were wounded.
“Is this not shameful for Turkey and the international community? What have we done for them to attack us with such huge force? We have sat in our homes and have attacked no one,” she said.
Turkey’s military operation has claimed the lives of 67 civilians, including 20 children and 12 women since the start of the operation, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Ankara, however, denies that any civilians have died.
“No civilian has been harmed in Operation Olive Branch” by Turkish forces or their allied Syrian militias, Turkey’s National Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Tuesday, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.
While denying civilian casualties, he accused Kurdish forces in Afrin of using civilians as human shields and asserted that the lack of deaths among the civilian population showed Turkey’s “sincerity and sensitivity.”
Forces on the ground, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), however, reported that Turkey had “directly” targeted civilians on Tuesday, firing on a car and injuring two men and a woman in the Jandaris area of southwest Afrin. The men each lost a hand and the woman had to have both her legs amputated at Afrin hospital.
Sinam Mohamad, foreign representative for the Rojava administration, reported that Turkey had used “internationally banned cluster bombs” on villages in the Jandaris area.
Clashes continued on Tuesday, with the SDF reporting they killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded several more when they hit a convoy of Turkish military vehicles in northern Idlib, reported ANF, media with ties to the Kurdish groups.
The Turkish army confirmed their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, and stated that one civilian was killed and another civilian and one soldier were wounded.
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