112 people attending a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs, Syria, are killed by “armed terrorists”

According to a war monitor, a drone strike in government-held Homs on Thursday resulted in the deaths of 112 persons at a Syrian military college. State media attributed the drone strike to “terrorist organizations.”

Separately, after Ankara vowed revenge for a bomb assault, Turkish airstrikes in the northeast of the nation, which is controlled by Kurdish forces, claimed the lives of at least 11 people.

According to an army statement broadcast by the official news agency SANA, “armed terrorist organizations” attacked “the graduation ceremony for officers of the military academy” in the central city of Homs.

A British-based monitoring group called the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed “112 dead, including 21 civilians, 11 of them women and girls.” It said that at least 120 persons had injuries.

Hassan al-Ghobash, the minister of health, said on state television that the “preliminary” death toll was 80, “including six women and six children,” and that there were around 240 injured.

No one immediately took blame.

According to the military statement, the strike was conducted out using “explosive-laden drones,” and it promised to “respond with full force.” Beginning on Friday, the government has imposed a three-day mourning period.

Residents in the rebel-held enclave of Idlib reported intense government shelling in what seemed to be reprisal. According to the Observatory, there were eight fatalities and around 30 injuries.

The former Syria branch of Al-Qaeda, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is in charge of large portions of the Idlib province. Drone attacks in regions controlled by the government have already been conducted by the terrorist organization.

According to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply concerned” by the drone assault and the subsequent bombardment.

The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said in a statement that “today’s horrific scenes are a reminder of the need to immediately de-escalate violence, towards a nationwide ceasefire and a cooperative approach to countering Security Council-listed terrorist groups.”

Rescuers and the Observatory said that overnight Syrian bombardment in the province of Aleppo killed an elderly mother and four of her children.

Turkey shoots down a drone

In a statement released late on Thursday, the Turkish defense ministry said that Ankara troops had attacked 30 targets in northern Syria with airstrikes, including “shelters, depots, and storage sites”.

Turkey allegedly carried out 21 attacks in the region, killing “11 people, including five civilians and six” security officers, according to the internal security forces of the Kurds.

A Turkish drone was shot down by US F-16 fighters over Syria on Thursday after it flew “less than a half kilometer from US forces” near Hasakeh, according to Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. The drone was deemed to be “a potential threat.”

Turkey has repeatedly attacked locations in the northeast of Syria that are under Kurdish control.

After determining that terrorists who carried out a weekend assault on the Turkish capital had traveled from Syria, Ankara warned on Wednesday that it will increase its cross-border air strikes.

In 2019, the conflict that drove Islamic State group forces from the final pockets of land they controlled in Syria was spearheaded by the Syrian Democratic Forces, who are supported by the US.

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), who control the SDF, are seen by Turkey as a branch of the PKK, which Ankara and its Western allies have designated as a terrorist organization.

Since the incident in Ankara on Sunday that left two Turkish security personnel injured and was claimed by the PKK, Turkey has started attacks on PKK locations in northern Iraq.

Near Qahtaniyeh, not far from the Turkish border, AFP journalists in northeastern Syria saw smoke coming from oil sites.

A dam’s proximity and two nearby power units were also damaged.

‘WORSENING’

The de facto army of the Kurds, the SDF, spokeswoman Farhad Shami, said that both military and civilian sites were targeted in the attacks.

“There has been a clear escalation since the Turkish threats,” he said.

Vendors at the market in the city of Qamishli in the province of Hasakeh expressed worry.

“Every day, the situation becomes worse. Turkish authorities prevent us from breathing, said Hassan al-Ahmad, a 35-year-old cloth seller.

On Wednesday, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi refuted the claim that the attackers from Ankara had “passed through our region”.

He said, “Turkey is searching for justifications to support its continued aggression on our area.

The Kurdish government pleaded with “the international community” to “take a stand capable of dissuading” Turkey from its assaults.

Troops from the US, Russia, and Turkey are all there.

Turkey engaged in three significant operations against Kurdish troops in northern Syria between 2016 and 2019.

now a savage crackdown on anti-government rallies in 2011 sparked the crisis in Syria, which has now erupted into a deadly war involving foreign forces, militias, and Islamists, more than 500,000 people have died.