Up to six civilians were reported killed and possibly dozens more wounded in alleged air and artillery strikes by Turkish-backed troops on YPG forces in Afrin, according to local media on the ground.
Al Jazeera reported that “Turkish artillery shelled the positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection and Protection Units in several areas of Afrin. No casualties were reported, according to news agencies close to the Kurdish protection units.”
However, other sources reported civilian casualties. According to Afrin Now, six civilians died in addition to “a fighter from the Popular Protection Units and two from the women’s protection units”. It added that seven further non-combatants were wounded.
Al Arabiya also put the death count at six, though RuMafpage was among some other sources saying that three non-combatants died.
Neveen al Dalati named one victim as Yahya Hamada, seven years-old (aged 9 according to the Red Crescent), a refugee from Idlib. Anha News also named him, but put him at nine-years-old.
According to Afrin Anha, a pro-Kurdish source, “Turkish aircraft bombarded the region of Afrin with dozens of missiles and dozens wounded in the ranks of civilians”. It published an image of a badly wounded child, covered with blood, with the caption “Is this child a terrorist, Erdogan you dog!”
Additionally, the source named the injured civilians [listed below]. It went on to add that “the child Botan Mustapha, who suffers from diabetes, suffered a deteriorating psychological condition which has impacted his health” and that “according to the nursing staff at Afrin Hospital all the civilians are in a precarious condition after being seriously injured in different parts of the body, especially the children Yahia Hamada and Khaled Hamada.”
However, the Shaam News Network claimed that the images published by Afrin Anha and “media sites close to SDF forces in the Afrin area” were not from this incident but “dated to the bombing of the Assad forces in Aleppo in 2016. The pictures were inside Al Quds hospital in the neighborhood of al Sukkari [in Aleppo] at the time.”
Further research by Airwars revealed that the graphic image of the wounded child, which Free Afrin also claimed was from this event, was in fact published by the website stj-sy.com and referred to an casualty incident in Atarib, Aleppo in November 2017.
By way of explanation, Shaam added that “the official media and media allied to the SDF forces is playing on the civilian card to highlight Turkish aircraft and artillery targeting civilian areas. The purpose is to mobilize local and global public opinion for the SDF forces with the start of the military operation in the area Afrin”.
The source Free Anha published a number of pictures of “civilians” being treated in a medical facility. However, caution is also required with these images: the Turkish website Sanalbasin claimed that the people depicted were not civilians but were Kurdish fighters.
Al Bab Coordination committee published a list of the “targets bombed and destroyed by Turkish air force”:
‘Brigade 137
Headquarters of Meng airport
Malikiya checkpoint
Maranaz checkpoint
Shuraga checkpoint
Al Qadi farm HQ
Mount Barsaya
Qibar Artillery positions
Headquarters in the vicinity of Tel Rifaat
Headquarters in the vicinity of Afrin
Ain Dukna headquarters
Headquarters and fighters in the area of Bulbul’
It added that “The Turkish army’s operations room announced that the air force had carried out 112 air raids on positions of the terrorist militias in Afrin and its environs on 2018/1/20”.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
