BREAKING: Turkish forces conducting artillery bombardment along Tel Tamr–Ayn Issa frontline

TEL TAMR, Syria — Turkish forces renewed their artillery bombardment of defensive positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) outside Ayn Issa and Abu Rasayn on Saturday, striking the villages of Seda and Malik and Dada Abdal, Safa, and Nuweihat respectively.

Turkey and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) have conducted a series of artillery strikes and attempted several raids in recent weeks.

On Monday evening, the Syriac Military Council (Mawthbo Folhoyo Suryoyo, MFS) confirmed to SyriacPress that their forces positioned around Tel Tamr thwarted an infiltration attempt by the SNA on the Syriac–Assyrian village of Timar (Umm al-Kayf). At the time, it was unclear if there were any casualties among the attackers.

On Tuesday, MFS stated that two of the infiltrators were killed and several others wounded. No casualties were reported in the ranks of MFS.

Background

In October 2019, Turkey and its proxies in the SNA, a coalition of militias, several of them with extremist ideologies, formed and funded by Turkey, invaded the cities of Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn) and Tel Abyad in North and East Syria, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Since the invasion, dozens of Turkish military bases have been established in those areas. The bases are guarded by the SNA who are equipped with armored vehicles and heavy weapons. Additionally, a large number of Turkish commandos are reportedly stationed in the region.

Demographic change and the Turkification of the area continue, with residents being forced to learn the Turkish language, the names of public facilities being replaced with Turkish ones and the hoisting of the Turkish flag over them.

Other human rights abuses continue as well. Turkish-backed factions continue to burn agricultural crops, kidnap civilians for ransom, extort business and families for large sums of money, and engage in torture, murder, and sexual assault.

In September, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a 25-page report calling on Turkey to put an end to wide-spread war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by its proxy forces, the Syrian National Army (SNA), in the areas under its occupation.

According to the report, there is significant evidence that the Turkish-backed SNA has committed, and continue to commit torture, murder, displacement, rape, and the looting of property.

Researcher Amy Austin Holmes, found that Turkey and the Turkish-backed SNA violated the ceasefire agreement signed in late October 2019 over 800 times as of October 2020.