Several missiles hit the center of occupied Afrin. The shelling occurred at around 2 p.m. local time (1 p.m. CET) on Sunday. Video footage shows clouds of smoke rising from various points in the city in northern Syria.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to local sources from the Rojava-based ANHA news agency, Syrian regime forces are believed to be responsible for the shelling. Damascus has not yet commented.

Artillery attacks during the night

Afrin was already targeted by artillery attacks last night. The Turkish occupation forces and their jihadist mercenaries bombed the villages of Aqibe, Soxaneke and Bênê in Şêrawa district, as well as Eyn Deqnê and Bêlûniyê in Şera district and the villages of Til Rifet, Dêr Cemal, Şêx Îsa, Şeala Xirbet Şeala, Ziwîyan, Siroc, Nêrebiyê and Radar in the neighboring canton of Şehba. Simultaneous to the impacting shells, reconnaissance drones were observed over the attacked areas. Information on the impact of the attacks is not available.

Human rights violations in Afrin

The formerly self-governing canton of Afrin, which included the canton's capital of the same name, has been occupied by Turkey since March 2018. Since the beginning of the attack two months earlier in violation of international law, human rights violations and war crimes have been on the agenda in what was once the safest region in all of Syria. Turkey continues to practice a policy of ethnic cleansing in addition to a classic colonial policy that has already driven hundreds of thousands of people from their ancestral settlements. The demographic shift in favor of Turkey and its Islamist invasion corps SNA, crimes such as kidnapping, torture, extortion and murder, as well as ongoing artillery attacks happen on a daily basis and with the de facto approval of the international community.