Turkey continues to attack Til Temir

Turkish attacks against the Autonomous Administration regions of Northern and Eastern Syria continue unabated. Artillery attacks on densely populated villages are reported from Til Temir.

Turkey is continuing its attacks against the Autonomous Administration areas in Northern and Eastern Syria unabated. Artillery attacks on densely populated villages are reported from the Christian town of Til Temir. The towns of Tall al-Lubn (also Tall al-Laban) and Al-Kuzliyah are also targeted.

The shelling came from the Turkish-jihadist occupation zone of Serêkaniyê. The formerly Kurdish city was occupied in October 2019 by Turkey and the Ankara-led "Syrian National Army" (SNA) - a coalition of reactionary, Islamist and fundamentalist militias funded and run by the Turkish government. It was initially unclear whether people were harmed by the bombing.

Al-Kuzliyah and Tall al-Lubn are a good fifteen kilometres southwest of Til Temir city centre. In Tall al-Lubn, a civilian was injured in a Turkish killer drone attack early last week. At the end of May, the Turkish army bombed an Assyrian church. Til Temir's military council has repeatedly pointed out that Turkey uses banned cluster ammunitions in its attacks against Northern and Eastern Syria, among other things.

The strategic city of Til Temir

Til Temir holds a key position in Turkey's occupation plans because the M4 passes through the small town. The international traffic route is considered the lifeline of northern Syria, because it connects the Euphrates and Cizîrê regions with each other. Since the invasion of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî (Tall Abyad) by Turkey, in October 2019, more than thirty villages near Til Temir have already been occupied.

Attacks in the region occur almost daily, with phases of high intensity alternating with phases of low intensity. 27 villages in the Khabur valley are directly on the front line. Five of all Assyrian villages in the region have already been depopulated by Turkey's attacks. Scores of people have been killed in the attacks and dozens injured. The Syrian troops stationed in Til Temir and the Russian military are not fulfilling their function of complying with a de-escalation and ceasefire agreement agreed between Ankara, Moscow and Washington in the course of the 2019 war of aggression.