afrinpost– Exclusive
In a concerning incident, a child was injured on July 13th in a shooting incident carried out by members of the “Suqour al-Shamal” militia in the village of Hupka, in the Rajo sub-district of occupied Afrin.
According to our correspondent, “Suqour al-Shamal” militants opened fire in celebration of the return of “Abdulqader Al-Zurba” from pilgrimage. Al-Zurba is the brother of the sector leader in the brigade, known as “Abu Abdullah Al-Zurba” in the Rajo sub-district. The gunfire resulted in injuries to a child’s hand and leg.
With the presence of numerous armed militias, security chaos, and the widespread availability of weapons among IDPs, the occupied region of Afrin frequently witnesses incidents of random shootings, with civilians, mostly children, falling victim.
On May 28, 2023, several civilians, including children, were injured when stray bullets fell on their heads in the occupied city of Afrin following the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory in the Turkish presidential elections.
In mid-April 2022, an elderly Kurdish woman named “Sultana Sido,” in her sixties, was shot in the foot by a stray bullet while in the courtyard of her home in the village of Tarnada, located in the center of Afrin.
Similarly, on August 25, 2022, a Kurdish citizen named “Rihanah Omar Mohammed” (70 years old) lost her life due to a stray bullet that struck her while she was working in the courtyard of her home in the village of Janjaliya, in the Rajo sub-district of occupied Afrin, northern Syria.
It is worth mentioning that “Abu Abdullah Al-Zurba” is one of the leaders of the “Suqour al-Shamal” militia in Hupka village, known for his record of violations. He prevents anyone from entering the forests of Mount Hawar, aiming to monopolize the logging of its trees for his personal benefit, and operates a charcoal plant in Rajo, producing and trading plant-based charcoal.
