The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) issued a statement announcing the martyrdom of 29 fighters as a result of Turkish attacks and declaring a 3-day mourning.

AANES stated that the Turkish state, which has been targeting the North-East Syrian territories for years, has escalated its attacks against the region in recent days, seeking to create chaos and destruction and to prevent the fight against terrorism by the people and their military and security forces.

The Autonomous Administration said that the Turkish state last night, October 8, carried out bloody attacks on several locations in Derik and Rimelan, including the Anti-Drug Forces Academy that works to protect society from the repercussions of drugs, as well as oil fields and civilian areas. The aggression also targeted the agricultural projects in the Dirbesiye countryside, and a number of workers were injured.

Yesterday’s and today’s attacks resulted in the martyrdom of 29 members of the Anti-Drug Forces, and the wounding of 28 others, some of them seriously, according to the statement.

The statement further included the following:

“This aggression comes in light of the international silence against the massacres committed by Turkey in our regions despite our previous warnings since the beginning of the aggression that continued international silence would encourage Turkey to commit more massacres, like what happened last night.

As this silence and turning a blind eye to what is happening increases the arrogance of the fascist regime, public opinion should act with moral responsibility regarding the acts of this regime against our people and our regions and abstain from the policy of hypocrisy.Turkey is exploiting the current developments in the region and, in parallel, carrying out massacres and targeting our people and our regions without any deterrent.

We, in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, condemn the Turkish crimes that are being committed in front of the whole world. We affirm that the accompanying international silence is considered clear support for Turkey in its aggression against our people. International powers should take a firm stand against Turkey’s violations against our safe areas, our people and our military forces, which made thousands of sacrifices in the fight against ISIS and terrorism and contributed to protecting the entire world from ISIS and its criminal plans. Unfortunately, the international community today stands by and watches as these people are subjected to extermination by the forces that supported ISIS.

We will continue to protect our people and their gains, and we remain committed to our right to legitimate defense to protect the achievements of our people’s democratic revolution, the will of our society and its insistence on living with dignity.

Denouncing this brutal aggression, we declare 3 days of general mourning for the souls of the martyrs of the Turkish aggression.”