The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led armed alliance, said it has killed 52 Ankara-backed Syrian rebels in clashes around the strategic Tishrin dam in northeastern Syria's Aleppo province.
“The number of Turkish occupation mercenaries killed during clashes around the Tishrin Dam has risen to 52, including leaders, in addition to the destruction of two armored vehicles and a tank belonging to the mercenaries, and the control of a quantity of weapons and ammunition,” the Manbech Military Council, part of the FSD, said in a statement.
“After more than 12 hours of fighting, the mercenaries were forced to flee the area, where they gathered at a military point near the Tishrin dam, and became the target of our forces, which inflicted more deaths and injuries on them,” the statement said, adding that the violent clashes began in the morning.
So far, the Syrian National Army (SNA), made up of Syrian rebels who were formerly the Free Syrian Army and who are carrying out the offensive against Syrian Kurds, have not reacted to this information.
The Tishrin Dam, with a capacity of 2 million cubic metres of water, provides electricity to much of north-east Syria, where there are areas under the control of the SDF.
The force seized control of the dam in 2015 with the help of the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State terrorist group.
The recent clashes have been triggered after an alliance of insurgents led by the Levant Liberation Organization, heir to the al-Nusra Front (the former Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda), overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria on December 8.
On Tuesday, the United States announced an extension of the ceasefire declared on December 11 in Manbech between Türkiye and the SDF until the end of this week.
This Friday, the United States indicated that it continues to work with both parties to extend the ceasefire.EFE
Syrian Kurds kill 52 pro-Turkish Syrian rebels in offensive against dam
Syrian Kurdish militia fighters Photo: Kurdishstruggle - Kurdish YPG Fighters CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
I still maintain that Israel should not mix with the Kurds or the Syrians; they are engaged in a quasi-tribal struggle in which a state like Israel should not enter. I hope it does not. Enough already with the Yemeni and Gaza fronts.
What a pity that these Kurds are not direct neighbors of Israel, nor do they have their own country.
Let them continue to punish the mercenaries of the Turkish Sultan.