At least 11 civilians, including eight children under the age of 15, were killed on Monday (December 2nd) in Turkish bombings near a school in a Kurdish-controlled city in northern Syria, the Observatory reported. Syria Human Rights (OSDH).
The tragedy took place in the town of Tal Rifaat, where clashes sporadically contrast Turkish forces and Kurdish fighters. This city also hosts Bashar al-Assad's regime forces and Russian military, according to the NGO.
"The artillery fire of the Turkish forces fell near a school, as children were leaving" the school, according to the director of the OSDH, Rami Abdel Rahmane who also reported 21 wounded.
Most of the victims are Kurdish displaced persons who had settled in Tal Rifaat after fleeing the Afrine enclave, further to the west and conquered in 2018 by Ankara forces.
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After this operation, Ankara threatened to attack Tal Rifaat, but a negotiated deal with Moscow prevented a Turkish offensive on the city. Russia had pledged to withdraw the Kurdish militia from the People's Protection Units (YPG).
Located in the province of Aleppo, Tal Rifaat is located just south of the city of Aazaz, held by rebels funded and supported by Ankara.
It is to remove from its border the Kurdish militia of the YPG, considered as a "terrorist" organization by Ankara, that Turkey launched on October 9 with Syrian auxiliaries a major offensive on the region. Despite two cease-fires accepted by Ankara, sporadic clashes continue.
With AFP