Members of the SDF’s all-female YPJ militia in Kobani, Syria. (Biji Kurdistan, Flickr).
The region of Syrian Kurdistan (a.k.a. Rojava) endured “unprecedented” artillery shelling last week, as Syrian Arab militias aligned with Turkey struck communities along Rojava’s long border with Turkey on Monday and Tuesday. Hundreds of shells fell in over three dozen communities, killing at least 10 people and wounding 17, including 5 children. Flashpoints around Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring “buffer zone” areas in Northeast Syria were the hardest hit, including villages around Tel Tamr and Ayn Issa. Turkish artillery and mortars also targeted Tel Rifaat, a city jointly occupied by the Kurdish-led SDF and the Syrian regime army, which Turkish President Erdogan publicly announced his intention to occupy in a fourth Turkish military offensive that has yet to materialize.
Turkey also expanded its area of operations in Syria, now including Qamishli in the far east, the de-facto capital of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Two Turkish drone strikes last week killed 6 SDF personnel and a civilian around Qamishli, making August the deadliest month so far for drone strikes in Rojava after only two weeks. At least 35 people have been killed by Turkish drones in Syrian Kurdistan so far in 2022, and at least 80 injured. The SDF exposed a 3-man cell of Turkish MIT intelligence agents near Qamishli as well, which was tracking the movements of AANES government officials and reporting back to their agency in Turkey.
The drastic increase in attacks in Rojava comes at a time when almost 70% of Turks are experiencing food insecurity, with 53% telling pollsters that they are unable to make ends meet. Turkey’s economy is suffering from double-digit inflation this year, causing the Turkish Lira to flag against the US Dollar and the Euro. Turkish president Erdogan is facing a presidential election in 2023, and many analysts consider his bellicose rhetoric against Greece and Cyprus, as well as his increased military aggression in Iraq and Syria, to be attempts to shore up Turkish nationalism behind his AK party and to distract Turks from problems at home.
As incidents of war, strife, earthquakes and famines continue to mount across the Middle East, we would ask the Maranatha global community to continue in prayer for unreached people groups across the region. We pray for the schemes of the enemy to be restrained, for divine wisdom to be granted to international leaders, and for each calamity and catastrophe to open “wide, effectual doors” for laborers of the Mideast harvest fields.
Maranatha.
