At least 14 fighters from an area controlled by pro-Turkish factions were killed by a Kurdish group in northern Syria on Monday, a faction leader and an NGO said.
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Members of the Afrin Liberation Forces group took advantage of factional fighting that broke out after midnight around al-Bab in Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.
With artillery support, the Kurdish group entered the area and launched an attack that left “at least 14 dead” and several injured, all pro-Turkish fighters, OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane reported.
When the ambush took place, the factions were fighting over territorial issues and influence, added the director of the UK-based NGO, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria.
The faction leader confirmed the death toll but told AFP that the fighters belonged to a formation that defected from pro-Turkish groups.
The “Afrin Liberation Forces” are Kurdish fighters who had to leave the Afrin region in northwestern Syria during a Turkish offensive a few years ago and are now mainly present in the Aleppo province (north).
Since 2016, Turkey has launched three offensives on Syrian soil against Kurdish forces in the north, gaining control of a 120 km long border strip on the Syrian side.
A 2019 Russian-brokered deal allowed Syrian government troops to deploy along parts of the border area in return for Turkey stopping an offensive that had begun.
The peaceful uprising in Syria, which degenerated into a civil war, has claimed more than half a million lives. Almost half of Syrians are now refugees or displaced people.