Clashes occurred between the
Levant Front and the
Hamza Division, two factions of the
Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, across the
Turkish-occupied areas of the
Aleppo Governorate
Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of t ...
on 10 October 2022, as part of the on-going
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
in
Syria.
[ On 12 October, the Sunni Islamist group ]Tahrir al-Sham
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...
(HTS) joined the fighting on the side of the Hamza Division, entering the Afrin region
Afrin Region ( ku, Herêma Efrînê, ar, إقليم عفرين, syc, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܥܦܪܝܢ, translit=Ponyotho d'Afrin) is the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The region pr ...
.[
]
Background
On 7 October, gunmen shot and killed media activist Muhammad Abdul Latif, also known as Abu Ghannoum, and his wife in the city of al-Bab
Al-Bab ( ar, الْبَاب / ALA-LC: ''al-Bāb'') is a city, ''de jure'' administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate of the Syrian Arab Republic. As of December 2016, the city is under the control of pro-Turkish militias, as part of ...
. The Third Legion, led by the Levant Front, found on 10 October that a group of Hamza Division fighters was responsible for the killing, sparking the clashes.[
]
Clashes
The Third Legion launched an attack on the Hamza Division on the evening of 10 October, expelling the Hamza Division from al-Bab and capturing the group's headquarters on the outskirts of the city. The next day, additional groups joined the fighting, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Sultan Suleiman Shah Division (al-Amshat), and Ahrar al-Sham on the side of the Hamza Division,[ and the Liberation and Construction Movement and remnants of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement on the side of the Third Legion. The Sham Legion opened the road between Afrin and the Idlib Governorate, allowing HTS to enter Afrin, taking control of Jindires on 12 October and entering Afrin city itself on 13 October. The Levant Front withdrew from Afrin towards ]Azaz
Azaz ( ar, أَعْزَاز, ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census. .
Also on 13 October, HTS captured the villages of Sennarah, Anqalah and Marwaniyah in Sheikh Hadeed in the Afrin countryside and attacked the village of Kafr Jannah, but were beaten back by fighters of the Levant Front. 5 HTS fighters were killed in the attack. Furthermore, a fighter of Ahrar al-Sham was killed in clashes with Jaysh al-Islam in Susyan town in Al-Bab countryside.Sharran
Sharran ( ar, شران, also spelled Sharan or Shiran) is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Aleppo Governorate, located northwest of Aleppo near the Turkish border. Nearby localities include Azaz and Qatma to the east an ...
in the Afrin countryside. By 18 October, at least 58 people had been killed in the clashes.
On 19 October the clashes ended as both sides reached a ceasefire agreement.
Reactions
Protests and demonstrations were held across multiple opposition controlled towns in northern Syria against the entry of HTS to the region.
See also
* Idlib Governorate clashes (June 2020)
* Tahrir al-Sham–Junud al-Sham conflict
References
{{Syrian Civil War
2022 in Syria
Aleppo Governorate in the Syrian civil war
Northern_Aleppo_clashes
Northern_Aleppo_clashes
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving Ahrar al-Sham
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving Tahrir al-Sham