The Turkish state’s genocidal campaign against the autonomous region of northern and eastern Syria under the guise of “fighting terror” continued unabated on Sunday afternoon. Turkish warplanes and drones continue to circle in the skies over the region, attacking infrastructure and civilians.

In Kobanê, firefighters were targeted by Turkish fighter jets as they carried out firefighting operations on the site of a former cement factory. The factory in the village of Çelebiyê (al-Jalabiyya), southeast of the canton, had already been hit from the air at least three times earlier in the day. Footage published by the Hawar news agency (ANHA) shows that the impact occurred in a warehouse just a few metres from a fire engine on which a fire brigade employee was standing.

Further attacks in Kobanê were directed against grain silos and a small forest on the southern outskirts of the city. Previously, a cattle farm, a base of the Asayish (Internal Security Forces) and a power plant that supplied around 300 villages in the region with power had already been bombed in the canton. The plant went out of service and thousands of households were cut off from power supply.

In Qamishlo, air strikes were carried out against the power supply facility in Hîzama Bakur and a major fire broke out. Attacks on vital energy infrastructure were also reported in Amûdê. A substation was affected by the attacks, which also targeted the villages of Merkeba and Kotih. In addition, the mill located on the edge of the road connecting Amûdê and Hesekê was hit by fighter jets. Two workers were injured and taken to hospital.

The granaries in Dirbêsiyê district of Hesekê Canton and the house of a citizen in Girbetli village were directly targeted by Turkish attacks. Brothers Can and Rojan and their mother were wounded during the attack, while the house became unusable. The wounded civilians were taken to the district hospital for treatment.

For the third day in a row, Turkey is attacking the autonomous region of northern and eastern Syria from the air, in addition to heavy bombardments in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The government in Ankara justifies the attacks with “retaliation” for the deaths of Turkish soldiers during “cross-border operations” in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, activists are warning that Turkey could attribute attacks carried out by its air force on its own territory to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or the People’s Defence Units (YPG) in order to create a basis for a new war of aggression against northern and eastern Syria. In the Kurdish border town of Suruç, which is located in the province of Urfa and directly opposite Kobanê, bombs were dropped on a rural area.

Local media claimed that it was a suspected drone attack from Rojava. It would not be the first time that Ankara has had its own territory bombed and attributed the incident to the YPG/SDF in order to fabricate a basis for war crimes.

Urgent and important for all activists and policy makers (!)

The Turkish army has mistakenly bombarded Turkish territory near the city of Suruc in the Urfa region. The bombs were dropped between Tilal and Sakran village.

Turkish media will claim this is an attack by the YPG/SDF

— ScharoMaroof (@ScharoMaroof) January 14, 2024