Late Sunday night ten members of a single family were killed between the villages of Qomji and Barkh Botan outside of Kobani. The dead include a man and woman and their eight children. The only surviving member of the Othman Abdo family, a 9 nine year old girl, was severely injured and transported to the local hospital, with her 18 year old sister who later died from her injuries.
The official press of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) published a statement calling this massacre retaliation for the Turkish army’s failures to achieve their military objectives in northern Syria. Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militias have been attacking military and civilian targets in northern Syria with Turkish drone support since December, when Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, a rebel group from Idlib, swept down and took control of Damascus in a lightning offensive. Since then, SNA and Turkish military have been attacking the regions in the north controlled by the SDF on multiple fronts.
This attack comes on the heels of a significant agreement between the SDF and the newly constituted Syrian interim government in Damascus to integrate military forces, which was mediated by the United States. Despite this progress towards peace in Syria, Turkey has intensified its attacks on the northeast, targeting both civilians, including children, and military personnel.
This post has been updated to reflect additional casualties.