Beirut, February 19, 2016 (AFP) – Turkey bombed intensely Thursday night areas controlled by the Kurds in the northern province of Aleppo, Syria, reported the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH). “Turkey bombards Kurdish areas north of Aleppo, in his strongest attack against these regions since it started bombarding their positions in the last few days,” the NGO said. The bombing lasted for over five hours and continued, according to the NGO.

The director of the SOHR, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP that the bombing targeted the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin, not only controlled areas recently by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDS), an Arab coalition Kurdish largely dominated by the Kurds protection Units (YPG).

Supported by Russian air raids, the SDS took control of several areas that were controlled by the rebels in the northern province of Aleppo, near the Turkish border.

The FDS Advanced alarm Turkey which bombards since Saturday. Ankara hit for the first time Thursday the city of Afrin, where two civilians were killed and 28 others wounded, according to Abdel Rahman.

The province of Aleppo is now split into several bands from the Turkish border: the rebels in the north, closely followed by more Kurdish southeast, and then there are the prorégime forces that control the majority of the southern province, while the group jihadist Islamic state (EI) control areas to the east.