The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Afrin protests expand | Protestors head to Idlib, asking HTS to enter Jendires

Aleppo province: SOHR sources have reported that protests in Afrin, which followed the bloody attack on a Kurdish family which left four civilians dead and three others injured, have expanded. Afrin residents set fire in different areas in Ma’batli and Jendires, denouncing the attack which was carried out by Turkish-backed militiamen and demanding handing over of the perpetrators.

 

In this context, the leader of “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah,” Hatem Al-Shaqraa who has been sanctioned by international authorities, has denounced the attack, describing it as “cowardly.” The faction’s leader also stressed that the perpetrators did not belong to “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah.”

 

On the other hand, a group of demonstrators, the victims’ relatives, headed from Jendires to Atmah in vehicles of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham, where HTS checkpoints are deployed in Jendires, calling for the entry of HTS to Jendires and asking to meet with HTS command.

 

SOHR sources have just reported that residents of Jendires district staged a demonstration against Turkish-backed factions following the latest bloody attack on a family who were celebrating Nowruz, where the attack left seven casualties.

 

The demonstrators called for expulsion of Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah faction from Jendires district, along with chanting a slogan in Kurdish, which means “freedom.”

 

SOHR sources in the western countryside of Jendires had reported seeing members of the military police and a group affiliated to “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah” faction led by “Hassan Al-Dab’a” in high alert following gunfire by members of “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah” on Kurdish civilians who were setting fire to celebrate Nowruz.

 

Meanwhile, the military forces blocked roads to western Jendires.

 

According to SOHR sources, a group of young people set fire in front of their house in Al-Sena’a street, as a part of ritual practiced by the Kurds during Nowruz celebrations, before members of the Turkish-backed “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah” started a verbal altercation with the Kurdish civilians, degraded the Kurdish-symbolic feast of Nowruz and opened fire on them, killing three and injuring four others of the same family.

 

SOHR sources have just reported that six Kurdish civilians from Haykaja village in Jendires were killed and injured in gunfire by Turkish-backed militiamen of “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah” in the 16th Street in Jendires, while a group of civilians were setting fire to celebrate Nowruz.