BEIRUT: Thursday’s attack on a Syrian military academy killed more than 100 people, war monitors said, and state media blamed a “terrorist organization” for a drone strike in government-controlled Homs. did.
Separately, Kurdish forces said Turkish airstrikes in the war-torn northeastern Kurdish region of Turkey have killed at least nine people, after the Turkish government threatened attacks in retaliation for bomb attacks. It was announced that a person had died.
A military statement from the state news agency says that an “armed terrorist organization” targeted a “graduation ceremony for military academy officers” in the city of Homs in central Syria. Sana and reported casualties.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has an extensive network of local sources, reports that “more than 100 people have been killed, around half of them military graduates, including 14 civilians.” and revised the previous death toll. It said at least 125 other people were injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Nine people killed in Turkish attack in Kurdish-held northeast
A military statement said the attack was carried out using an “unmanned aircraft loaded with explosives” and said it would “respond with all our might.”
The government declared three days of mourning starting Friday, state television said. Late Thursday, residents reported widespread and heavy regime shelling in the rebel-held Idlib region.
The Observatory said four civilians were killed and others injured in attacks on several rebel-held towns in the northwest.
Parts of Idlib are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by a former local branch of al-Qaeda. The extremist group has used drones to attack government-controlled areas in the past.
Syrian army shelling overnight killed an elderly woman and her four children in rebel-held areas of Aleppo province, rescue workers and an observatory said.
The power plant was damaged
A statement from the Kurdish media center said that “six members of the internal security services were killed” in a Turkish military attack on the Kurdish-held Hasakeh province in northeastern Syria.
Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish de facto military, said a worker was also killed at the site in the province. A statement from Kurdish authorities also said “two civilians” were killed in the motorcycle strike. Turkiye regularly attacks targets in the semi-autonomous Syrian Kurdish region. On Wednesday, the Turkish government concluded that the militants who attacked the Turkish capital over the weekend came from Syria and warned of more intense cross-border air attacks.
Two power plants and a dam in the area were also damaged. SDF’s Shami said the attacks targeted military and civilian facilities.
Published at Dawn on October 6, 2023
