ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expanded its control over stretches of eastern Aleppo after clashes with the rebel Syrian National Army (SNA), a war monitor reported on Thursday, with the fighting leaving 11 rebels dead.
“The SDF advanced in the eastern countryside of Aleppo after clashes with pro-Turkey factions. The SDF took control of the Babiri water pumping station, a major water source for Aleppo city, and took control of the town of Khafsa in southern Manbij countryside,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.
Eleven SNA militants were killed in the clashes, the Observatory added, and the Kurdish-led force expanded towards the Kuwairis military airport in Aleppo.
In a statement, the SDF said that “a number of Turkish occupation mercenaries” were killed during clashes with the Kurdish-led force near Manbij.
Turkey-backed opposition militants launched an offensive against the SDF in the northwestern region of Shahba near Afrin, which includes the town of Tal Rifaat. Both sides reached an unannounced deal to allow the safe movement of people to other Kurdish-held areas.
This comes amid an escalation of violence in the north of the country, as a coalition of Syrian rebel groups spearheaded by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched a major offensive against the Syrian army over the past week. They took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and advanced their offensive into Hama province.
At least 713 people, mostly combatants but also 110 civilians, have been killed since fighting erupted in Syria a week ago, according to the Observatory.
