Northern Syria: Turkish Shelling Kills 2, Injures 8, Russian Airstrikes Injure Others

Two people were killed and eight were wounded on Tuesday by Turkish artillery targeting homes and workshops controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the countryside of Syria’s northern province of Hasakah, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. SDF retaliated by shelling villages controlled by Turkish troops and Turkish-allied rebel forces in Hasakah, the London-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Also on Tuesday, Russia launched four separate airstrikes in an area of northwest Syria that includes camps for displaced people, The New Arab reported. The Russian planes struck the outskirts of the village of Kalbet in Idlib province, a volunteer for The White Helmets, officially known as Syria Civil Defense, told The New Arab’s Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. Kalbet and several camps for internally displaced people are located near Bab al-Hawa, a crossing on the Syria-Turkey border, the only remaining aid route into northwest Syria. An unknown number of people, including an elderly woman, were injured in the raid, the civil defense volunteer said. Eyewitnesses reported that women and children hiding in tents in the camps were hit by shrapnel, while others took shelter under trees and behind rocks.

More than half a million people have died due to the 11-year civil war. Russia’s military involvement in support of Bashar Assad’s rule began in 2015.