ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey and the armed Syrian groups it backs struck a village near the north Syria town of Tal Abyad (Gire Spi) on Tuesday morning, according to a local news outlet, amid sustained shelling across the area by Ankara and its proxy allies. Tuesday's bombardment targeted Kor Hassan village west of Gire Spi, reported Hawar News Agency (ANHA), a news outlet affiliated with the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES). Turkish-backed militias struck several villages in Gire Spi on Monday, wounding a number of civilians, according the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Turkish and Turkish-backed force artillery strikes targeted several villages west of the north Syrian town of Ain Issa on Sunday, ANHA also reported. Turkish troops and the armed groups they back have set up five military bases in Ain Issa and Gire Spi, said ANHA, while Turkish artillery has struck the same two areas for several days, according to SOHR. Ankara and its Syrian proxies launched a military operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controlled the north of the country in October 2019, seizing control of a stretch of territory including Sari Kani and Gire Spi. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced by the offensive. Sari Kani and Gire Spi now lie at opposite ends of a resulting ‘buffer zone’ under the control of Turkish-backed militias. October's invasion, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, was halted following international outcry and the signing of ceasefire agreements by Ankara with the US and Russia. However, a Turkish airstrike of the northern Syrian town of Kobane last month killed at least three civilian women.
