Syria
An SDF fighter stands next to an armored vehicle in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria in September 2023. Photo: AFP
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday announced they launched an operation against Turkish-backed forces while fending off attacks on multiple fronts.
The SDF “launched on Thursday an operation targeting the Turkish occupation bases in the villages of Bab al-Faraj and Abdul Hai in the town of Zarkan,” read a statement from the Kurdish-led force.
Zarkan is located south of Sari Kani and has been under the control of Turkey and its allied Syrian militias since 2019.
The SDF claimed it killed or wounded several militiamen.
At the same time, to the west, along the Euphrates River, the SDF said they clashed with militia groups at Deir Hafer, Tishreen Dam, and al-Sakawiyeh where they destroyed a weapons depot.
On Thursday and Friday morning, Turkish fighter jets struck areas around Tishreen Dam and Kobane, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Sources told the conflict monitor they heard loud explosions and saw smoke rising from the targeted sites.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry on Friday announced they had “neutralized 29 PKK/YPG terrorists.”
The YPG - People’s Defense Units - are the backbone of the SDF and accused by Turkey of being the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the YPG would experience a “bitter fate” if they choose to remain operational and not disband.
For more than a month, Turkey and the Syrian militia groups it supports, who call themselves the Syrian National Army (SNA), have carried out intense attacks on SDF-held areas near Manbij, including Tishreen Dam and Qere Qozaq bridge.
More than 100,000 people, most Kurds, have fled the fighting, according to Human Rights Watch, which accused the SNA of subjecting Kurds and Arabs in area under their control to “arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence, and unfair military trials, with thousands forcibly displaced, their property and land seized.”
According to SOHR, 401 people have been killed since December 12, including 36 civilians, 292 Turkish-backed militiamen, and 73 SDF and affiliated members.
On Saturday, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) appealed to the international community to halt the militia attacks on Tishreen Dam, warning the structure could collapse.
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