A 40-year-old woman was murdered in occupied Afrin in northern Syria during an apparent robbery in her house. The perpetrators then set the building on fire. The victim was taken to a hospital, but her life could not be saved.

The murder weapon is said to have been a machete.

The brutal femicide of Ûfê Şêx Ehmed (other spelling Awfa Sheikh Ahmed) happened on Monday in the Maratê district of central Afrin, where the woman, originally from the village of Şiyûx in Raco, lived, according to local ANF sources.

Members of the Turkish-jihadist occupying forces are suspected to be behind the crime.

Afrin has been occupied by Turkey and its Islamist proxy troops for more than five years. What was once the safest region in all of Syria, which not only managed to free itself from the rule of the Baath regime in the power vacuum of the crisis, but also to establish a grassroots-democratic, ecological and gender-free form of society, is now destroyed. Everyday life is characterized by violence, strict Islamist Sharia law as well as strict order and a resettlement policy that is being tolerated by the international community.

The situation in Afrin is particularly dramatic for women and girls. Human rights groups, who work at the risk of their own lives, now document rape, sexual violence, kidnapping, ransom demands and the targeted murder of women almost every day. Afrin is an example of the consequences of long-term occupation by the Turkish army and its mercenaries.

Only a week ago, the Kurd Qedriye Elî was killed by invading troops in the canton. The femicide of the 70-year-old was committed by the "Fatih Sultan Mehmet" brigade. Mercenaries from the Turkey-loyal jihadist group fired randomly from their base in Maratê on the street, hitting the woman. She died at the scene.