Kurdish forces in Syria progressed Monday in the northern province of Aleppo, despite three days of bombing Turkish artillery, reported the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH).
“The fighting raged since Sunday in a western district of Tall Rifaat between the Democratic Forces for Syria (SDS) and the rebels,” he told AFP Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Observatory. The SDS is a coalition led by the YPG, main Kurdish militia including Syria and the Syrian Arab fighters.
“At least 26 rebels were killed in the fighting,” according to the Observatory, which has a wide network of sources across Syria.
Tall Rifaat is one of the last three rebel strongholds in the northern province of Aleppo. This small town that has escaped the control of the army in 2012 was held by Islamist insurgents backed by Turkey, including Ahrar al-Sham, Liwa al-Fateh and Jabha Chamiyé.
On Sunday, 350 fighters of another Islamist faction, al-Sham Faylaq, came from Turkey to come to reinforce the rebels Tall Rifaat, according to OSDH.
The Turkish artillery continued to hit Monday for the third consecutive day the road west of Tall Rifaat to try to cut off reinforcements FDS.
But despite these attacks, the coalition led by the Kurds managed to seize Kfarnaya Monday, two km south of Tall Rifaat, according to OSDH.
In this battle of Aleppo, the Kurds, who have aligned themselves with either the regime or the rebels, mainly want to join their regions and achieve their ultimate goal of independence.
In the complex conflict in Syria, where the territory is divided up between the regime of Bashar al-Assad, rebels, jihadists and Kurds, they found themselves at the forefront of the fight against the Islamic State of ultraradicaux (EI) .
Taking Kafrnaya, Kurdish forces and their Arab allies “are no longer just 8 km from the territory of EI in the province of Aleppo,” said Abdel Rahman.
In this province also divided between the various belligerents, rebels suffered setback after setback since the beginning of the offensive of the army of the regime supported by the Russian strikes. They now find themselves caught between the EI, the Kurds and the regime.
AFP