4Situation of civilians after four days of war

North and East Syria after the Turkish military invasion on the 9.10.2019Situation of civilians after four days of warInf

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North and East Syria after the Turkish military invasion on the 9.10.2019Situation of civilians after four days of war

NORTHERN SYRIA AFTER THE TURKISH MILITARY INVASION ON THE 9.10.2019

4Since the 9th of October 4:00 PM (EEST/GMT+3) the Turkish army and affiliated jihadist groups have been engaged in a military operation against Northern Syria. This has included heavy air strikes in the regions of Serekaniye (Ras al-Ayn) and Gire Spi (Tel Abyad), and bombings and shellings all along the border inclu-ding the cities of Derik, Rimelan, Qamishlo, Amude, Dirbesiye, Serekaniye, Gire Spi, Kobane, Manbij and Ayn-Issa. There is an ongoing land incursion from the Turkish Army and affiliated groups in the regions of Serekaniye and Gire Spi.

Despite Turkey’s announcement that it is not targeting civilians, all official sources report the endangering of and damage to civilian life. The following report documents the effects on civilians after four days of war, up to and including the 12th of October.

Infrastructure targeted

Airstrikes and ground-based attacks have affected key civilian infrastructure. Attacks on water pumping stations, bakeries, dams, power stations, and oil fields are reported.1 On the 9th October a Turkish airs-trike hit the main water supply station in the area of Alouk in al-Hassakeh governorate. As a result of this, water reportedly ceased to flow from the supply station. 500,000 people that depend on this water station will be deprived of adequate access to clean water.2 The water shortage also effects the hospitals in the region. It is reporte++d that hospitals have been running on a limited supply. A bread factory was shelled in Qamishlo by the Turkish army.3 On the 12 of October the Turkish army bombed a wheat storage facility in Qamishlo, in Qinat El-Siwês neighbourhood.4 The hospital of Serekaniye (Ras al-Ayn) was evacua-ted due to attacks in the surrounding area. On the 12th of October the trauma stabilisation point of the medical NGO Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor) was targeted south of Serekaniye.5 Ambulance movement in and out of Serekaniye was purposefully attacked. The roads from the city are being targeted by Turkish

1 United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Comissioner, Press briefing note on Syria:https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25129&LangID=E2 Heyva Sor report, 9th, 10th and 11th of October: http://hskurd.org/wp-content/uplo-ads/2019/10/9th10th11th-report-10102019_10pm.pdf3 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.12.10.2019: https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/11829402165894758404 https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/resistance-against-occupation-growing-12-october-li-ve-blog-383015 Heyva Sor: https://twitter.com/Heyva__Sor/status/1182943580962377728

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Refugees fleeing Serekaniye on the 9.10.2019

Situation of civilians after four days of war

5 snipers and shelling.6 Fuel infrastructure was targeted in Rimelan.7 The Turkish army targeted the Assyrian Church of Mary in the village of Tal Djihane, northwest of Al Kahtanya/Tirbespiyê, with heavy weapons.8

Displacement of people

From the commencement of the attacks, waves of displaced people have been moving away from the affected areas without being able to find safe ref-uge as the attacks are extending. Roads of North East Syria are crowded with people fleeing the at-tacks. The Semalka border crossing is swollen with refugees trying to escape to the Kurdish region of Iraq.9 The artillery and air strikes on Gire Spi and Serekaniye has lead to the forced displacement of the entire civil population in these regions.10 On the 11th of October Gire Spi was entirely evacuated of civilians.11 At least one village in the Derik region was also evacuated.12 The United Nations Human Needs Assessment Programme calculates the number of displaced people from just the first two days of the conflict as 191,069 - the number now probably ex-ceeds 200,000.13 Most displaced people have fled to Ain Issa, Raqqa, Til Tamir or Haseke.14 The Mabru-ka refugee camp, which housed 3,776 internally displaced people (63% of whom are children) was evacuated and relocated to Areesha camp south of Haseke. Humanitarian organisation and NGOs op-erating in North and East Syria have been withdraw-ing staff. This is threatening the service everywhere they were active and puts more burden on the local organisations. In al-Hol camp, where tens of thou-sands of ISIS-affiliated fighters and families are held, staff have been withdrawn.15

6 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Sy-ria.12.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/11829402165894758407 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria. 11.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/11825509155738296328 Syrian Live Map: https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2019/11-october-the-turkish-army-targe-ted-the-assyrian-church9 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria. 12.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584010 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.12.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584011 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.12.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584012 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.11.10.2019https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118255091557382963213 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.12.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584014 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.12.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584015 Heyva Sor report, 9th, 10th and 11th of October: http://hskurd.org/wp-content/uplo-ads/2019/10/9th10th11th-report-10102019_10pm.pdf

Internally displaced people from Serekaniye in a school in Til Temir

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NORTHERN SYRIA AFTER THE TURKISH MILITARY INVASION ON THE 9.10.2019

6Civilian casualties

There are reports of direct targeting of civi-lians, such as the shelling of a peaceful de-monstration in Gire Spi on the 10th of oc-tober. In this same vein, a civil convoy with civilians and government officials was shelled on the road between Gire Spi and Raqqa.16 Fleeing civilians taking the roads from Sere-kaniye to Haseke were fired at by Turkish sni-pers whilst wounded and fleeing.17 Shellings targeted the largest Christian neighborhood (Bisheriya) in Qamishlo. Due to the attacks two Christian civilians were killed and civilian houses were burned.18 In Qamishlo a Syriac Christian couple, Fady Habsula and Juliette Negola, have been killed. In Serekaniye, a Sy-riac Christian civilian was killed as well as one other civilian, and two more injured.19 Villages populated by Syriac Christians and Yezidis surrounding Tirbespiye were shelled by Tur-kish army.20

The city of Gire Spi, which is a majority Sun-ni Arab population, was the target of heavy attacks from Turkey.21 Hevrin Khalaf, the co-chair of the Syria Future Party, was killed in an attack by the Syrian National Army (esta-blished from jihadist groups like al-Nusra, ISIS and others by Erdogan at the beginning of this war22) whilst on the road with her driver. The driver was also killed.23 The Turkish dai-ly newspaper Yeni Şafak afterwards declared that Hevrin Khalaf was “neutralized in a suc-cessful operation”.24

16 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria. 11.10.2010: https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118255091557382963217 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria. 10.10.2010 https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118220151464491008018 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria. 10.10.2019: https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118220151464491008019 https://indefenseofchristians.salsalabs.org/pressrelease_idcconfirmsturkeykillschristians?wvpId=d1fa25d7-75b4-43d8-95e3-77e9e46de4a420 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria. 12.10.2019: 10.10.2019:https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584021 Rovaja Information Center: Daily report about situation in North and East Syria.12.10.2019: https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/118294021658947584022 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/turkey-launches-military-operation-northwest-sy-ria-191009134139640.html23 Turkey Untold, https://twitter.com/TurkeyUntold/status/118302931933506764924 https://www.yenisafak.com/dunya/orgute-ust-duzey-darbe-pydnin-suriyedeki-2-numarali-is-mi-hevin-halef-etkisiz-hale-getirildi-3510133

Bisheriya, attacked Christian Neighborhood in QamishloSo

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Syriac Christian civilian wounded by turkish air strike in Qamishlo

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Situation of civilians after four days of war

Number of wounded or killed civilians25

Deaths: 35, among them at least three women and three minorsWounded: 100, among them at least eight women and eight minors

25 According to the Kurdish Red Crescent Heyva Sor26 https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/1183222409853308928

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Car of Hevrin Khalaf, co-chair of Future of Syria Party, after her assassination by a Turkishbacked group

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Eight year old brother of Sara, Mohammad Yusuf, died due to Turkish attack on Qamishlo on the 10th of October

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Sara Yusud, eight year old, wounded on the 10th of October in Qamishlo

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Civilian killed due to Turkish attacks

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Shepherd Salah Said Hamki from Be-sta Sûs village, Derik region, dies due to Turkish army bombing the village of Pirkê on the 12th of October

NORTHERN SYRIA AFTER THE TURKISH MILITARY INVASION ON THE 9.10.2019

8Human Rights violations in Turkish occupied Afrin

In January 2018 the Turkish Army started an inva-sion of Afrin, violating international law. Afrin, like the areas that are currently attacked, belonged to the Autonomous Self-Administration of North- and East-Syria. The Turkish army invaded and occupied Afrin territories in co-ordination with allied armed jihadist groups. Severe human rights violations against civilians are documented, and are remini-scent of the violations in the current situation. E.g, the targeting of drinking water networks and con-voys of civilians have both been extensively docu-mented in Afrin.27

The ongoing Turkish occupation in Afrin is still enac-ting severe human rights violations according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There are reports of looting, systematic forms of torture, kidnapping, sexual enslavement of women, ransom and murder carried out by Turkish-backed forces.28 Numbers of residents of Afrin displaced by the Tur-kish invasion and occupation are estimated around 110,000. Until now they live under harsh conditions in camps in Shehba region, where attacks from Tur-kish-backed jihadist groups have also been docu-mented taking place against them.29

27 Rojava Center for Strategic Studies NRLS: http://nrlsrojava.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Documentationof-violation-.pdf28 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=142636, http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=142475, http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=142114, http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=12969929 Rojava Center for Strategic Studies NRLS: http://nrlsrojava.com/en/studies/displaced-peo-ple-from-afrin-canton-inshahba-northern-syria-and-surroundings-areas/

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Displacement of people from Afrin on the 16.03.2018

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Turkish atillery on Afrin city on 14.03.18

Report written by the campaign comittee Women Defend Rojava

Kongra Star Diplomacy

Contact: womendefendrojava@protonmail.com

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