Late on April 3, the Turkish military shelled several areas west of the border town of Tell Abyad in the northern Raqqa countryside.
The shelling, which targeted the towns of Afdko, Kubrlk and Khaz’ali, killed two Syrian service members and injured a third, according to the Hawar News Agency (ANHA). The Kurdish Syrian agency released a video of the injured soldier.
Earlier this week, the Turkish military shelled a checkpoint of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the northern al-Hasakah countryside, killing an officer and a soldier. Two army officers were injured in a similar artillery strike on military positions near Manbij city in northern Aleppo.
Turkish artillery strikes on northern and northeastern Syria are certainly taking a toll on SAA troops. Both regions are covered by ceasefire agreements, which were brokered by Russia and Turkey.
The strikes have been so far focused on Syrian troops deployed in areas held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). These troops managed, with the help of the Russian Military Police, to stop many Turkish attacks on these areas over the last two years.
The Turkish military and its proxies will likely carry out more attacks on SAA troops in northern and northeastern Syria in the upcoming few weeks. The army is not showing any response to these hostile acts.
