T he markets, the once-crowded streets and the public parks are now empty. Everything silenced and terrified, except for the intermittent sound of Turkish artillery fire, whose craters almost swallow up the horizon.

This is Qamishli, a border town controlled in part by Kurdish forces and in part by the Syrian regime. Here the strikes are random. There are no shelters. There is nowhere to hide. The Syrian regime is banning people from exiting the town to other places.

Like many border areas under attack since the Turkish army and its Syrian rebel allies launched an incursion into northeast Syria on Wednesday, the displacement of people increases day by day.

People are pouring into towns further south and the countryside in pursuit of safety. Innocent people have been turned into the fuel of war, to be consumed and burned.

Monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says 64 people, including 21 children, have been killed in the fighting.

Syrian rebel fighters backed by Turkey attack Kurdish-led militia

Among those are nine civilians who were shot dead “execution-style”, the SOHR added.

Meanwhile, more than 130,000 people have been displaced as a result of the fighting, according to the United Nations.

The UN’s humanitarian office estimates in total 400,000 civilians in the Syrian conflict zone may require aid and protection in the coming period.

The fighting so far has reached the main highway that runs between Hassakah, a major town and logistical hub, and Ain Eissa, the administrative centre of the Kurdish-led areas.

It is chaos. Kurdish authorities said on Sunday afternoon that some 785 people affiliated with the so-called Islamic State have escaped from a camp in Ain Eissa.

Like thousands of others, I don’t know what I will do or where I shall go. There is no safe place after the Turkish strikes. Every place is a potential target.

At Qamishli’s overwhelmed hospital, the freshly wounded people and the dead keep arriving.

The corridors are filled with cries and moans. Everyone has given into death and pain, it seems.

I spoke to a wounded Christian family whose neighbourhood in Qamishli was bombed three days ago.

The husband Fadi Habsuno described the moment he experienced “death while still alive” when two shells landed on his street during the Turkish army’s bombing of al-Bashiriya district.

“When the bombardment started, I had nightmares my two children would be orphaned or worse and so I took them with my wife to the safest place I could find – a friend’s house,” he says.

But it turned out the entire street was under fire.

With the shrapnel still puncturing his body, he describes how he bled for an hour as he desperately searched for his family. He says everything around him had turned to dust.

“I felt heat in my body, dizzy in my head, I remember stumbling upon the body of my dusty neighbour who had his brain outside the skull on the ground while I was looking for my wife and children.”

His wife, Juliet, was badly wounded in her back and abdomen. Her condition was still critical even after a six-hour operation.

He later found his two children cowering in a corner of the building which was partially standing and so “hugged them as if they were reborn”.

“There were no ambulances, and no means of transport,” he continues, adjusting his bandages with pain. His tears mingle with the blood dried stiff on his face. Behind him his wife’s groans fill the room.

“We no longer have anything. My house has become rubble. I lost everything I had, now Juliet and I are at the hospital and don’t know where we’re going.”

“Even the sparrows that I took care of were burned and our canary birds,” he adds, his voice trailing off.

Turkey launches offensive into Syria Show all 25 1 /25 Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkish soldiers with armored vehicles EPA Turkey launches offensive into Syria A woman flees with her children during Turkish bombardment on Syria's northeastern town of Ras al-Ain AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Smoke billows following Turkish bombardment on Syria's northeastern town of Ras al-Ain in the Hasakeh province along the Turkish border on October 9, 2019. - Turkey launched an assault on Kurdish forces in northern Syria with air strikes and explosions reported along the border. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the attack on Twitter, labelling it "Operation Peace Spring". (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images) DELIL SOULEIMAN AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria The first group of Turkish infantry prepare to enter Syria on the border Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Civilians flee AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Smoke billows from targets inside Syria AP Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkish armoured vehicles enter Syria in Akcakale Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Civilians leave as smoke rises from Ras al-Ain AFP Turkey launches offensive into Syria A multi-rocket launcher fires in an unknown location Turkish Defence Ministry via Reuters Turkey launches offensive into Syria People wave as Turkish soldiers prepare to cross the border Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Girls stand together in Ras al Ain town Reuters Turkey launches offensive into Syria A woman walks as smoke billows following Turkish bombardment in Syria's northeastern town of Ras al-Ain AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria A Turkish army's tank drives down from a truck towards the border with Syria AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkish jet taxis on tarmac after returning to a military base in southeast Diyarbakir Reuters Turkey launches offensive into Syria A Turkish armored vehicle drives down a road during a military operation in Kurdish areas of northern Syria EPA Turkey launches offensive into Syria People sit on belongings at a back of a truck as they flee Ras al Ain town Reuters Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters enter Tel Abyad AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Civilians flee AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria People flee Tal Abyad North Press Agency/Reuters TV Turkey launches offensive into Syria People wave as Turkish soldiers prepare to cross the border into Syria Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Civilians flee with their belongings AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Civilians flee during Turkish bombardment on Syria's northeastern town of Ras al-Ain in the Hasakeh province along the Turkish border on October 9, 2019. - Turkey launched a broad assault on Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria today, with intensive bombardment paving the way for an invasion made possible by the withdrawal of US troops. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images) DELIL SOULEIMAN AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, speaks with Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, left, as they watch the operation by Turkish forces in Kurdish areas EPA Turkey launches offensive into Syria Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad AFP/Getty Turkey launches offensive into Syria Turkey-backed members of Syrian National Army prepare for moving to Turkey with heavy armed vehicles EPA

In a different ward, parents mourned the death of a 15-year-old boy, Mohammed, and learned their eight-year-old daughter Sara will lose her leg.

They said earlier the girl, whose leg was all but blown off during shelling, had initially tried to check on her brother as he lay lifeless on a gurney.

Dazed, she did not know he was dead or that her leg had been amputated.

Now she cries for a cup of water. She does not realise the amount of blood she has lost.

“We lost our boy forever. We will never see him play?," asks the children’s father Youssef.

“We will not see his sister play with other children. She lost her leg. Do you have any idea what it means for a child to lose a leg? Do you know she will remain handicapped for the rest of her life?”

The children’s aunt, who asks not to be named, says she will relive that moment she saw her nephew’s body torn open by shelling.