A number of houses and the Mar Sawa church were damaged as a result of the shelling of the towns of Tel Temer, Abu Raseen, Zarkan and Aghibish in the north of the province of Hasakeh, the official SANA agency reported.

Local officials said that six houses, the headquarters of the Agricultural Cooperation Bank and the telecommunications tower suffered partial destruction as a result of the hostilities.

In turn, the provincial director of Social Affairs, Ibrahim Khalef, informed the national television that more than 130 families had to leave their homes in the last two days and move to safe locations.

Turkish soldiers recently escalated their bombardments against northern Syria after the announcement by President Recep Tayeb Erdogan to launch an offensive aimed at controlling a 30-kilometer-deep border strip in Syrian territory with the argument of eliminating the threat of Kurdish militias.

Since 2018, the military of Turkey and illegal armed groups have managed to seize control of large areas in the Syrian provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, Raqa and Hasakeh as a result of three operations: Olive Branch, Fountain of Peace, and Euphrates Shield.

pgh/llp/jcm/fm