At least 21 people, including minors, were killed in two separate incidents in a flare-up of violence along Syria’s northern border with Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Friday.
The attacks come against a backdrop of heightened tensions between the Kurdish-led and regime-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish forces.
The victims were killed in two separate incidents: one in Al-Bab, controlled by Syrian factions loyal to Turkey in northeast Aleppo; and the other near Hasakeh in the northeast of the country, held by the SDF.
In Al-Bab, “artillery fire by pro-regime forces into a market killed 17 civilians, including six children, and injured 35 others,” the SOHR said.
FFDS spokesman Farhad Shami said his forces had “nothing to do” with the attack.
An AFP correspondent watched as residents and rescue personnel scrambled to evacuate the injured amid destroyed fruit and vegetable stalls.
In Hasakeh, the autonomous Kurdish administration reported that a Turkish bombardment had “killed four children and injured 11 others” by hitting “a closed center for minors at night.”
The OSDH confirmed this balance.
Turkey has been threatening an offensive since May against Kurdish forces that control much of northeastern Syria, embroiled in a war that has left half a million dead and millions of refugees and displaced since 2011.
Since July, Turkish drones have been attacking areas controlled by the SDF, considered “terrorist” by Ankara, according to the SOHR and Turkish representatives.
However, quoted on Friday in Turkish media, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that he “had no interest” in Syrian territory.
And that Turkey wanted to “move to a new stage” with the Damascus regime, since the improvement of relations would strengthen peace in the region.
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