More than 100 fighters have been killed in clashes between Turkish-backed groups and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria over the past two days. A war monitoring agency reported this information on Sunday.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 101 people have been killed in clashes in several villages around the city of Manbij since Friday evening local time. Among those killed were 85 members of Türkiye-backed groups and 16 SDF fighters.
On the other hand, in a statement, the SDF said it had “repelled all attacks by Turkish drones and air-supported mercenaries”.
Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria resumed fighting with the SDF just as Islamist rebels launched an offensive on November 27. That operation ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in just 11 days. They managed to capture the towns of Manbij and Tal Rifat in Aleppo province from the SDF.
However, the conflict still continues and there is a heavy loss of life.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory, said the Turkish-backed groups aimed to capture the cities of Kobani and Tabqa, then advance to Raqqa.
The SDF currently controls parts of northeastern Syria and Deir Ezzor province. After the civil war broke out, the Kurds established an autonomy there when government forces withdrew.
The US-backed group recaptured most of its territory from Islamic State militants, including Raqqa.
Turkey considers the SDF to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency in southeastern Turkey and is banned by the government as a terrorist organization. The Turkish military regularly attacks Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of being linked to the PKK.
Meanwhile, Syria’s new leader and head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Shara, said earlier that the SDF would be part of the Syrian army in the future. HTS led a coalition of anti-Assad rebel groups and ousted Assad last month.