Terrorist attacks kill 1 civilian, injure 5 in northern Syria

AL-BAB/AZAZ, Syria (AA) - A civilian was killed and five others were wounded in two separate terrorist attacks in northern Syria on Friday.

A car bomb went off in Al-Bab city’s Zamzam neighborhood, killing one civilian, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

Firefighters rushed to the site to put out a fire caused by the explosion that also damaged nearby houses.

Local security forces suspected that the YPG/PKK terrorist group carried out the attack.

Meanwhile, eight rocket-propelled grenades fired by YPG/PKK terrorists landed in the Marea town in the countryside of Aleppo, injuring five people.

The attack was launched from the terror group-controlled Tal Rifaat city, located north of Aleppo.

The Turkish army deployed in the area of the Operation Euphrates Shield responded to the terrorist group’s attacks with artillery.

In September 2016, the Turkish army liberated Jarabulus from ISIS/Daesh terrorists as part of Operation Euphrates Shield. The aim of the operation, which ended in March 2017, was to eradicate terrorists from Syria's border territories with Turkiye.

While the operation was successful, the terrorist YPG/PKK, operating from Syria’s adjacent Tal Rifaat and Manbij regions, still often tries to carry out attacks in Jarablus, Azaz, Afrin, and al-Bab.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

Euphrates Shield (2016) is one of the three successful anti-terror operations that Turkiye has launched since 2016 across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents. The other two are Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat