Shooting, bombs kill 13 in Syria

BEIRUT – One Syrian was killed on Sunday and four were injured after Kurdish security forces opened fire at pro-government demonstrators in a northeastern city, state media said.

The state news agency SANA said the Kurdish forces opened fire at demonstrators protesting the siege on their neighborhood in Hassakeh city. Government forces control the area.

Separately, two car bombs went off two hours apart in the northwestern town of Azaz and another village some 30 miles away. The explosions in the areas controlled by Syrian opposition fighters allied with Turkey killed six civilians, including one child in Azaz, and six fighters at a checkpoint in a village near the town of al-Bab, first responders known as Syrian Civil Defense and opposition media reported.

Turkey and allied Syrian fighters control large parts of northern Syria and are at odds with government forces and Kurdish-led forces, who are considered terrorists by Ankara.

The opposition-controlled areas are the scenes of recurrent attacks that are rarely claimed by any one side. The Syrian Civil Defense said it responded to 11 explosions in northwestern Syria since the start of January, before Sunday, in which at least 11 people died.

A video of the rally in Hassakeh showed dozens of men gathering in a street as fire rang out over their heads. The men began chanting: “With our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you, Bashar,” in reference to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A Kurdish-run news agency, Hawar, said security forces at a checkpoint in the city had come under fire, prompting its members to respond.