Eyewitness: Mercenaries target civilians and medics in Sheikh Maqsoud

The eyewitness confirmed that interim government mercenaries directly targeted medical personnel in Sheikh Maqsoud and described the horrors he witnessed.

On January 6, interim government mercenaries backed by the Turkish occupation, along with remnants of ISIS, attacked the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafiyeh, and Bani Zaid in Aleppo, targeting infrastructure and the Martyr Khaled Fajr Hospital. Internal Security Forces resisted fiercely, and on January 11 a partial truce was declared, allowing the evacuation of the hospital and the transfer of civilians to safe areas in the North and East Syria .

The eyewitness, who preferred not to disclose his name to protect the safety of his family—still missing and consisting of his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren—told ANHA agency that he had been subjected to repeated forced displacement. This began in Afrin, passing through Shahba to the city of Tabqa, before he returned to Sheikh Maqsoud, only to be displaced again to Qamishlo.

He explained that the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh were subjected to a suffocating siege for nearly six months. He noted that the first day of the attack (January 6) witnessed heavy shelling with tanks and artillery, in addition to drones and reconnaissance aircraft, as the two neighborhoods were encircled from several directions and targeted from multiple axes.

He stressed that civilians were directly targeted without any regard for the presence of children, women, or the elderly, leading to dozens of civilian casualties, amid extreme difficulties in evacuating the wounded due to continuous shelling and the prevention of ambulance teams from reaching the injured.

The eyewitness pointed out that interim government mercenaries backed by the Turkish state launched a large-scale attack using large numbers of fighters, tanks, artillery, drones, and reconnaissance aircraft.

Execution of a Doctor

In the context of grave violations, the eyewitness confirmed that a doctor was executed in the field in order to prevent the treatment of the wounded. He also explained that another doctor, fearing for his life due to the direct targeting of medical staff, was forced to remove his medical uniform and treat the wounded in civilian clothing.

The eyewitness added that he, along with a number of civilians, sought refuge in the Khaled Fajr Hospital—the only hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud—but the hospital was overcrowded with the injured and victims and was itself targeted. He confirmed that drones directly struck the hospital.

He noted the absence of any serious movement or stance by international human rights organizations regarding what happened, despite the scale and severity of the crimes committed against civilians and the healthcare infrastructure in the area.

In conclusion, the eyewitness, who is in his sixties, stated that he is still suffering from the effects of deep psychological trauma and that the scenes of destruction do not leave his memory. He also pointed to his continued search for his missing family and expressed grave fears over their fate amid the ongoing serious violations in the region.

ANHA