Deadly clashes renew between Turkish, US proxy militias outside Aleppo
The SDF says Turkish-backed extremists are 'threatening' makeshift prison camps in US-occupied Syria that hold tens of thousands of ISIS members and their families
Clashes restarted in the countryside of Aleppo on 12 December between Turkish-sponsored extremists who successfully staged a coup in Syria earlier this week and Kurdish fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
According to local reports, the fighting broke out in the vicinity of Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates River when militants from the Syrian National Army (SNA) attacked SDF positions.
The clashes started less than a day after Washington said it successfully brokered a deal between the SNA and the SDF to “de-escalate” days of battles in and around the city of Manbij that have killed dozens of civilians.
“We have reached an agreement to cease fire in Manbij with American mediation to preserve the security and safety of civilians, with the exit of our fighters from the city,” SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi announced on Wednesday.
“Our commitment to our partnership with the Syrian Kurds, especially the Syrian Democratic Forces, is deep and resolute, and that commitment exists because we are in a partnership with them to fight ISIS,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, hours before the SNA–SDF clashes restarted.
An ally of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the SNA is a Turkish proxy comprised of former fighters from armed groups that sought to topple the Syrian government since 2011. Fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Al-Qaeda, and ISIS all joined the SNA, which Ankara used for years as a tool to prevent the Kurdish-led SDF from establishing a contiguous Kurdish autonomous zone from Afrin in Syria’s northwest to Hasakah in Syria’s northeast.
Tishreen Dam, the second largest power station in Syria, has been under the control of the US-backed Kurds since December 2015, when they captured it from ISIS. The dam serves as a central supply line between Aleppo and Raqqa.
As the violence continues in the Aleppo countryside, the SDF is also feeling the pressure of the new status quo in Raqqa and Hasakah in Syria's north and east, as hundreds took to the streets to demand an end to SDF rule.
According to local reports, at least two were killed and nine injured by SDF security forces who opened fire on the protesters. In Hasakah, local reports said SDF troops also used live ammunition to disperse protesters, calling for the end of their rule.
In neighboring Deir Ezzor, local Arab tribes accused the SDF on Wednesday of “heavy-handed actions” to suppress protests, which reportedly resulted in civilian deaths.
During an interview with CNN on Wednesday, the SDF chief said that the deteriorating situation across Kurdish-controlled Syria “threatens” dozens of makeshift prison camps that hold thousands of ISIS members and their families.
“With the increasing threats that faced the city of Manbij, we relocated ISIS detainees from the prisons there to other, more secure detention facilities,” Abdi said.
“As Turkiye-backed factions advanced toward the city center, cells launched attacks on detention centers holding both civilians and terrorists. Currently, detention centers in both Raqqa and Hasakah are facing similar threats, necessitating enhanced cooperation and additional security measures to protect these sites.”
Hebrew media reported on Thursday that the SDF has been pleading for Israeli assistance “in light of the seizure of territories from them by Islamist militias backed by Turkiye.”
In mid-July, authorities from the SDF-controlled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) issued a general amnesty that secured the release of over 1,500 Syrian ISIS fighters convicted of terrorism-related offenses, provided they “did not participate directly in combat” against the SDF.
The SDF was formed in 2015 with US assistance in a race to occupy Syria's energy-rich regions after Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia helped the Syrian army defeat ISIS. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) make up the backbone of the SDF.
In 2022, US military officials described the SDF-run prison camps in northeast Syria as an ISIS “army in waiting” and its “next generation.”