At least 24 people have been killed and dozens injured in parts of rebel-occupied Syria after a weekend of violence involving several car bombings.
Eleven people died and 30 others were injured in the city of Azaz, when a car bomb detonated on Sunday near a building used by Turkish-backed fighters as administrative headquarters. Photos from the scene showed black smoke rising from the mutilated remains of the car, damaged buildings and a street covered in debris from the explosion.
Also on Sunday, another car bomb went off at a checkpoint near the city of Beza’a, killing five fighters from the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) umbrella group and injuring another four, military sources said.
Ahmad Ali, 33, came by when the Azaz car bomb detonated about 100 yards away.
“It sounded like a thunderstorm, the doors and glass of the buildings around me shook and broke. As a first reaction I lay on the floor and was temporarily deaf from the great sound, ”he said.
“It happened in such a busy place, close to the market and the building where people come to register births and marriages…. I saw the burnt car and rescue workers trying to help, and the bodies. It was a gruesome day. “
After a decade of war, Syria is now roughly divided into three control zones.
About 3 million civilians, the majority of whom fear returning to their homes in regime-occupied areas, as well as the remnants of the Syrian opposition, Turkey-backed Syrian forces and Islamist groups, are now crammed into the northwest corner. of the country.
The oil and wheat-producing northeastern region is controlled by Kurdish-led, US-backed forces, but most of Syria is now re-ruled by Bashar al-Assad, who has pulled all the country’s major cities back from the opposition with the help from Russia and Iran.
Sunday’s attacks added to an already violent weekend in parts of Syria beyond the regime’s control: On Saturday, the de facto Turkey-controlled city of Afrin was rocked by a car bomb that killed eight people, including four children.
On Sunday, Kurdish security forces in Hasekeh, a city controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), opened fire on pro-Syrian government protesters, killing one and injuring four.
The explosions in Azaz and Afrin were not claimed by any group, but the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has ties to the SDF, is believed to be responsible for what Syrian civil defense statistics show, a growing number of IED, motorcycle and car bombings in both cities.
Afrin was stripped of the majority of the Kurdish population following a 2018 offensive against the city by Turkey, while Azaz serves as the administrative headquarters for the Turkey-backed forces. Islamic State sleeper cells have also been linked to bombing raids in the area.
The Syrian Civil Defense, a voluntary rescue group operating in rebel-held parts of Syria known as the White Helmets, says it has responded to 13 explosions in the northwest of the country since the beginning of the year.
The increase in violence so far in 2021 is contributing to the already serious winter problems in Northwest Syria: an increase in coronavirus cases is pushing an already broken healthcare system to a breaking point, and heavy rains and floods have killed 67,600 people. displaced persons camps affected.