One possible civilian died and up to 12 others were wounded in an alleged Turkish artillery attack on a convoy headed to Afrin from Cizire and Kobane, in eastern Syria. Many reports said that the convoy was delivery medicine to the region.
Sana (Syrian state press), reported that “Turkish forces and his mercenaries pounded a convoy of aid and fuel vehicles and civilian vehicles on the road between Nabal and Afrin in northern Aleppo, wounded and killed at least 13 civilians.”
According to the SANA correspondent in Aleppo, the artillery of the Turkish regime forces targeted more than 50 missiles, a convoy of buses, civilian vehicles, trucks carrying aid, gas cylinders and fuel tanks before arriving in the city of Afrin.
The correspondent said that the “Turkish aggression caused the death of a civilian and wounded 12 others, in addition to the destruction of a number of cars, trucks and fuel tanks, noting that the injured were taken to hospitals in the city of Afrin and the nearby town of Zahra.”
However, the Turkish army claimed that it was a military convoy. According to an article in Turk Press, the Turkish Chief of Staff announced that “Turkish forces bombed a convoy of 30-40 vehicles loaded with weapons, ammunition and terrorists belonging to the BID, PKK and Da’ash organizations. The statement issued by the Turkish General Staff said that the bombing came during the movement of the convoy and its proximity to the city by 15 km.”
The statement said that “all possible measures have been taken to avoid any harm to civilians, as is the case in the military operations carried out within the olive branch.”
However, Abuturab 313 claimed that “a military and a civilian convoy were travelling under supervision of the Syrian army.”
Daily Sabah News published an article in which the Turkish army claimed that the victims were militants. The source Almodon also reported that the strikes were against “the Popular Protection Units and the regime’s militia”, reporting that the “convoy consisted of about 100 vehicles and military vehicles, most of which were stationed in the Sheikh Maksoud neighbourhood and Aleppo neighbourhoods under the control of the Kurdish units”.
However, this was followed by a denial by the SDF Press, who said: “As the Turkish state used to fabricate and market lies, its leaders went out to the media to claim that the procession was armed, according to the Turkish president and Turkish army chief of staff.”
Video was posted by internationalist commune, who apparently were in the convoy that was targeted.
A woman gives the following testimony: “We passed the night with a family of Kobane. They shared everything with us. Early in the morning we continued our way to Afrin and some people from Kobane also join the convoy, we were almost 50 buses. We crossed the check point of the Syrian regime after several hours. In the night, when we were in the region of Afrin, we started to hear the bombing. The bombs were more and more close and at some point the convoy stopped in the middle of the road and turned off the lights. We were waiting in a line attached to the wall. Turkey started to bomb us directly and all the people started to run away. Some people were injured. We got split off around a village. Some people could reach the city center of Afrin, that was 10 km far away from where the convoy was stopped, other people couldn’t reach the city and passed the night in a house of villagers, that showed their solidarity in that difficult situation.”
The dead man was named, however, a report by the Kuridish news agency Hawar News appeared to depict what looked like a military funeral for this victim – putting into question whether he was a civilian.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
