An explosion took place on Sunday in the northern Syrian canton capital Afrin, which was occupied by Turkish troops and jihadist allies.

The explosion was caused by the detonation of a motorcycle mounted explosive device in the neighborhood of Mahmudiyah. The explosion site is located near the old customs office on the road leading to Rajo. Amid reports of casualties, the area was sealed off by jihadists.

The occupation of Afrin

On January 20, 2018, the Turkish military invasion began in Afrin under the name "Operation Olive Branch". The people of Afrin had previously made great efforts to stay out of the war in the region, which had been raging since 2011, and to build a grass-roots organized and therefore liberal, democratic, emancipatory and secular society.

During the war in Syria (2013-2017), hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people were received and cared for in the Afrin region. The people who provided shelter to those, are today refugees themselves. While hundreds of thousands of people had to flee Afrin because of the occupation, about 100,000 people remained in the city and surrounding area.

On 18 March 2018 Afrin was captured by Turkish troops and Islamist militias and has since been occupied. The aggressive war of Turkey brought civilian suffering, violence, displacement and assimilation attempts to this day. At least 173,000 Afrin refugees still live in temporary camps in the Shehba canton located between Aleppo and Afrin. These people have been cut off from the outside world since March 2018 yet they do not give up hope of returning.