On 25 December, the occupying Turkish army carried out dozens of attacks against North-East Syria with 7 warplanes and 33 unmanned aerial vehicles. The aggression was mainly directed against Qamishlo, but also targeting the cities of Amude, Kobane, and Tirbespiye. Eight people were killed and 13 people were injured in the attacks carried out by the Turkish state against civilian settlements, service buildings and infrastructure.

A civilian by the name of Ciwan Elî suffered critical injuries as a result of the bombing of Sîmav Printing House in Qamishlo on 25 December.

The young man, who had been receiving treatment since, lost his life in hospital on Friday, bringing the number of those killed at Sîmav Printing House to 7, and the total death toll to 9.

Background

At the beginning of October, Turkey embarked on a 5-day airstrike assault, systematically hitting North-East Syria’s electricity, gas and oil facilities, causing extensive infrastructural and economic damage and worsening the already-fragile humanitarian situation in North-East Syria.

On the 23rd of December, in the mountains of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the guerrillas Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) conducted operations against Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) positions, killing at least 12 Turkish soldiers; Turkish President Erdogan referred to the attacks as “terrorist” and vowed revenge. On the night of the 23rd, the TAF proceeded to strike oil and gas infrastructure sites in North-East Syria, cutting power from electrical substations serving half the Jazira canton and injuring one civilian. The Turkish Ministry of Defence announced these airstrikes were “against terrorist targets” for the purpose of “border security”.

Two days later, Turkey carried out an intense string of airstrikes from 10:00 until 21:00 local time, mostly focused on Qamishlo city but also including the cities of Amude, Kobane, and Tirbespiye, systematically targeting more essential civilian infrastructure, this time hitting factories producing construction materials, agricultural products and foods, as well as grain silos, a mill, industrial sites, a dialysis center and a petrol station.

North and East Syria’s political and military leaders have long emphasised that the political and military institutions in their region are separate from the PKK – contrary to Turkey’s claims – and now accuse Turkey of “exporting its internal crises” and conducting airstrikes to deliberately create instability and target the Democratic Autonomous Administration.