The Turkish military launched a major air assault on North and East Syria on the night of November 19, 2022, going into the morning of the 20th. The scale of the attack was unprecedented since the Turkish invasion of the region in October 2019, when  the Turkish military occupied the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn.

Airstrikes struck military and civilian sites across the entire Turkey-Syria border region, with the towns of Kobani, Derik, Darbasiyah, Tal Rifaat, and Ayn Issa each being hit several times, inflicting dozens of casualties and significant material damage.

The head of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ Media Center stated that 31 people were killed, including  11 civilians, of whom one was a journalist, one fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces, 15 Syrian Army soldiers, and two guards who were on duty at grain silos in the Dahir al-Arab area. 

Grain silos near Darbasiyah damaged in Turkish airstrikes.

The civilians were killed at the Teqil Beqil Power Station. Some were workers killed in the first Turkish airstrike on the site, and others were among the first responders to the area who were hit by a second Turkish airstrike on the same location.

Ruins of the Teqil Beqil Power Station near Derik, NES. This was the second time the Turkish Air Force targeted the site, having previously struck it with F-16 fighter jets in February 2022.

The Syrian Army soldiers were posted at joint SDF-Syrian Army positions on the Turkish-Syrian border under a military agreement that is intended to discourage Turkish military operations. 

Those killed in the Teqil Beqil airstrikes in November 2022, including a journalist.

The SDF condemned the attack and called on the international community, including the ceasefire guarantors of Russia and the United States, to uphold their responsibility in preventing Turkey from violating Syria’s sovereignty and destabilizing the region, thus threatening the gains made in the fight against the Islamic State.