Turkmens are under Russian fire in Syria

Ömer Abdullah, commander of the Sultan Abdulhamid Han Brigade that is fighting against the Assad regime, as well as ISIL in Mount Turkmen, said that the Russian military attacked Turkmen villages in the Mount Turkmen area, the south side of Latakia, where Russia deployed its military.

Abdullah stated that Russian forces launched guided missile attacks from its warship along with its artillery fire and tank attacks.

“We've never seen such bombardment since the beginning of the (Syrian civil) war," he said.

The Syrian civil war began in March 2011 with the simultaneous uprisings in many Mideast countries known as the Arab Spring, but has since splintered into various rebel groups fighting Assad's forces as well as one another.

Abdullah accuses Assad of leaving the full control of the Mediterranean coast of the country to Russian forces.

“Russians are now controlling all fronts, checkpoints of Latakia,” Abdullah said.

He said that Russia desires to seize the strategic region of Bayirbucak, as well as Mount Turkmen, and vowed to fight against the Russian forces, as they protect their people by fighting against Assad forces.

Bayirbucak, a Turkmen-populated region in northern Latakia is greatly significant for Assad's regime to establish a geographic connection with the Hatay province in Turkey, which is on the border with Syria.

Abdullah said the Russian military deployed numerous T72 and T82 type tanks on 45 hills in the area.

Commander Abdullah is not the only one claiming Russian strikes have been hitting the Turkmen.

Abdurrahman Mustafa, the President of the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, also said a day ago that Russian fighter jets did not strike ISIL positions as it claimed, rather they pounded on Turkmen villages.

Areas where ethnic Turkmens live in Homs and Hama came under attack by Russian military, he said in a statement.

"We strongly condemn Russia, which was not satisfied with its unlimited support of the murderous regime and now rains down bombs on the Syrian people, promising 'democracy'," the statement said.

Almost 300,000 Tukmens are currently living in Bayrbucak, while more than 9,000 Turkmens are living in Telbise, Kanto and Zafare villages in Hama and Homs where Russian jets have been pounding since the past three days.

Jub Torus and Karamanlı villages in the Turkmen Mountain area have been taken under intensified bombing by Russian jets, local sources said.

The sources said they found 6-meter-long unexploded missiles in the area. The long-range missiles were fired from the Russian warship, they said.

Syrian opposition National Coalition, Turkey, the US-led coalition member states and NATO condemned Russia's attack and called for an immediate end to killing innocent people.