Intense fighting among rival foreign-sponsored Takfiri militant groups in the restive northwestern part of Syria has provided the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists with the opportunity to wrest control over the predominantly Kurdish city of Afrin in Aleppo province, which had been held by Turkish-backed forces.
Faraan: On Thursday, HTS members pushed heavily armed convoys into Afrin and the surrounding countryside, and they are now reportedly heading towards the city of Azaz, located 32 kilometers (roughly 20 miles) northwest of Aleppo.
Local sources said at least a dozen militants have also been killed since last week, when a hit squad affiliated to the Hamzah Division of the Turkish-backed and so-called Syrian National Army (SNA) shot dead Muhammad Abdul Latif, a prominent activist commonly known as Abo Ghanoum.
Abo Ghanoum’s killing subsequently outraged the residents of al-Bab city, where he lived and died. The latest developments prompted locals to demand the dissolution of the Hamzah Division. A rocket attack targets a military facility which houses American occupation forces in northeastern Syria. “The Hamzah Division is a group of displaced fighters from Aleppo that enjoy Turkish intelligence and military support, and it receives special support from Turkish experts to develop local armored vehicles similar to Turkish ones,” a source said on condition of anonymity.
Locally, the Hamzah Division is nicknamed “Turkey’s spoiled child.” The HTS, by far the strongest remaining militant group in Aleppo, has allied with former foes including the Hamzah Division, Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, Ahrar al-Sham and the remnants of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, all terror outfits belonging to the so-called Syrian National Army. Afrin has been under control of Turkey and its allied militant groups since 2018, following a Turkey-backed military operation that pushed Syrian Kurdish fighters and thousands of Kurdish residents from the area.
