Twin explosions rock northern Syria, casualties reported

Two consecutive explosions occurred in northern Syria’s Hasakah and Ras al Ayn towns in the Hasakah province, Iraqi Kurdish outlet Rudaw reported on Saturday.

At least one person died and six others were wounded in the explosion on a busy street in Hasakah city centre, while at least five people were killed in Ras al Ayn when a car bomb was detonated.

Locals report several injured people, but the exact number is not yet known.

Ras al Ayn had been under control of majority Syrian Kurdish forces until Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in October 2019 and took control in the city, among several others that had formed a de facto Kurdish enclave throughout most of the Syrian civil war.

Hasakah remains under control of the majority-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Council and its armed force, People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey associates with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

PKK has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey for four decades, and has been designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. None of the Syrian Kurdish groups have any such designation.