The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Drone attack | Five killed and wounded by Turkish drone attack on house near Russian base in Ain Al-Arab (Kobani)

Aleppo Province: SOHR  sources have reported hearing explosions in Ain Al-Arab (Kobani), east of Aleppo, due to an attack by a Turkish drone on a house in Maktalah neighbourhood near a Russian base east of Kobani city. The attack left two persons dead and three others wounded.

 

Since the beginning of 2021, Turkish forces have escalated their drone attacks on areas under the control of Syria Democratic Forces and affiliated military formations in north-east Syria region and Kurdish-held areas in northern Aleppo, using Turkish-made drones, “Bayraktar”. These attacks have caused a state of terror and panic among the residents of the targeted areas, especially with media reports on imminent military operations by Turkish forces in those areas.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented at least 20 attacks by “Bayraktar” drones in north-east Syria and Aleppo countryside in 2021, where five airstrikes targeted the Kurdish-held areas and 15 targeted SDF-held areas.

 

According to SOHR statistics, Turkish drone attacks left at least 40 civilians and military personnel dead and wounded:

 

  • 21 people: 12 military personnel and nine civilians, were killed in SDF-held areas.

 

  • 19 people, including three children and ten fighters, were injured in the two regions.

 

Further details of these attacks can be summarised as follows:

  

  • January 22: A Turkish drone struck a house in Mamit village in the south of Ain Al-Arab city (Kobani) in the east of Aleppo, which injured a man.

 

  • April 4: A Turkish drone attacked a mechanised digger in a quarry extracting building materials in DirkaBravi village overlooking Tigris river in Al-Malikiyyah countryside in the eastern countryside of Al-Qamishli, near the Syria-Turkey border. The strikes burned the mechanised digger down.

 

  • April 16: A Turkish drone targeted a house in Albalor village in Ain Al-Arab countryside (Kobani). According to SOHR sources, the PKK leader “Abdullah Ocalan” had stayed at the targeted house when he came from Turkey to Syria more than 40 years ago. The strike caused material damage only.

 

  • July 11: A Turkish drone attacked a civilian house in Tel Rifaat city in northern Aleppo, injuring three children.

 

  • July 16: A Turkish drone targeted the outskirts of Tel Rifaat city in the northern countryside of Aleppo where Kurdish forces were deployed. No casualties were reported.

 

  • July 30: A Turkish drone targeted two civilian cars in Qomji village on the road between the cities of Ain Al-Arab (Kobani) and Aleppo in the southern countryside of Ain Al-Arab. The attack caused material damage.

 

  • August 14: A Turkish drone struck the surrounding areas of Tel Rifaat city. No casualties were reported.

 

  • August 19: A Turkish drone targeted the headquarters of the Department of Military Affairs of the SDF-backed Tel Tamr Military Council. The attack left nine military personnel, including a female commander, dead and over ten others injured.

 

  • On the same day, August 19: A Turkish drone attacked a military vehicle near Ali Faru junction on the road between Al-Qamishli and Amuda in the western countryside of Al-Qamishli. The attack resulted in the death of a commander of the Kurdish units, believed to be Iranian.

 

  • August 21: A Turkish drone fired at least one missile on a car in Sofyan farm in the south of Ain Al-Arab city (Kobani) in the eastern countryside of Aleppo. The attack caused material damage only.

 

  • August 22: A Turkish drone attacked a vehicle of the Autonomous Administration in front of an orphanage in Himo village in Al-Qamishli city in Al-Hasakah countryside, which caused material damage. According to SOHR sources, the vehicle was owned by a political Kurdish official in the Autonomous Administration.

 

  • August 25: A Turkish drone targeted a position in the Kurdish-held village of Baylouniyah in the northern countryside of Aleppo. No further details were reported about the number of casualties and material damage caused by the attack.

 

  • August 26: A Turkish drone targeted a van carrying correspondents of a local Kurdish TV channel on the road to Tel Tamr in Al-Hasakah countryside, which caused material damage only. According to SOHR sources, a group of correspondents and journalists working for Sterk TV were heading to conflict zones, before they returned when they were targeted by the drone.

 

  • September 12: A Turkish drone struck a position in Al-Hamam village controlled by the SDF-backed Mabij Military Council in north-east Manbij city in the north-eastern countryside of Aleppo. No further details were reported about the number of casualties and material damage caused by the attack.

 

  • October 14: A Turkish drone hit the SDF-controlled village of Al-Hattash in the north of Al-Raqqah. The strikes hit the vicinity of a makeshift camp in the region. At that time, SDF accused Turkish forces of attacking the camp.

 

  • October 20: A Turkish drone targeted a car in Ain Al-Arab city (Kobani) in east Aleppo countryside. According to SOHR activists, the drone struck a car of civilian cadres in the New Neighbourhood in Ain Al-Arab city, killing five people, including two officials. Before the attack, SOHR sources had reported that Turkey intended to launch a military operation in Syria, with Russia’s green light.

 

  • October 23: Three civilians were killed and four injured due to strikes by a Turkish drone which targeted a military car of SDF-backed military formations near Siran hall in Ain Al-Arab (Kobani) in the eastern Aleppo countryside.

 

  • October 28: A Turkish drone targeted farmland in the eastern part of Tel Rifaat city in north Aleppo countryside, before it was forced to withdraw from the area’s airspace due to an attack by Kurdish anti-aircraft. The drone attack caused material damage only.

 

  • November 9: A Turkish drone attacked a car in Al-Helaleya neighbourhood in Al-Qamishly city in areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration, which left three persons of “Kilu” family dead. According to SOHR sources, the targeted man was a member of SDF leadership’s advisory council, who was not in the car at the time of the attack which killed his grandfather, his brother and one of his relatives.

 

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), call upon the United Nations, UN Security Council and international community to exert pressure on the Turkish government to stop attacking civilians in Syria, especially using drones, under the pretext of “neutralizing terrorists and protecting national security”.

 

 

 

We also demand all conflicting powers in Syria comply with international law and stop involving Syrian civilians in military conflicts, as they have already been grappling with chronic crises and disastrous humanitarian situation during Syria’s protracted war which has been raging for over a decade.

 

The Syrian Observatory would like to point out that all information and figures mentioned in this report have been documented and updated until the date of publication.