Civilian causalities have been gradually mounting since Turkey and its Syrian proxy forces launched Operation Peace Spring on Wednesday evening.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the conflict has caused 45 military casualties. The United Nations says around 100,000 people have been displaced.
Sara lost her leg when Turkish shells rained down on her neighbourhood of Qudurbag, eastern Qamishli on Thursday, killing her brother 11-year-old Mohammed and wounding her mother and brother Ahmad.
Although shells continue to crash into the neighborhood, Sara has been brought home to recover. She has undergone extensive surgery to remove shrapnel from her left leg and to amputate what was left of her right leg, which had been reduced to a pulp of meat and bone.
And although neighbors and relatives have been coming to the house to pay their respects for the loss of Mohammed, Sara still doesn’t know her bother is dead.
“Sara’s situation is bad because of her wounds,” says Necah Gharib, the children’s aunty. “She is very depressed, crying all the time saying she has pains in her leg.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of his long-threatened military offensive against Kurdish forces on Wednesday via Twitter.
He said the operation is designed to target the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and would not undermine efforts to defeat remnants of ISIS.
Turkey views the YPG, which forms the backbone of the SDF, as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK has fought a decades-long guerrilla war with the Turkish state for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey.
The autonomous Kurdish administration of northern Syria saw the US presence as a guarantee against Turkish attack. The SDF’s top commander Mazloum Kobani Abdi called the move a “stab in the back”.
World leaders, diplomats, members of Congress, and even celebrities were quick to condemn Turkey, but the international community is yet to take solid action to halt the offensive.
With reporting by Viviyan Fetah from northeast Syria
