17-year-old girl dies in YPG attack on Turkey’s Hatay

REYHANLI

A rocket fired by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria killed a 17-year-old girl after hitting the Reyhanlı district of the southern border province of Hatay on Jan. 31.

Fatma Avlar succumbed to her wounds at the hospital after the attack, while 55-year-old Syrian refugee Nadir El Fares also died.

Earlier, a rocket attack struck the wall of a house in the same Gültepe neighborhood, injuring another civilian who was taken to hospital for treatment.

Two houses and several vehicles in the neighborhood were also damaged.

Additionally, two other rocket attacks hit the neighborhood later on Jan. 31. The rockets hit an empty house and the street and no casualties were reported.

The attacks come amid a Turkey-led operation across the border against YPG militants in Syria’s Afrin province.

Since the start of “Operation Olive Branch” on Jan. 20, the YPG has fired a number of rockets into Turkey, to which Turkish artillery has responded.

State-run Anadolu Agency reported that two Syrians and three Turkish citizens have been killed in the attacks so far. It also reported that at least 73 people, including children, have been wounded in 52 rocket attacks on the provinces of Hatay and Kilis, which host a high number of Syrian refugees.

The center of Kilis has been hit 22 times while a total of 30 rockets have hit the Reyhanlı, Hassa and Kırıkhan districts of Hatay.

In addition to rocket attacks, two mortar shells have fallen in rural Hassa and another in Kırıkhan. Thirty-year-old power grid employee Şahin Elitaş died in the mortar attack on Kırıkhan, where 51 people were wounded.

In the attacks on Reyhanlı, 11 houses and 15 workplaces were damaged and 20 vehicles were destroyed.

On Jan. 24 two civilians - 72-year old Turkish citizen Muzaffer Aydemir and 28-year-old Syrian citizen Tarık Tabbak - were killed and six others were injured when a rocket fired from Syria’s Afrin hit a mosque in Kilis.

Five houses and six vehicles have been destroyed in attacks on Kilis.

On Jan. 27 a rocket hit the roof of a building in Kilis while Deputy Prime Minister Hakan Çavuşoğlu, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar were visiting the nearby Governor’s Office.

The rocket did not explode but two civilians were wounded.

Bomb disposal experts later took the rocket and detonated it safely.