ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The commander of the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) late Friday condemned a drone attack which targeted a girls’ learning centre in Hasaka, northeast Syria (Rojava), killing four children and injuring several others. The Kurdish authorities have blamed Turkey for the airstrike. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) said in a statement on Friday that a Turkish drone targeted a girls special education centre on Tal Tamir-Hasaka road earlier in the day. “The attack resulted in the death of four children and the wounding of 11 people - all of them girls,” it said. Maj. Gen. John Brennan, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve Commander, said in a statement late Friday that he condemns the drone attack which he said took place late Thursday. “On the evening of Aug. 18, an armed unmanned aerial system struck a group of teenaged girls playing volleyball who were active in a United Nations educational outreach program in Hasakah. Initial reports indicate that the strike killed four and wounded several others. On behalf of CJTF-OIR, I condemn this attack and any others that kill and injure civilians,” read the statement from the commander. NES said in its statement that the targeted area was only two kilometres away from a coalition base, adding that the region has seen a “new escalation of a systematic aggression” by Turkish forces. Brennan also said that there has been an “increase in military hostilities in northern Syria [which] is creating a chaos in a fragile region where the threat of ISIS remains present” He called for “immediate de-escalation from all parties and an end to activities that put at risk the significant battlefield gains the Coalition has made against ISIS.” The US-led global coalition forces are based in Rojava, supporting the Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIS. Turkey has not confirmed its involvement in the deadly attack on the learning centre. However, the Turkish defence ministry said in a tweet on Friday that the People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters tried to attack their forces in northern Syria but Turkish forces attacked and were able to kill five members of the Kurdish force which is the backbone of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Ankara has recently increased its attacks against Kurdish forces in Syria, and it threatens to carry out its third military base against them since 2018. Turkey claims that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers both Kurdish groups terrorist organizations.
