Kurds near Turkey border dread fresh offensive
ASHMA, Syria: Chimo Osman’s children stopped going to school after Turkish shelling struck his home in northeastern Syria, where Kurdish residents fear another military onslaught is imminent.
In recent days, cross-border Turkish artillery fire has targeted positions held by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main Kurdish militia in Syria.
Ankara sees the de-facto autonomous rule set up by Syrian Kurds as an encouragement to the separatists of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has close ties to the YPG.
The village of Ashma is nestled in olive groves in the region of Kobane and directly looks out onto the Turkish flags and wire fencing that mark the demarcation line.
The streets of this village and others along the border are empty: “We can’t even venture on the roof anymore,” said Osman.
“We don’t leave the house, the kids are scared,” said the 38-yearold, standing on the steps leading to his front door, with his five children huddled around him.
Nobody can predict when the Turkish forces stationed on the other side of the border will open fire, he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on October 30 that plans for an assault were complete and vowed to “destroy” the YPG, which he considers a terrorist organisation.
One salvo punched a large hole in the second floor of Osman’s house and several other homes in the village were damaged by Turkish fire.
Five YPG fighters and a child have been killed in Turkish shelling that has in recent days mostly targeted Kurdish positions in the Kobane and Tal Abyad areas, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The YPG is the backbone of an outfit known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is the Usled coalition’s main local ally in its battle against the IS group.
To protest against the Turkish attacks, SDF forces late last month announced they were suspending their involvement in military operations against one of the very last militant pockets in eastern Syria.