In a predawn attack on Monday, 14 fighters were killed in an assault by a Kurdish group targeting areas controlled by Ankara-backed factions in northern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a local official.
The Kurdish fighters, affiliated with what is known as the “Afrin Liberation Forces,” exploited internal strife within a faction aligned with Ankara to launch their attack east of the city of al-Bab, one of the key cities held by factions aligned with Ankara, in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province.
According to the same source, the attack resulted in the killing of “14 members of the Ankara-aligned faction.” However, a local official reported that the casualties belonged to a splinter group that had separated from the Ankara-aligned faction earlier due to internal infighting.
The “Afrin Liberation Forces” is a group of Kurdish fighters who were compelled to leave after Turkey and Syrian factions aligned with it launched a military operation in 2018 in the border region of Afrin.
These fighters are present in areas where Kurdish fighters and Syrian regime forces are deployed north of the city of Aleppo.
Periodically, this group launches attacks against the Ankara-aligned factions that control a vast border area following three Turkish military operations that primarily targeted Kurdish fighters.
The border region witnesses intermittent internal clashes among rival factions competing for influence.
Residents accuse these factions of violations, including land and property seizures, agricultural crop confiscation, random arrests, and governing the area through the use of force and intimidation.
