The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

The number of casualties of Afrin’s massacre increases to 22 persons including 7 children as a result of the Turkish shelling on the city and the people displaced from it amid ongoing fighting in its north

The number of casualties are continuing to increase in Afrin city and its vicinity, as a result of the massacre carried out by the Turkish forces against citizens including displaced people fled from the city which is witnessing ongoing aerial and ground shelling, where it has increased to 22 at least including 7 children, the number of casualties who have been killed in the bombardment by warplanes and the Turkish ground shelling on Afrin city and the displaced people fleeing from it, raising the death toll to 249 Syrian citizens of the Kurds, Arabs and Armenians, including 43 children and 26 women, who were killed in the Turkish aerial, rocket and artillery shelling, and executions carried out against citizens in Afrin area, since the 20th of January 2018, and the shelling resulted in resulted in the injury of hundreds of citizens with varying severity. On the other hand, the displacement of citizens is still continuing from Afrin city towards areas far from the shelling and clashes and towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa, where the number of the displaced people has increased to more than 35 thousand persons until now, during the past 48 hours, amid continuation of the clashes between the YPG and the Self-Defense Forces against the Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions operating within Operation “Olive Branch”, during which they managed to advance and into new villages and take the control of more areas, while clashes are taking place in the north of Afrin city within the attempt of the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation to advance and storm the city, amid ongoing shelling on Afrin countryside, and on areas in the city, with the continuation of the tragic situation in it.

the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that fears prevails for the lives of hundreds of thousands civilians exist in the city of Afrin and nearby villages, amid calls by these civilians through the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights to the international community to move to act against the Turkish massacres that began on Wednesday the 14th of March 2018, through heavy aerial and ground shelling on the city of Afrin which witnesses  the interruption of water, electricity and communications, by the Turkish forces for the 10th consecutive day, following their control over Midanki Dam on Midanki Lake in the northern countryside of Afrin city, and the interruption of water, electricity and communications is coincided with extreme shortage of flour and fuel in Afrin area, where the lines of citizens are ongoing before the only bakery remained in the city of Afrin, to receive bread which the city lacks, also these tragic humanitarian situations forces citizens from Afrin city and its related villages, to displace to the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa through walking for long distances on foot, to reach areas in both towns located in the northern countryside of Aleppo, where citizens confirmed to the SOHR that the Turkish forces tend to each move by citizens coming out from Afrin city and its related villages of about 90 villages and one town, towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and prevent them to come out, in an attempt to force them to flee towards the controlled areas of the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation in Afrin countryside.