A public demonstration in Syrian Kurdistan against the Turkish drone strike that killed 4 young schoolgirls near Hasakah (via North Press Agency).
Funerals and demonstrations were held across Syrian Kurdistan (a.k.a. Rojava) over the weekend after a Turkish drone strike killed four young schoolgirls last Thursday near the town of Haskalah. Rania Eta, Zozan Zedan, Dilan Ezedin, and Diyana Elo were killed while playing volleyball outside of a UN-sponsored education center. Eleven other girls were injured in the attack. Survivors of the strike described a hellish scene: “We heard a drone and suddenly it attacked us. There was blood all over the place and we kept hearing explosives and piercing screams…There was so much fear, witnessing our friends being covered in blood, being burned, calling for their mums and suffering in pain. It was awful.”
The Educational Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) released a statement on Sunday announcing details of the strike, which occurred in the village of Shamoka between the towns of Haskalah and Tel Tamr. Shamoka is located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the border of Turkey, outside of the 30 km “buffer zone” that Turkey seeks to create along its border inside Syria. There was no reported activity of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the area at the time. The largest US Coalition military base in Syria is located nearby the UN school. The educational center where the girls were killed is part of a UN cooperative effort with the SDF to demobilize child soldiers inside Syria. The four girls had previously been members of the all-female Kurdish YPJ militia, but had been enrolled in the educational program as a means of transitioning them back to civilian life. The YPJ has stopped recruiting girls under 18 for combat roles, but girls aged 15-17 are still eligible to join the militia for non-combat, supporting roles.
Ilham Ahmad, the co-president of the Syrian Democratic Committee (SDC), released a public statement strongly condemning the attack, claiming that Turkey intentionally targets Kurdish civilians, and warning that “Turkish escalation increases the chances of reviving ISIS terrorism in Syria and the region.” The SDC is the democratically-elected leadership of the AANES, which was formed in 2015 as the governing body of the people of Rojava. US Maj. General John Brennan also released a statement on behalf of the US Coalition in Syria in which he condemned the drone strike and described it as “contrary to the laws of armed conflict.” The statement did not name the Turkish military as the responsible party.
Deadly, targeted attacks on children have a profound effect on the collective psyche of the people of Syrian Kurdistan. We invite the Maranatha global family to join us in praying that the God of all Comfort would direct his children to bring comfort to the grieving families and friends of those lost. We pray that the injured students would fully recover. We pray that the schemes of those responsible for this attack would be thwarted and that bloodthirsty aggressors would be turned back in failure. And as always, we pray that this tragedy would open “wide, effectual doors” for Good News of great joy in Northeast Syria.
Maranatha.
Sources: