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Escalating Turkish strikes cripple civilian infrastructure across northeast Syria

Since the launch of Operation Claw-Sword, Turkish strikes have widely targeted civilian and energy infrastructure, wreaking havoc and paralyzing economic life in northeast Syria.

Turkey Syria
A boy sits on a metal container at a workshop in the Kurdish-majority northern Syrian city of Kobane, on Nov. 24, 2022. Turkey launched a campaign of air strikes across parts of Iraq and Syria on Nov. 20 as part of Operation Claw-Sword, following a bombing in Istanbul on Nov. 13 that killed six people and wounded 81. — DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

QAMISHLI, Syria — Standing between slabs of marble in the Hasakeh province in northeast Syria, Muhammad Ali Al-Hassan* recalled the moment airstrikes hit the marble factory where he used to work.

“We heard a drone flying above the village, and seconds later the first strike hit in front of the marble factory at the entrance of the village on Nov. 20,” Al-Hassan told Al-Monitor on Thursday. “The second hit behind the village, and a mortar shell fell on empty fields.” Damaged, the factory closed, depriving Al-Hassan of work just days before his wife was due to deliver his third child.

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