A rocket attack on a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters killed six civilians and wounded more than a dozen people on Thursday, Syrian rescuers and a war monitor said.
Both blamed US-backed Syrian-Kurdish forces for the attack.
The town of Afrin has been under control of Turkey and its allied Syrian opposition fighters since 2018, following a Turkey-backed military operation that pushed Syrian-Kurdish fighters and thousands of Kurdish residents from the area.
Since then, Afrin and surrounding villages have been the site of attacks on Turkish and Turkey-backed targets.
Ankara considers Kurdish fighters who control a portion of Syrian territory along Turkey’s border to be terrorists, allied with Kurdish insurgents within Turkey.
Turkey has carried out three military offensives into Syria, mostly to drive the Syrian-Kurdish militia away from its border.
The White Helmets, a Syrian civil defence group operating in opposition-held areas, said the rockets also caused a fire in a residential area of Afrin which its volunteers put out.
In a White Helmet video, rescuers are seen pulling a burnt, lifeless body from a damaged building as others are putting out a raging fire that left a couple of vehicles charred.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war-monitoring group, put the death toll at six, saying two children were among those killed and that 30 people were wounded.
Syrian-Kurdish fighters were allied with the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIS militants who captured a third of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
ISIS was defeated and Kurdish forces have since created an autonomous administration in north-eastern Syria, where a small US force is still based.
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An aerial view of the snow-covered Al Zaytoun camp near the city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, where about 600 tents are set up. All photos: Moawia Atrash / The National -
A child plays with a snowman at Al Zaytoun camp north of Aleppo. -
A tent in Al Zaytoun camp in northern Syria that was destroyed after large amounts of snow fell on it. -
A child stands next to his brother at the entrance to their tent as they look at the snow in the camp. -
Khadija Suleiman, 50, displaced from the southern countryside of Aleppo, has 7 children. She said that before they were displaced, they did not feel winter because they had warm houses and money. But now that they live in tents, their financial situation is difficult and they are afraid of what is to come during the winter. -
A displaced Syrian child walks near his tent and eats the snow that fell on the camp. -
A child and her sister try to cover their tent, which was destroyed by a snowstorm in northern Syria. -
A child makes snowballs and throws them inside the camp. -
Bader Shehadeh, 50, displaced from rural Idlib, has 6 children. He said he has been displaced for 8 years and his family had been moving from one place to another before settling in the camp, where they suffer from the bitter cold. Before the war, he loved when it snowed, but now it is very difficult to deal with. -
An elderly displaced Syrian woman removes snow in front of her tent. -
A displaced child carrying a piece of snow walks next to his sister through the camp in northern Syria. -
Aerial view of tents covered with snow in Al Zaytoun camp in the northern countryside of Aleppo. -
A Syrian woman scrapes snow from her destroyed tent after a snowstorm. -
Faisal, 13, scrapes snow off his tent. He says he loves snow and playing in it with his friends, but the winter has become a tragedy for his family as their tent was destroyed in the storm. In his home village, he used to have fun when it snowed, but now he is sad.
Also on Thursday, the Kurdish-led forces reported an attempted escape from a prison in north-eastern Syria that holds ISIS militants.
The report says that the militants first started to riot inside Gerwan prison in the city of Hassakeh, which houses about 3,000 prisoners.
This was followed by a car bomb, which was detonated at a site for storing and distributing petroleum products close to the prison. After this, clashes ensued with security forces in the area.
The Observatory said the US-led coalition provided air cover for the Kurdish-led forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
An SDF spokesman, Farhad Shami, said it was not immediately possible to confirm if anyone had escaped from the prison. He said dozens of ISIS militants who tried to attack the prison were hiding in neighbourhoods nearby.
An SDF statement said the militants were believed to be hiding in residential homes and a security cordon was imposed on the area. It added that the riots in the prison were under control.
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Turkish soldiers at an observation post in the town of Binnish, Idlib. AFP -
A convoy of Turkish vehicles carrying tanks destined for Syria, near the town of Kilis in Turkey. AP -
US soldiers patrol the front line between areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces and Turkey-backed fighters near the village of Dardara in Syria's north-east Hasakeh province on December 26, 2021. AFP -
Turkish and US military vehicles on patrol along the Syrian-Turkish border near Tel Abyad, Syria. Reuters -
A Free Syrian Army oldier at a checkpoint near the Syrian village of Jandaris in the countryside of Afrin, along the wall on the northern border with Turkey, on December 18, 2021. AFP -
Syrian opposition fighters during training at a camp in the Turkish-controlled north-west city of Azaz, Syria. AP Photo -
Mourners prepare a grave for a fighter from the pro-Turkish Hamza Division Syrian rebel group killed in a Russian air raid. The strikes hit a school used as a military base outside the north Syria town of Afrin. AFP -
Mourners at the funeral and burial of fighters from the Hamza Division Syrian rebel group who were killed in the air raids. AFP -
A Syrian fighter near the town of Tal Hajar in northern Aleppo province, a few kilometres from areas controlled by a Kurdish-led coalition. AFP -
US forces are co-ordinating with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to combat ISIS extremists and deter pro-Iran militias. AFP -
Turkish soldiers on a bridge overlooking a section of the M4 motorway that links the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Latakia. AFP -
A Russian fighter jet after being shot down near the Turkish-Syrian border. The Sukhoi Su-24 was reportedly downed by Turkish forces, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported, after the jet encroached into Turkish airspace and ignored warnings. EPA -
Syrian regime troops on the outskirts of the northern Syrian border town of Kobane after a deal struck with Kurdish authorities during a Turkish offensive. AFP -
Syrian civilians in Idlib who fled Russian and regime bombardment south of the governorate to areas nearer to the Turkish border to the north, which are considered relatively safer. AFP
Kurdish authorities run more than two dozen detention facilities scattered across north-eastern Syria that hold about 10,000 ISIS fighters. Among the detainees are about 2,000 foreigners.
The Kurdish-led forces, backed by the US-led coalition, declared a military victory against ISIS in 2019 after seizing control of the last sliver of land the militants controlled in south-east Syria.
Since then, Kurdish authorities have asked countries to repatriate their nationals, saying keeping thousands in crammed facilities is putting a strain on their forces. Prison riots are not uncommon.
