Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)

Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Click to print (Opens in new window)

Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

US-led Coalition: Iraqi Kurds put us in touch with Kurdish fighters in Kobani

SDF shell positions of Turkey-backed rebels in response to attacks on Kurdish district northwest Syria

Barzani says independent Kurdistan to be multi-ethnic, multi-religious

ARA News

Turkey’s military forces on Wednesday launched an offensive on the Kurdish district of Afrin in Syria’s northwestern Aleppo Governorate, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, eyewitnesses and officials told ARA News.

The Turkish Army initiated the offensive by shelling the villages of Malla Khalil and Der Ballout in the Jinderis area of Afrin. Several houses were destroyed and dozens of civilians were killed or injured during the attack.

Also on Wednesday, Turkey’s military forces hit with heavy artillery the Kurdish villages of Ferferk and Qere Baba in the Rajou area in Afrin District.

Furthermore, the villages of Anqala and Khalil in the Kurdish Shiya area were also exposed to artillery shelling by the Turkish troops.

“The barbaric Turkish attacks on the Kurdish villages of Afrin caused dozens of casualties among civilians, many of them were women and children,” a local human rights activist told ARA News.

“The death toll is in increase as many of the injured are in critical condition,” the source said.

A member of the Afrin Rescue Team confirmed to ARA News that many victims remained stranded under the rubble.

“The Erdogan-led thugs [Turkish forces] launched simultaneous attacks on all these villages in Afrin, with the ultimate goal of killing as many Kurds as possible. The world should witness this and take action to prevent more massacres by the Turkish dictator,” a Kurdish activist said.

In the meantime, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) vowed to respond to the Turkish offensive.

“We strongly condemn this massacre against the Kurdish people in Afrin, and we will respond by force,” the YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said in a statement on Wednesday.

Reporting by: Hozan Mamo | Source: ARA News

For the latest news follow us on Twitter

Join our Weekly Newsletter