Infighting, insecurity prevail in NE Syria’s Sere Kaniye
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in the northern countryside of Hasakah Governorate, northeast Syria, witnesses fighting almost on daily basis among Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), that control the area.
The fighting breaks out due to conflicts among the SNA factions over stolen goods, smuggling fees and other violations they commit.
In October 2019, Turkish forces, with the support of the SNA factions, launched the military operation “Peace Spring” against Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad under the pretext of pushing the fighters of the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) away from the Turkish border with Syria.
As a result, they seized many areas in the abovementioned areas and displaced approximately 300,000 civilians, human rights reports said.
The Turkish-occupied areas in north and northeastern Syria continue to witness a state of security chaos and instability amid the SNA factions’ inability to maintain the situation.
On Wednesday, clashes took place between two armed factions on smuggling fees in the countryside of Sere Kaniye.
One of the residents told North Press that “Fighting broke out between two groups affiliated with Shohadaa Badr faction, run the western countryside of Sere Kaniye, on the fees of smuggling operations to Turkey.”
The militants of the aforementioned faction smuggle Syrian refugees into Turkey for thousands of dollars, according to previous information obtained by North Press.
A resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said that they heard sounds of gunfire with machine guns and RPG shells between the militants of the abovementioned groups in the village of Abu al-Son in the western countryside of Sere Kaniye to be resolved by another faction.
Opposition media reported that armed men of Thaeroon faction blocked the road on Khaled al-Semo, near the village of Safah, in the countryside of Sere Kaniye, and took his motorcycle and $300.
An eyewitness told North Press that al-Semo works as a technician in Sere Kaniye and the armed men interrupted him in an area near his work place, which is only 200km far from a Turkish military point.
Last week protests and a strike took place in Sere Kaniye, rejecting insecurity in the city.
The strike coincided with ceremonies of mourning Muhammad Barhawi, a goldsmith in the city, who was shot dead on June 30 by two unknown attackers in front of his house in the city center.
Some videos were circulated on social media for protestors, chanting several chants including, “Peace Spring is unsafe” to denote the reality in which they live.
This coincided with similar protests in Tel Halaf area, west of Sere Kaniye, against the backdrop of the decision to close pharmacies and keep a few of them, which prompted the Civil Police to beat the protesters.
On July 3, militants of the SNA shot a boy selling ice cream in Sere Kaniye because he refused to sell them for free, which resulted in his death in one of the Turkish hospitals.