The town of Afrin and the encircling countryside, which had been held by Turkish-backed forces, have been invaded by HTS members on Thursday, and they’re now reportedly making their method to Azaz, a metropolis 32 kilometers (roughly 20 miles) northwest of Aleppo.
Native sources mentioned not less than a dozen militants have additionally been killed since final week, when a success squad affiliated to the Hamzah Division of the Turkish-backed and so-called Syrian Nationwide Army (SNA) shot useless Muhammad Abdul Latif, a distinguished activist generally generally known as Abo Ghanoum.
Abo Ghanoum’s killing subsequently outraged the residents of al-Bab metropolis, the place he lived and died. The newest developments prompted locals to demand the dissolution of the Hamzah Division.
“The Hamzah Division is a gaggle of displaced fighters from Aleppo that get pleasure from Turkish intelligence and navy help, and it receives particular help from Turkish specialists to develop native armored autos just like Turkish ones,” a supply mentioned on situation of anonymity.
Regionally, the Hamzah Division is nicknamed “Turkey’s spoiled baby.”
The HTS, by far the strongest remaining militant group in Aleppo, has allied with former foes together with the Hamzah Division, Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, Ahrar al-Sham and the remnants of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Motion, all terror outfits belonging to the so-called Syrian Nationwide Army.
Afrin has been underneath management of Turkey and its allied militant teams since 2018, following a Turkey-backed navy operation that pushed Syrian Kurdish fighters and 1000’s of Kurdish residents from the realm.
Since then, Afrin and surrounding villages have been the location of assaults on Turkish and Turkey-backed targets. Turkey has deployed forces in Syria in violation of the Arab nation’s territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants have been deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish navy forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared try and push militants of the Kurdish Individuals’s Safety Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist group tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Staff’ Social gathering (PKK), which has been in search of an autonomous Kurdish area in Turkey since 1984.
The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria says the Turkish offensive has killed tons of of civilians, together with dozens of youngsters because it began.
Turkey has performed a significant position in supporting terrorists in Syria ever since a significant foreign-backed insurgency overtook the nation greater than ten years in the past.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and different senior officers have mentioned the Damascus authorities will reply by all respectable means obtainable to the continuing floor offensive by Turkish forces and allied Takfiri militants within the northern a part of the war-battered Arab nation.
