Fresh violence hit Syria’s Hasakah / YPG SHELLING ARAB POPULATION

August 13, 2014 – ARA News – Hasakah, Syria – A state of panic prevailed on Tuesday among the residents of Geweran neighbourhood in the city of Hasakah, northeast of Syria, a source in Geweran told ARA News, accusing the Kurdish forces of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) of carrying out military operations against the Arab-populated neighbourhood.

“The neighbourhood was subjected to heavy shelling by tanks, artillery, and medium weapon, resulting in the death of several people and the injury of dozens others, as well as a huge damage in the residential buildings where shelling targeted the vicinity of the Central Prison of Hasakah in the western neighbourhood of Geweran,” the source reported.

Eyewitnesses based in the neighbourhood stated to ARA News that there were voices heard from the neighborhood’s mosques overnight calling for the neighbourhood’s youth to jihad and fighting against the Kurdish forces of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian regime forces.

Meanwhile, a YPG-linked source confirmed to ARA News that a number of YPG fighters were killed on Tuesday during fighting in Geweran, as a result of the explosion of their artillery (Dushka type) by mistake.

“Militants of the Islamic State (IS) are withdrawing slowly from Artillery Regiment 121 and heading to the town of al-Hol in the eastern countryside of al-Hasakah province, after transporting wheat and corn from al-Melebiya Grain Center,” the source added.

In a linked context, the IS-held town of Tel Hamis was exposed to aerial bombardment by the pro-regime air force.

Militants of IS group did not respond to the distress calls of the people and fighters in Geweran to enter the neighbourhood and fight against the YPG forces, where in the past few days several small demonstrations took place calling on IS militants to enter the neighbourhood and “break out the blockade imposed by the YPG”, activists based in Geweran reported.

The same sources added that the YPG forces arrested dozens of Geweran residents in the central market of the city of al-Hasakah on charges of affiliation with the Islamic State.

On the other hand, the regime-linked media sources reported on Tuesday that both Abdul Salam Jalloud and Tariq al-Attiyah, two fighters of Ahrar Geweran rebel group, were killed in clashes with the YPG forces in Hasakah on Tuesday morning.

Noteworthy, Geweran neighborhood witnesses battles and sporadic clashes between the Kurdish YPG fighters on the one hand, and members of Ahrar Geweran armed groups on the other hand. Over the last two weeks, many casualties were reported on both sides. Reporting by: Zaradasht Khalil – Source: ARA News – http://aranews.net/2014/08/fresh-violence-hit-syrias-hasakah/