South Front
On June 17, the Turkish military and its proxies renewed shelling on Kurdish-held areas in the northern Syrian governorate of Aleppo.
A series of artillery strikes targeted the town of Tell Rifaat and nearby areas, according to the Hawar News Agency, which is linked to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and several other sources.
The Syrian Arab Army and the Russian Military Police both maintain positions in Tel Rifaat as a part of a de-escalation agreement that was reached more than four years ago.
Tell Rifaat’s hospital was hit during the shelling. At least civilians were wounded as a result. Two of them are said to be in a life-threatening conduction.
Earlier this week, the Turkish military and its proxies launched a series of artillery and drone strikes in the northern Aleppo countryside.
The escalation began on June 11, when a Turkish drone strike killed three fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the core faction of the SDF, and wounded two others in the northern Aleppo countryside. The SDF responded with a rocket attack that targeted the Jibreen base area in the Turkish-occupied part of the northern Aleppo countryside as well as the Oncupinar region in southern Turkey.
The rocket attack didn’t cause any casualties. However, in the following four days at least 14 Turkish drone strikes and dozens of artillery strikes hit the outskirts of the towns of Manbij and Tell Rifaat as well as the southern part of the Afrin area.
Hawar said that the strikes had claimed the lives of a total of 21 people, including three fighters of the YPG, eight others from the Manbij Military Council (MMC), an Arab faction of the SDF, as well as nine Syrian soldiers and a civilian. Two fighters of the YPG, three from the MMC, six soldiers and at least nine civilians, including two children, were also wounded.
Last year, Turkey threatened the SDF with a large-scale offensive against Manbij and Tel Rifaat. However, pressure from the United States, the main backer of the SDF, and Russia prevented Ankara from going on with its military plans.
The new round of escalation in the northern Aleppo countryside comes as senior diplomats from Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria are preparing to meet in Astana on June 21 to discuss the Turkish-Syrian normalization process.
Damascus insists that all Turkish forces should withdraw from Syrian territory before relations are fully restored between the two neighboring countries. However, Ankara says that its military presence is important to combat Kurdish forces in the northern and eastern regions.
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