Foreign journalists, civilians reportedly targeted in Turkish airstrike

Mohammed Rwanduzy

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Fourteen people are now believed to have been killed when a convoy of journalists and civilians in northern Syria was reportedly shelled by Turkish forces on Sunday afternoon.

According to Rudaw’s reporter in Rojava, the convoy had been heading to Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) from Tel Tammar when it was struck.

Staff at the hospital treating the injured said at least ten people were killed in the strike, with anywhere between 40 and 100 injured. Television channel France 2, whose journalists formed part of the convoy, have said 14 people were killed while around 20 others were injured.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported 14 people were killed in the strike on the "humanitarian support" convoy. Ten are believed to be civilians, including a woman and a journalist. The death toll is set to rise, the Observatory said, with some convoy passengers, including children, currently in a critical condition. 

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, northern Syria-based North Press Agency (NPA) reported the severe injury of one of its journalists, named by the agency as Delsoz Yousef. Rudaw later spoke to him while he received hospital treatment in Tel Tammar. 

"When the people went to support Sari Kani, the Turks fired a mortar, which fell among the people. We journalists were there,” Delsoz Jousef told Rudaw while he lay in bed. 

Three journalists were injured, he added. He does not know the fate of one other, whose "injuries were severe."

Jousef believes five to six were civilians were killed in the attack. He suspects the attack could have been conducted by both mortar and airstrike.

Another journalist, who had been live streaming in the area when the attack occured, believes the attack was solely by mortar, as he could not hear jets nearby. 

He claimed 10 journalists were part of the convoy. 

“Three of us were hit. Our camera, our phones were burnt,” he said. 

The convoy consisted of as many as 200 vehicles, according to Rudaw’s reporter, and travelled to Sari Kani to assist its beleaguered people. 

Hospital management could not give Rudaw a precise figure for the number injured. Hospital staff, however, put the number between 40 and 100.

“The majority are civilians, including journalists. All those injured are civilians,” a hospital staff member told Rudaw.

At least 10 people were killed, he added, with some bodies yet to be taken to hospital as shelling continued. 

Tel Tammar's hospital can only provide basic treatment. Those with severe injuries are to be taken to hospitals in Qamishli for specialized treatment, Rudaw understands.

“We were there, standing, chanting that we don’t want this occupation, that we are happy as we are ... and then we were struck,” one of the injured civilians told Rudaw.

“Doesn’t the world have eyes? We haven’t done anything to anyone. We were just standing there,” an injured woman told Rudaw. 

Footage taken on the scene by Rudaw in a Tel Tammar hospital shows the blanket-shrouded bodies of five of those killed in the convoy strike.

A gruesome video shared online showing the alleged aftermath of the strike shows dead and wounded people scattered among the burning wreckage of vehicles, body armor, camera tripods, and backpacks. 

Among the bodies are several armed men.


Updated at 11:06 pm