The Turkish army and allied jihadist forces, which occupied Afrin in 2018, launched a wave of attacks on a forest area in Sherawa district on Monday. The starting point of the attacks, some of which are ongoing, is the occupation zone of the Turkish army and its jihadist auxiliary forces. According to sources from the region, a considerable part of the approximately twelve square kilometre forest between the villages of Soxanekê and Eqîbê is in flames as a result of massive artillery strikes.  Effective fire-fighting measures could not be taken due to continued attacks. Over 50 mortars and howitzer shells have hit the region so far.

On the other hand, an unmanned combat drone of the Turkish state shelled the vicinity of the Bênê village in Sherawa district twice. Reports are coming through of ongoing aerial activity over the region.

Sherawa is located in the south-east of the Afrin region and is surrounded by the Syrian regime and Turkish-occupied territory. The district is not completely occupied by Turkey. Areas in the east bordering the neighbouring town of Tel Rifat in the canton of Shehba are self-governing despite the permanent attacks by Turkey and its Islamist militias.

The formerly self-governing canton of Afrin has been occupied by Turkey since March 2018. Since the beginning of the aggression two months earlier, which was contrary to international law, human rights violations and war crimes have been on the agenda in what was once the safest region in all of Syria. In addition to a classic colonial policy, Turkey also practices a policy of ethnic cleansing, which has already driven hundreds of thousands of people from their ancestral settlement areas. The demographic change in favour of Turkey and its Islamist invasion troops, crimes such as kidnappings, torture, extortion and murders, as well as continuous artillery attacks, happen every day and with the de facto approval of the international community.