View of Manbij, northern Syria, on Jan. 4, 2025. (Credit: Aaref Watad/ AFP)
More than 100 fighters have been killed over the past two days in clashes in northern Syria between Turkey-backed armed factions and Kurdish forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Sunday.
Since Friday evening, fighting in villages around the city of Manbij has left 101 dead, including 85 members of pro-Turkey Syrian factions and 16 members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. In a statement, the SDF said they had repelled "all attacks by Turkish mercenaries supported by drones and Turkish airpower."
Pro-Turkish factions resumed their attacks against the SDF at the same time that Islamist rebel groups launched an offensive on Nov. 27 against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted from power 11 days later. The factions have since captured the cities of Manbij and Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province from the SDF. Clashes have continued, resulting in heavy casualties.
According to Abdel Rahman, the pro-Turkish forces aim to seize the cities of Kobani and Tabqa next, followed by Raqqa, with the ultimate goal of driving the SDF out of the territories they control. The SDF holds vast areas in northeastern Syria and parts of Deir ez-Zor province, where they established an autonomous administration after regime forces withdrew at the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Turkey views the SDF as an extension of its arch-enemy, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group based in Turkey. The Turkish military frequently targets Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Ahmad al-Shara, the new leader of Syria and head of the radical Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), stated that the SDF should be integrated into the future Syrian army. HTS led the coalition of rebel groups that declared the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8 after entering Damascus. Assad has since fled to Moscow, and the coalition now controls much of the country.
