Human rights activists accuse Turkey of deliberately destroying civilian infrastructure in northern Syria

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An oil well in northern Syria, not far from the Turkish border: Turkish army drones are often deployed here

Photo: DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP

Serious allegations: Human rights activists have accused Turkey of causing devastating damage to critical infrastructure in northeastern Syria in attacks on Kurdish positions. "While the world's attention remains focused on the devastating conflict in Gaza, another crisis is deepening under the radar in northeastern Syria," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday. Turkey is targeting people's livelihoods there from the air and with drones. “Intentional attacks on civilian infrastructure are a war crime,” warned the human rights activists.

Turkey says it does not attack civilian targets. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish militia YPG, and local organizations contradict this.

Communities in northeastern Syria are cut off from electricity, medical care and other vital services, the HRW report said. In October last year, Ankara attacked water and electricity plants as well as an oil facility. Hospitals, bakeries and water supply systems are no longer in operation because of the Turkish attacks.

Fighting has moved from northern Iraq to northern Syria

Farhad Schami, spokesman for the SDF in Syria, also told the German Press Agency that Turkey was trying to hit the region's infrastructure. The current attacks have been ongoing for two months.

All information could not initially be independently verified.

Ankara regularly carries out military operations against the Kurdish Workers' Party PKK and the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG. According to the International Crisis Group, the conflict has been shifting from Turkey to northern Iraq and northern Syria since 2019 after the military pushed the PKK fighters further and further back. Turkey stepped up its military operations after several Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack on a Turkish military base in northern Iraq in January.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly attacks Israel sharply over the Gaza war as a result of the Hamas massacre on October 7th in Israel. He also accused the country of genocide against the Palestinians. Critics accuse Erdoğan of Iraq of double standards because of the Turkish attacks in Syria.

dop/dpa