Turkey intervenes to keep in effect “fragile” agreement in Syria’s Afrin
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Late on Monday, Turkey intervened to keep the agreement signed between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) and factions of Syrian National Army (SNA) to stop fighting in Afrin region, northern Syria.
On October 13, the HTS invaded the city of Afrin and its countryside in Aleppo northern countryside and took over the region completely without much fighting. Fierce clashes have going on between the warring parties in the eastern countryside of Afrin, namely the village of Kafr Janneh.
A military source from Sultan Murad Division, a faction affiliated with the Turkish-backed SNA was quoted as saying, “Turkish intelligence [services] met HTS and Hayat Thaeroon [for Liberation] at Bab al-Hawa border crossing, north of Idlib, to reach a mechanism that could halt military acts.”
Sultan Murad Division is a faction affiliated with Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation that was established on January 23, 2022 including then Sultan Suleiman Shah Division, al-Hamza Division and Mu’tasim Division led by Fahim Issa.
Before the meeting, clashes were renewed however more violently, as a result, the HTS took over Kafr Janneh with reports emerging it intends to head towards the city of Azaz further eastward.
The source added, on condition of anonymity, that the Turkish intelligence ordered the HTS to “hand over military and security headquarters in Kafr Janneh and Qatmah to Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation as a third party.”
Thaeroon remained neutral in the factional fighting between Third Legion of SNA and HTS that led to the takeover by HTS of the city of Afrin, Jindires and its countryside.
Afrin, a Kurdish city in the north of Aleppo, has been under the occupation of Turkey since March 2018 following a military operation called “Olive Branch” which resulted in the displacement of about 300.000 people of the original inhabitants of the city and its countryside.
The city and its countryside witnessed fighting between HTS along with Sultan Suleiman Shah (al-Amshat) faction and al-Hamza Division on one hand, and Levant Front along with Third Legion and Ahrar al-Sham faction on the other.
The fighting ended with the control of the HTS over Afrin and its countryside.
On October 14, the HTS agreed with the Third Legion on a number of terms the most notable ones were the return of Third Legion forces to their headquarters in Afrin and its sub-districts. However, that did not last for a long time a clashes erupted with more intensity.
The Third Legion did not attend the meeting, which the source considered the party that breached the agreement. Recent clashes showed non-abidance by militants to orders issued by Third Legion leadership.
After the meeting, Sultan Murad Division, representing Thaeroon, was handed over the Ministry of Defence, Central Security Building and Kafr Janneh prison and its militants were deployed to checkpoints while the Third Legion retreated to Azaz and HTS retreated to Sharan.
Since Monday night caution was observed on frontlines while Turkish helicopters were hovering Azaz and Kafr Janneh to monitor the handover.