ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Celebratory gunfire marking the return of released detainees killed one man and wounded six others in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Qamishli city.
Bashir Rashid Ahmed was struck in the head by a bullet on Friday as residents fired weapons into the air to celebrate the arrival of former detainees affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released from Syrian government prisons.
The celebrations followed the release of 232 SDF-affiliated detainees by the Syrian government as part of an ongoing prisoner exchange agreement between Damascus and the autonomous administration governing Rojava. Hundreds of families gathered across the region to welcome the freed detainees home.
The exchange is part of a broader agreement reached on January 29 between Damascus and the SDF, brokered with US mediation and support from Kurdish political figures in the Kurdistan Region after weeks of intense fighting.
Bashir’s death sparked renewed criticism of celebratory gunfire, a practice that has repeatedly caused injuries and fatalities across the Middle East.
Bashir’s mother, Khadija Ahmed, spoke to Rudaw on Sunday. “It is as if they are tearing your heart and soul out of your body while you are still alive and torturing you.