Screen grab from one of the videos released by Azm.
On November 20, the Turkish-backed Unified Operations Room-Azm announced that it had shelled positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern countryside of Aleppo in response to the recent rocket attack on the Turkish-occupied city of Afrin.
The rocket attack, which took place in the late hours of November 19, claimed the lives of three people, including a woman, and wounded 17 others.
Turkish officials said that the SDF-linked People’s Protection Units and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party were behind the attack, which was carried out from a Kurdish-held land pocket located to the south of Afrin.
Azm shared videos of its retaliatory strikes. The videos show Turkish-backed militants firing 122 mm Grad rockets and 107 mm Type 63 rockets at the Kurdish-held pocket.
The Unified Operations Room is a coalition within a coalition. It was founded by several factions of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in July.
The Hawar News Agency, which is close to the SDF, said that the shelling targeted the towns of Bergagas, Miyasa, Horsh Soganki, Mara’naz, Malikiyah, Shawargha, Qal’at Shawargha, Tanab, Irshadiyah and Tell Rifaat. No casualties were reported.
The timing of the deadly rocket attack on Afrin raises some serious questions. The attack, which is yet to be claimed by any side, came amid reports of a near Turkish-led military operation against the SDF in northern and northeastern Syria.
