Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF’s press office, identified the young man as Sarkhuabun from the village of Til Jamal. He was run over by a Turkish armoured vehicle that was on patrol with Russian forces near Malikiya [Derik], a town about five kilometres from the Turkish border in the northeastern corner of Syria.
“We hold Russia, who claimed the region would be safer without the SDF and with joint patrols, responsible for this murder,” Bali tweeted.
In the framework of its deal with Russia, Turkey agreed on October 22 to pause its Operation Peace Spring against the Kurdish-led SDF in northern Syria in order for the SDF to pull back from the border, which would be patrolled jointly by Turkey and Russia. The SDF was not a party to the ceasefire negotiations.
The first joint patrol took place on November 1 in Darbasiya, the second in Kobane five days later, and the third today in Qamishli and Malikiya (Derik). The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a tweet that their Friday convoy consisted of four vehicles and UAVs.
Kurdish residents along the border have met the convoys with anger, hurling rocks and vegetables at the military vehicles. Footage of the patrol on Friday appeared to show men, women, and children pelting the armoured vehicles with stones.
Turkish forces responded with tear gas and injured 10 people, according to Bali.
Video shared by the Rojava Information Centre showed a young man clinging onto the side of an armoured vehicle. Later in the same video, the same man appears to be severely injured on the side of the road. The SDF-affiliated news-gathering agency identified the deceased man as 25-year-old Sarkhuabun Ali.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the death. He was one of "tens of civilians" in Malikiya protesting the Turkish forces by hurling stones, shoes, and vegetables at the convoy.
Turkey and Russia are yet to make a statement on the incident.
Ankara wants to establish a so-called safe zone on its border strip with Syria to a depth of 32 kilometres where it will resettle one to three million Syrian refugees now sheltering in Turkey. The Turkish government considers the SDF as a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – which has been in a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state – and hence a threat to its border security.
The SDF has abided by the ceasefire agreement with Moscow confirming the Kurdish-led forces have pulled back from the border. But the SDF is working with the Russians to ensure the Kurdish civilian population living in the planned safe zone region is not left “defenceless,” commander Mazloum Abdi told Rudaw in a recent interview.
Prior to its deal with Russia, Turkey also reached an agreement with the US to temporarily pause its offensive in order for the SDF to withdraw from border areas.
Ankara accuses the Kurds of not pulling their forces away from the border and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Washington and Moscow, saying they have failed to live up to their part of the agreements.
Updated at 6:00 pm
