Four Syrian Army Service Members, SDF Fighters Killed In Unusual Al-Hasakah Clashes

On March 1, unusual clashes broke out between Syrian Arab Army (SAA) service members and a unit of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the town of Tell Tamer in the northern al-Hasakah countryside.

An official of the SAA told the Syrian Arab News Agency that the service members, who were manning a post in the outskirts of the village of Ghuzlia, were attacked by SDF fighters after intercepting a convoy of the US-led coalition.

“SDF militiamen attacked the said post with machine guns and mortar shells,” the state-run news agency quoted the unnamed official as saying.

From its side, the SDF’s Tell Tamer Military Council claimed that its fighters responded to a “provocative attack” by the SAA in the outskirts of Ghuzlia.

The clashes, which ended within a few hours, claimed the lives of two service members of the SAA, including an officer, and two SDF fighters.

The SAA and the Russian Military Police established a network of posts in Tell Tamer and its surroundings in October of 2019 to reinforce an agreed upon ceasefire between the SDF and Turkish forces, who were conducting a large-scale military operation in northeastern Syria back then.

For the last few months, the SAA and local pro-government supporters have been intercepting US-led coalition convoys near Tell Tamer. This may have been what motivated the SDF’s attack on the SAA’s Ghuzlia post.

There have been much tensions between the SDF and government forces in al-Hasakah. Less than a week ago, the US-backed group occupied a building of the Damascus government in the town of al-Qamishli, to the north of Tell Tamer. Despite these tensions, the chances of any confrontation between the two remain slim.

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