HTS sends reinforcements to Syria’s Afrin 

IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) sent military reinforcements to the city of Afrin in northwestern Syria due to violent clashes erupted in the city of Azaz, since Monday evening.

The reinforcements, which set off from the town of Atmeh, north of Idlib, included four-wheel vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns, in addition to more than 100 infantrymen with their full equipment, who crossed the Ghazawiya crossings, heading towards the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, military sources told North Press.

These reinforcements coincided with the move of more than seven military convoys by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), towards the city of Azaz, under the pretext of resolving the conflict in the city and protecting the Afrin-Azaz road, the sources added.

Heavy clashes erupted on Tuesday between a military group under the command of the so-called Abu Zayd Hassano, the director of the Molham Volunteering Team in the city of Azaz, north of Aleppo, and other groups affiliated with the Turkish-backed Northern Storm Brigade, casualties from both sides were reported. 

The sources pointed out that these reinforcements came to protect the interests of HTS and its allies in the region and to highlight its image globally as the best option for protecting Afrin, similar to its intervention in Jindires, last month.

On March 21, the HTS took full control of the town of Jindires in the countryside of Afrin, north of Aleppo, after the crime of killing the five Kurdish civilians celebrating the Newroz, to withdraw later immediately.

The HTS had already taken control of several areas in Afrin, but withdrew from it under Turkish pressure, while North Press monitored the deployment of HTS members in the uniform of military factions loyal to it within the SNA.

Reporting by Hani Salem