ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Four Kurds were killed and two others wounded in the town of Jindires near Afrin in northwest Syria by a Turkish-backed rebel group as they were attempting to light a bonfire in celebration of Newroz, a Kurdish lawyer told Rudaw on Monday.
The victims were killed when gunmen from the Ahrar al-Sharqiya opposition militia in northwest Syria opened fire on the group as they were lighting a bonfire for the Kurdish New Year of Newroz, Hussein Naso, a Germany-based Kurdish human rights lawyer, told Rudaw’s Khalid Jamil.
Naso added that the victims belonged to the same family.
The Ahrar al-Sharqiya militia is known for various human rights violations and assassinations against Kurds in the country.
Two years ago, the US Treasury sanctioned the Turkish-backed militia group accused of assassinating Kurdish female politician Hevrin Khalaf in 2019.
The statement at the time accused the militia of having “committed numerous crimes against civilians, particularly Syrian Kurds, including unlawful killings, abductions, torture, and seizures of private property” as well as having recruited former Islamic State (ISIS) members into its ranks.
Azad Osman, a Kurdish member of Afrin Local Council, which rules the city, expressed to Rudaw later on Monday his “surprise at what these elements did, at a time when leaders of the Syrian National Army were preparing to congratulate the Kurds on the Newroz holiday tomorrow, Tuesday.”
Osman called the attack a “major crime” and said the attacker was the commander of a military brigade in Jindires.
As northwest Syria suffered from the effects of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in February that struck the region and Turkey and killed over 50,000, the Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation made its way towards Afrin and arrived with truckloads of vital aid to assist the region.
Afrin is a predominantly Kurdish area of northwestern Syria. It was largely unscathed by the country’s conflict until Turkey’s 2018 operation to oust Kurdish armed forces. The area is now under the control of Turkish-backed groups.
Updated at 10:55 pm
