The Syrian Interim Government (SIG) held the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) responsible for the Azaz bombing, northern Aleppo, which resulted in nine deaths.

In a statement released by the Interim Government on Wednesday, August 7, it was said, “This cowardly terrorist act bears the fingerprints of the terrorist SDF militias, who pursue the ugliest crimes and most severe violations against innocent people by placing explosive devices and rigging cars, as happened in this bombing.”

After the bombing, the SDF carried out long-range shelling at the explosion site and near the hospital crowded with wounded and their families, aiming to kill as many innocents as possible, according to the Interim Government statement.

The Syria Civil Defence mentioned on its official website that rocket targeting from areas jointly controlled by regime forces and SDF hit the truck explosion site in Azaz and its surroundings during the work of Civil Defence teams at the site, removing explosion remnants. The rescue teams managed to evacuate the place immediately to a safe area.

In its statement, the Interim Government called on the international community to work to eradicate these “terrorist militias” as an imperative to achieve security and stability in Syria, emphasizing the need to pursue those responsible for this crime, apprehend them, and bring them to justice.

In turn, the Ministry of Defense in the Syrian Interim Government announced that investigations had begun to identify the “treacherous perpetrators” who participated in executing this “heinous crime” against the civilians, stressing that they would not escape punishment and that the “PKK party’s terrorism against civilians will not go unavenged for the blood of the martyrs and the wounded.”

Hours after the bombing, the Northern Observatory released a video recording showing the moment the Joint Forces in the National Army (the Hamzat and Amshat) launched rockets at SDF sites in response to the Azaz city targeting.

The Shamiya Front forces in the National Army also targeted with heavy artillery, SDF sites and fortifications on the Tel Rifaat front in northern Aleppo countryside, achieving hits among them, in response to the Azaz city targeting. Turkish army strikes with heavy artillery also hit SDF sites in the villages of Harbal and Sheikh Issa in northern Aleppo countryside during the night hours.

What’s the issue?

The Syria Civil Defence announced that nine people were killed and eleven others were injured, with an initial tally that later turned to nine deaths and twelve injuries due to a truck bomb explosion at the western entrance of Azaz city, northern Aleppo.

Hussein al-Haj, the director of Civil Defence in Azaz, explained to Enab Baladi that the organization received a report of an explosion on the road between Azaz and Afrin cities, causing a number of casualties and injuries, in addition to fires igniting in some vehicles at the explosion site. Civil Defence teams worked on searching for survivors, helping them, recovering victims, and extinguishing the fires.

An Enab Baladi correspondent reported from a military source in the area that the driver of the exploded truck was arrested while attempting to flee, and the exploded vehicle was a Volvo truck that went off at the al-Shat checkpoint at the western entrance to Azaz city. The road also leads to Afrin city, resulting in fatalities and injuries as well as material losses.

This is not the first time Azaz has witnessed bombings among civilians. An explosion occurred on March 31, last year, killing three and injuring five civilians.

In 2023, the Civil Defence documented the explosion of two car bombs in northwestern Syria, resulting in five deaths and seven injuries. The teams also responded to three motorbike bomb explosions, leading to three deaths and seven injuries.