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On May 21, heavy clashes broke out between Syrian gunmen and Turkish border guards near the town of Atimah in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib.
According to opposition sources, local gunmen attacked a Turkish border post in response to an attack in which a child was shot by Turkish service members. The victim, who sustained severe wounds, was reportedly guarding a sheep herd near the Turkish border line when he was shot for no reason.
The Turkish border post was targeted with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades by gunmen from the town of al-Lataminah, the hometown of the victim “Amjad Kamal al-Sadu”.
اشتباكات متبادلة بين جيش العزة من مدينة اللطامنة وحرس الحدود #التركية بالقرب من مخيم #الكرامة شمال #إدلب بعد إطلاق النار على طفل من قبل حرس الحدود التركية pic.twitter.com/itxeUXUAd8
— عمر رحمون (@Rahmon83) May 21, 2021
شاهد أحد أطفال قرية اللطامنة يلقي قنبلة على محرس للجيش التركي بعد قيام الجيش التركي باستهداف طفل من أبناء القرية منذ قليل، بالتزامن مع اشتباكات مابين أهالي القرية والجيش التركي الآن قرب مدينة أطمة. pic.twitter.com/8JMFjXi3xS
— من إدلب 𓂆 (@fromidlib) May 21, 2021
فيديو لإطلاق النار من قبل حرس الحدود التركي على #اللاجئين_السوريين في مخيم #اللطامنة وسقوط طفل قتيل برصاص #الجيش_التركي. #تركيا pic.twitter.com/kDEdcddkiZ
— Wael Elkhaldy وائل الخالدي (@wael_kaldy) May 21, 2021
Two local gunmen were injured in the clashes, which didn’t last for too long. As for now, there are no reports of any losses on the Turkish side.
The attack forced Turkish border guards to retreat from the post. Later, a force from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the de-facto ruler of Greater Idlib, was deployed to protect the post, per the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Turkish border guards killed or injured hundreds of Syrians, including many children, in the last few years. While some were shot while attempting to enter Turkey illegally, many were targeted just for approaching the border line.
This hostile behavior is generating much resentment against Turkey in Greater Idlib. Some radical groups, including the so-called Sarayat Ansar Abu Baker al-Siddiq, usually responds to attacks on Syrian civilians by targeting Turkish troops in Greater Idlib.
