Civilians were killed and wounded on Sunday in the eastern countryside of Hassakeh when forces from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdish peshmerga forces bombed the region.
Media sources confirmed the death of eight civilians, including five children, most of them members of one family, when Kurdish forces bombed the villages of Salima, Khuzaa and Wael bordering Iraq in the campaign against ISIS. The martyrs were named as the Sarhan brothers, Ahmed Khidir al-Abbas, Ali Hijab al-Abbas, Suleiman Hussein al-Abbas, and four of his children – two daughters and two sons.
Activists in Hassakeh pointed out that Kurdish forces do not distinguish between civilians and fighters in their war against ISIS. The Kurdish forces are committed to what they call the “fight against ISIS” justification, while deaths of Arab civilians residing in villages controlled by ISIS are viewed as necessary collateral damage.
In a similar context, the Kurdish forces launched an attack on Tal Maarouf, and advanced towards the villages of Farisok and Naij, amid a lack of information concerning the state of civilians in these villages. Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) also launched another attack on Lazzaqa, at-Tawil, al-Khuwaitlah and at-Tayah villages in al-Qahtaniyah region. According to activists in Hassakeh, the YPG killed Fadel Mahmoud Alayf from al-Khuwaitlah, kidnapping two more young men from the same family from at-Tayah: Raad and Mohammed Alsinjar.
Activists in the city sent distress calls on social media sites to protect the unarmed civilians in villages under ISIS control.
