Turkey attacks Rojava despite natural disaster at home: Kurdish official
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior Kurdish official in northeast Syria (Rojava)on Monday accused Turkey of carrying out a deadly drone attack in Kobane city despite dealing with the aftermath of disastrous twin quakes at home.
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey last week, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. The confirmed death toll from both countries stands at over 35,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Elham Ahmed, president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in a tweet on Monday that a Turkish drone targeted the Kurdish city of Kobane in northeast Syria the previous day, posting the photograph of a person who seems to have been killed in the attack.
“Despite earthquake disaster in Syria-Turkey & its humanitarian impact,Turkish govt still insists on its hostile policies based on violence & war. Turkish UAV targeted #Kobani today, with no regard to human_catastrophe. Ongoing escalation serves no one but harms both Turkish & Syr[ian] people,” read the tweet.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said a Turkish drone hit a military vehicle which it said belonged to the SDF in Kobane.
The UK-based war monitor also reported casualties from the SDF ranks.
Turkey has not commented on the aerial attack. If confirmed, it would be the country's first drone attack against the SDF after the twin earthquakes.
Ankara considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the SDF, as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - armed group struggling for the greater rights of Kurds in Turkey.
Ankara has listed both PKK and YPG as terrorist organisations.
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey last week, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. The confirmed death toll from both countries stands at over 35,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Elham Ahmed, president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in a tweet on Monday that a Turkish drone targeted the Kurdish city of Kobane in northeast Syria the previous day, posting the photograph of a person who seems to have been killed in the attack.
“Despite earthquake disaster in Syria-Turkey & its humanitarian impact,Turkish govt still insists on its hostile policies based on violence & war. Turkish UAV targeted #Kobani today, with no regard to human_catastrophe. Ongoing escalation serves no one but harms both Turkish & Syr[ian] people,” read the tweet.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said a Turkish drone hit a military vehicle which it said belonged to the SDF in Kobane.
The UK-based war monitor also reported casualties from the SDF ranks.
Turkey has not commented on the aerial attack. If confirmed, it would be the country's first drone attack against the SDF after the twin earthquakes.
Ankara considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the SDF, as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - armed group struggling for the greater rights of Kurds in Turkey.
Ankara has listed both PKK and YPG as terrorist organisations.