DAMASCUS (Xinhua) –
A power transfer station serving a populated area in the Hasakah province in northeastern Syria went out of service on Wednesday following a Turkish attack, leaving almost 100,000 local people in a blackout.
The Turkish forces struck the Tal Tamr power station near the namesake township in the province, damaging a key power line supplying the station, state news agency SANA reported.
It’s the second Turkish strike within a week to render the station out of service, said SANA, adding that maintenance workers started repairing the new damage.
The station has gone out of service 20 times since 2019 due to the strikes by Turkish forces and pro-Turkey militants, the Kurdish ANHA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the Turkish forces also struck 10 villages in the countryside of Tal Tamr, forcing local people to flee again to safer places.
The recent escalation comes as the Turkish forces and allied Syrian militants renewed shelling on Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria following a brief period of cautious calm.
The latest development comes against the backdrop of Ankara’s stepped-up threats to launch a massive military operation against Kurdish militants in northern Syria to establish what it calls a “secure line” along Turkey’s border with the Arab country.
Turkey has deployed forces in Syria in violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push fighters with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militant group, which is the backbone of the SDF, away from border areas.
Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other senior officials have said Damascus will respond through all legitimate means available to Turkey’s ongoing ground offensive.