Matay Hana, the spokesperson for the Syriac Military Council of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that the SDF will defend northeast Syria against increasing Turkish attacks.

"The Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries had once again accelerated their attacks on the towns of Zarkan and Tal Tamr, injuring a civilian in the Zarkan town," Hana told the SDF Press Center on Tuesday.

"After the Turkish occupation shelling the Tal Tamr power station, the occupation army targeted using a drone the vehicle of Orom Maroge, a member of the General Command of the Syriac Military Council, while he was on his way to the station," he added. "Maroge and the translator were injured due to this attack."

A previous Turkish drone attack on Friday injured well-known poet Ferhad Merde near the town of Tirbespi (Qahtaniya) in northeastern Hasakah province. Turkish forces and their Syrian militia proxies also targeted at least 17 villages in Tal Tamr and Abu Rasin (Zirgan) north of Hasakah with artillery bombardments and drone strikes.

Hana claimed these attacks aim to destabilize northeast Syria and empower ISIS sleeper cells.

"We will not hesitate to defend our land, on which all components live in harmony and brotherhood," he declared. "We in the Syriac Military Council and the Tal Tamr Military Council are working under the banner of the SDF, so we have the legitimate and natural right to respond to the daily violations of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries who violated the ceasefire agreement."

Turkish-backed groups and the Turkish Army continue to target SDF-held areas across northeast Syria despite separate ceasefire agreements between Turkey and Russia and Turkey and the United States implemented in October 2019 to halt fighting between Turkey and the SDF.