AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – The sound of gunfire came to a halt after the residents of Afrin got used to it for more than a week, marking the end of clashes between a Turkish-backed faction and a terror-designated group.
The clashes stopped as a result of a Turkish-brokered agreement, but developments on the ground suggest that the deal carried hidden clauses that could change the trajectory of events in northwest Syria.
The Third Legion, a faction of the Turkish-backed opposition Syrian National Army (SNA), tried to repel the advance of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), but eventually the latter took control of the city of Afrin and the Jindires district in its countryside, ending a 10-day-long battle that killed 58 people, including civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Coinciding with HTS’ advances, some news were circulated suggesting the terror group’s intention to move towards Azaz, a strategic city in northern Syria controlled by the SNA. This pushed Ankara to intervene, through its intelligence service (MIT), and broker an agreement between the two parties, which stipulated that both sides have to return to their pre-battle areas.
Ten days after the agreement was reached and clashes stopped, the HTS’ Security Service are still present in Afrin and its countryside, taking residence in the headquarters of the SNA’s Levant Front and Jaysh al-Islam.
Developments on the ground suggest that the HTS now has much more influence than the Third Legion, which lost the the battle.
Nominal withdrawal
A day after the agreement, the residents of Afrin saw military vehicles flying the flag of HTS withdrawing from Afrin, and SNA-affiliated media rushed to circulate the event.
However, less than 24 hours ago on Wednesday and under the pretext of searching for drug users, militants of the HTS raided houses in the al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhood in the city center of Afrin, where militants of the Third Legion were staying. The fate of those whose homes were stormed by the HTS is yet to be known.
On the same day, a patrol of the HTS’ Security Service stormed a farm inhabited by former members of the SNA’s Jaysh al-Islam on the outskirts of Basouta village near the city of Afrin, and arrested three of them.
A local source told North Press, “The HTS militants who carried out the raid follow the leader Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi, who is responsible of HTS’ Security Service of Afrin.”
In a third incident on Wednesday, HTS raided a squatter camp in Afrin, looking for wanted militants of the Third Legion. Both sides exchanged gunfire in the camp, spreading fear and panic among the camp residents, despite the agreement stipulating a complete ceasefire.
For being a terror-listed group, the US embassy in Damascus demanded the HTS’ “immediate withdrawal” from the areas they controlled, in Aleppo northern countryside, during the clashes.
“We are alarmed by the recent incursion of HTS, a designated terrorist organization, into northern Aleppo,” the US embassy added.
Turkey’s lax attitude
Human rights abuses by the HTS’ still take place in Afrin before the eyes of Turkish forces, which have many outposts in the region, without the latter doing anything to prevent them or, at least, expressing a clear stance regarding the violations, according to what North Press correspondents have monitored in the region.
This coincides with talks suggesting a Turkish plan to merge the SNA factions into a new unified army under a central command.
“Turkish security sources say a single command and a single army will be forthcoming, although many attempts to create one previously have been futile. The reorganization will exclude HTS as it is not part of the SNA,” said a report published by the Middle East Eye, detailing the Turkish plan.
As ambiguity shrouds the scene, the question remains will HTS take the lead in the next chapter? The answer, however, is yet to be known.