The State Department expressed its deep concern about the escalating tension on the Turkish-Syrian border, calling on «all sides to respect the ceasefire».
In recent days, shelling in the area has intensified, with the tragic loss of 21 civilians, including children.
«The US is deeply concerned about the recent attacks along Syria's northern border and calls on all sides to maintain the ceasefire lines,» State Department spokesman Ned Price said yesterday, Monday.
«We mourn for the civilian victims in al-Bab, Hasakeh and elsewhere», he added, stressing that the US remains committed to «ensuring the final defeat of the Islamic State and a political solution to the Syrian conflict».
Increased tension in the region
Tensions have been rising in recent weeks in the region between the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the one hand and the Turkish forces and their Syrian allies on the other.
Kurdish authorities said on Friday that a drone attack by Turkish forces hit a «girls» training centre" in the town of Smouka near Hasakeh, killing four children and injuring eleven others.
The account was confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which stated that the children were asleep at the time of the attack.
In al-Bab, a town under the control of Syrian groups backed by Ankara and located near the Syrian-Turkish border, «artillery fire by pro-regime forces against the market killed 17 civilians, including six children, and wounded 35», the Observatory noted.
