Clashes with Turkey-backed militias continue in Ain Issa: SDF

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Fighting between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkey-backed militias continues to rage in the strategic town of Ain Issa in northern Syria, a spokesperson for the SDF told Rudaw on Saturday. American guarantors of a ceasefire in the area say they are monitoring the situation.

“Clashes continue after one week of bombardment” by Turkey-backed forces, said Gabriel Kino, adding the SDF will respond to any attack on their forces.

Ain Issa is located on the international M4 highway and connects several SDF-controlled areas. It lies just south of territory seized by Turkey and its proxies last year and has been a focal point of recent clashes. On Friday, two civilians were reportedly killed in the clashes.

Fighting continued on Saturday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and SDF-affiliated Hawar News Agency (ANHA), which said the Syrian militias have not made any progress.

The situation in the area is “complicated” with many forces involved, said Kino.

"We are in contact with the US forces and other forces in the Coalition to fight Daesh [Islamic State] terrorists in northeast Syria. Meanwhile, Russian forces are also in the area. The situation is complicated and all of them have their own interests in the area," he said.

The United States and Russia both brokered ceasefires with Ankara in October 2019 to end Turkey’s offensive into northern Syria. The truces reduced tensions but failed to end the conflict and Kurds have complained that Washington and Moscow are not fulfilling their roles as guarantors.

US Special Envoy for Syria, Joel Rayburn, told Rojava Research Center (RIC) in early December that, "For us, we remain ready to use our leverage, if we have to, things like sanctions, to help to preserve that ceasefire agreement. There are some actors that would like to destabilize the ceasefire arrangement in north-eastern Syria."

Russia has reportedly attempted to persuade the SDF to hand over Ain Issa to regime forces in order to stop Turkish attacks – a proposal rejected by the SDF.

Amina Omar, co-chair of Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) – the political arm of the SDF – told Rudaw on Friday that "Russia pressures the SDF to push it to hand over Ain Issa to Damascus."

Turkey and its proxies control stretches of northern Syria, including parts of Aleppo and Idlib provinces, and a so-called “safe zone” between Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) in northeast Syria that was seized by Ankara’s proxies after Operation Peace Spring, which displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians last October.

Clashes with Turkey-backed militias continue in Ain Issa: SDF

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