Three people killed in drone attack in Syria

Yesterday, a Turkish fighter drone attacked a vehicle near the village of Til Shair in Northern Syria, on the main road to the east from Qamishli. Three of the four car occupants – members of the Kurdish-Christian minority group of the Assyrian-Aramaic – were killed, and one person was severely injured. According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the three women and one man were civilians, members of the Autonomous Self Government of Northern and Eastern Syria.

“During my stay in Northern Syria a few weeks ago, I drove by there several times. The Turkish attacks can hit just about anyone. They are causing a massive sense of insecurity among members of all ethnic groups and religious denominations – forcing them to go on the run, also to Germany and the rest of Europe,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Consultant of the Society for Threatened Peoples, on Wednesday in Göttingen. “The attack took place against the background of the negotiations in the framework of the so-called Astana process, which are currently taking place in the Kazakh capital. The deputy foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Russia, and Iran are meeting up coordinate joint actions against the AANES.” 

NATO member Turkey is dependent on help or at least acquiescence of the regimes in Syria, Iran, and Russia in order to crush the Kurdish-led AANES and to drive as many Kurdish people and the last remaining Armenians, Assyrian-Aramaic, Christians, and Yazidis out of the region. “The majority of the Kurds and the various other minority groups are an obstacle to Erdogan’s Islamist ambitions of expanding Turkey to parts of Syria. The regimes in Syria, Iran, and Russia would like to get rid of these people as well,” Sido recalled. “Kurdish forces have been cooperating with the United States in the anti-IS-coalition for years. However, the US are unwilling or unable – despite the troops in the region and control over the airspace – to protect the Kurdish people from Turkish attacks. Erdogan is a NATO ally, and the aim is to keep him happy – even at the expense of others.” 

“One of the victims of the attack near Til Shair was the Kurdish woman Yousra Darwish. I met her in in the course of my many visits to Northern Syria. As far as I know, she never carried a weapon. She studied French literature at the University of Aleppo, earned her degree, and moved to her hometown Amuda together with her husband and their children. Later, after the Syrian uprising began, she focused on education and training in Amuda an in all of Northern Syria,” Sido reported. 

This was the 21st Turkish drone attack on the territory of the AANES this year. All in all, 30 people were killed and 17 were injured in these attacks.