On March 16, 2025, a drone, suspected to be operated by Turkish forces, carried out a missile strike on the outskirts of Barkh Botan (Qumji) village to the south of Ein al-Arab city (Kubani) in eastern rural Aleppo governorate. The attack struck a house inhabited a house inhabited by civilians working in agriculture, resulting in the killing of nine civilians—a man, his wife, and seven of their children—while two other children sustained injuries.
The area is under the control of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at the time of the incident. According to information obtained by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) from reliable local sources, along with an analysis of images and video footage from open sources, the targeted house was situated in a civilian area, with no indications of military targets or SDF fighters being present at the time of the attack.
This attack constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, as it resulted in the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of the principle of distinction, which obligates parties to a conflict to avoid targeting civilians. Furthermore, the rules of international humanitarian law require all possible precautions to be taken to protect civilians, including issuing prior warnings when targeting locations that may contain non-combatant residents—something Turkish forces failed to do before carrying out the strike. As of the date of this article’s publication, Turkish authorities have not provided any evidence to substantiate the presence of military targets in the affected area.
SNHR condemns this attack, which resulted in a horrific massacre, and calls on Turkish forces to uphold their obligations under international law, conduct a transparent and independent investigation into the incident, and hold those responsible for targeting civilians accountable.
