According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an AFP correspondent, 58 people—including ten civilians—were killed over the course of ten days of internal fighting in northern Syria between factions allied with Ankara that crossed over into the territory controlled by Al-Nusra Front to advance.
According to the observatory, 10 days of internal warfare resulted in the deaths of ten civilians, twenty fighters from the opposing factions, and 28 members of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham.
A border region in the north of the Aleppo governorate that stretches from Jarablus in the northeastern countryside to Afrin in its western countryside, passing through important cities like Al-Bab and Azaz, is controlled by about 30 factions that are considered to be members of the so-called Syrian National Army that is allied with Ankara and receives funding, equipment, and weapons from it. There are also Turkish military present.
After blaming the Levant Front, the Hamza faction, for the murder of a media activist, skirmishes between the Shamiya Front group and the Al-Hamza faction loyal to Ankara broke out in the city of Al-Bab on October 8. Then it expanded to other areas with other factions joining the battles in support of the two sides, without the Turkish forces interfering to break them.
According to an AFP correspondent and official in the factions, the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham entered the fighting line by backing groups at the expense of another until it was able to control the entire Afrin territory for the first time.
The observatory claimed that an agreement was reached between the two combatants following a week of fighting, mandating that the authority receive institutions for services and the economy, establish security in Afrin, and station its personnel at the crossings dividing the forces of the regime and the Kurds.
The deal was expected to cover further territories, but two days after a cautious calm, clashes erupted between the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham and the Army of Islam and Levant Front separatists.
After that, the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al -Sham and the allied factions, including Al -Hamza and the Ahrar al -Sham movement, advanced on Monday night in the vicinity of the city of Azaz, which is the stronghold of the Shami Front.
Hundreds of people have protested against the commission’s entry into Afrin over the course of the last two days in a number of locations.
The Headquarters for the Liberation of Al -Sham took control of Idlib Governorate (northwest) in early 2019, after two years of intermittent clashes with other factions. Supply lines and border crossings have traditionally been made simpler by Turkey.
Fighting between Ankara-supporting groups in Syria has claimed 58 lives.
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