The Turkish occupation army and allied mercenaries have fired over 100 mortar shells on 11 villages in the northern Syrian district of Til Temir since early this morning. The attacks left many civilians injured, and also caused material damage to the houses and properties of the residents.

The targets of Sunday’s attacks by the occupation forces included the village of Dirdara to the north of Til Temir, the Assyrian village of Til Şenan to the northeast of the district, the power plant to the north of Til Temir, and residents of the Til Cuma village.

Continued attacks also targeted Til Temir district center, the village of Qesir Tûma Yilda, Lower and Upper Xêbîşa villages, the village of Tewila, M4 highway, and the village of El-Ebûş. The mentioned villages were targeted by more than 100 mortar shells, missiles and cannon balls.

The attacks injured three farmers working in their field near the village of Til Cuma earlier today. The farmers, identified as Lûey Xelîl Hemad (20), Ridwan Tirkî El-Tihêmî (30) and Eymen Elî El-Ehmed (25), were taken to Şehit Lêgerîn Hospital in Til Temir.

While Turkish UAV activity in the region has continued since Saturday morning, the Russian forces deployed to the region as guarantor force maintain their silence in the face of the attacks that also targeted the vicinity of their base near the power plant.

The history of Til Temir

The Khabur river extends along the Khabur valley in the northeast of Syria. Here, where the town of Til Temir (Kurdish name: Girê Xurma), a reflection of the population mosaic of Syria, is located, the Nestorians - Assyrians from (Hakkari - who had fled to northern Iraq during the genocide of Christians in the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1918, settled in 1933. The League of Nations in Geneva awarded them the settlement area. Their second exodus was preceded by the Simele massacre: some 9000 Assyrians, mainly men and young people, were murdered in various villages in the Duhok region. The village of Simele, which was particularly affected, gave its name to this genocide. There, under the leadership of the Iraqi military, some 350 people died.

The Assyrians from Hakkari founded 33 villages in the flat valley of the Khabur, while Chaldean Christians settled in another three villages. Before the beginning of the Syrian war in 2011, about 20,000 Assyrian Christians were still living here. In almost every village there was a church. Now there are not even 1,000 people left. Because of the jihadists, almost all the inhabitants have fled abroad, most of them going to Canada, Australia or the US. Some of the villages are completely empty. Those who stayed are mostly elderly people. Also, several hundred internally displaced persons from other regions of the country now live in Til Temir.