Russia hit Bayırbucak Turkmen as well: Syrian Turkmen Council head

Uğur ERGAN - ANKARA

REUTERS photo

Russian airstrikes hit Syrian Turkmen, Syrian Turkmen Council head Abdurrahman Mustafa has said.

Mustafa stated that Russia hit the Free Syrian Army rather than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

They have hit Türkmendağı, Humus and Hama, areas where many Turkmen live, he said, after contacting the regions via telephone on Sept. 30. 

Nearly 9,000 Turkmen are living south of Hama, north of Humus, and in Talbisseh, Kanto and Zaafarani, he stated. Turkmen in the region plan to leave and migrate to Lebanon, Mustafa said.

The Turkish authorities earlier stated that Turkish trucks were carrying assistance for Bayırbucak Turkmen when security forces seized the vehicles in 2014.

Russian warplanes carried out air strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft on Sept. 30, a debut move that came hours after a Russian mandate on the issue and following Moscow’s sharp diplomatic moves to back Bashar al-Assad against “terrorism.”

“Russian and Syrian airplanes carried out numerous strikes today against terrorist positions in the Hama, Homs and Latakia provinces,” according to Syrian security sources. Russian and U.S. sources also confirmed the attacks.

The sources said the strikes hit several areas in the central Homs and Hama provinces, as well as the coastal regime stronghold of the Latakia province.

Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitor, reported at least 27 civilians had been killed in air strikes in the Homs province. The group said the strikes hit Rastan, Talbisseh and Zaafarani in Homs, while the security source said the Russian strikes had hit Rastan and Talbisseh.