On its 3rd anniversary ... Al-Khater massacre denies Erdogan's claims, proves Turkey's brutality

The massacre of Al-Khater family from Idlib remained a document that proves the barbarity of Turkey and its mercenaries, and confirms its direct targeting of civilians, and that all Erdogan's claims to legitimize the occupation of Afrin are false. The city of Afrin used to be a refuge for thousands of displaced families.

26 January, 2021 02:04

AFRIN -BASEL RASHID

The Turkish occupation army, while carrying out the aggression on Afrin canton, committed dozens of massacres against civilians, in which dozens of children were left as victims.

The massacre committed against the displaced family from Idlib that took refuge in Afrin is one of the massacres that have been documented to be added to the black record of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries.

The Turkish occupation and its mercenaries began their aggression against Afrin on January 20, 2018, using all kinds of weapons, even the internationally prohibited ones.

The Turkish occupation also moved its warplanes and helicopters to bomb the villages and towns of Afrin, and destroy homes on the heads of their people.

Civilians are direct targets

The occupation, while waging its barbaric aggression, took civilians as direct targets, and committed dozens of massacres and mass killings against them.

Because Afrin used to be a safe haven before the occupation mercenaries entered it, hundreds of families from various Syrian regions went towards Afrin, including "Al-Khater" family and its seven members who fled from Idlib governorate to escape the mercenary groups supported by Turkey towards al-Shahba, and from there, it headed towards Mobata district in Afrin canton.

Their displacement to Afrin did not distance them from the Turkish war machine, but they have become once again a target for its warplanes which claimed the lives of all of its members in a massacre documented by our agency ANHA to be added to Turkey's black records in the field of human rights and targeting civilians.

The whole family was lost in the massacre

On January 26, 2018, 6 days after the Turkish attack on Afrin, and as the clock approached 03:00 am, the Turkish warplanes became in the sky of Mobata again, indiscriminate shelling targeted civilians there, and the sounds of bombing raised everywhere.

Meanwhile, at 03:30 am, the entire Al-Khater family from Idlib became a victim of the Turkish bombing, as all of its members lost their lives, and their remains and bodies remained under the rubble of their home until 8:00 am in the morning.

The names of 6 of them have been documented

Rescue teams quickly recovered the bodies and searched for injured people, but all had lost their lives, and only 6 of them were documented: Father Taha Mostafa Al-Khater (45 years), mother Amina Al-Khater (40 years old) and their sons; Suleiman Al-Khater (14 years old), Mostafa Al-Khater (17 years old), Yusra Al-Khater (9 years old), and Zakia Al-Khater (15 years old).

Rescue teams transported the bodies and body parts of the victims to Avrin Hospital in the center of Afrin, which also was turned into a target point for the occupation warplanes, launching several raids on it.

It is reported that the Turkish occupation, and during its aggression on Afrin, committed many massacres against civilians, and the number of civilian martyrs reached 257 civilians, including 45 children and 36 women, in addition to the injury of 742 civilians, including 113 children and 113 women.

It is worth mentioning that with the approach of the third anniversary of "Al-Khater" massacre, the Turkish occupation committed a new massacre against Afrin's displaced in al-Shahba canton on January 23^rd, as four people were martyred and others were injured.

D.H

ANHA