“Today… a Turkish occupation drone targeted a construction materials factory in the town of Al-Safia, with three shells,” said the Asayish in a statement, adding that four civilians sustained different injuries as the result of the attack.
The four civilians were sent to a hospital to receive treatment, according to the internal security forces.
The Asayish are a police and security force predominantly in Rojava that is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which fought the lion’s share of the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS)and defeated the terror group in 2019.
Turkish forces frequently conduct drone strikes on targets in northern Syria on the grounds that they have links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and pose a threat to Turkey.
The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara. Turkey considers the SDF and its Kurdish backbone People’s Protection Units (YPG) as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
The Turkish defense ministry has not commented on Wednesday’s drone strike. However, Turkish state media reported that the country’s intelligence killed a YPG member in Hasaka, accusing him of planning an explosion in Istanbul last year.
In September, a Turkish drone strike killed three Kurdish female fighters from the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), YPG’s all-women wing, in the vicinity of Syria’s northeastern city of Manbij. Turkey’s defense ministry claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor, Turkey has carried out 51 drone strikes on areas controlled by Kurdish forces in northern Syria since January, and the attacks have resulted in 62 deaths, including 13 civilians. 22 of those attacks have targeted Hasaka.