On January 3, clashes broke out between Turkish-backed militants and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) north of the town of Ain Issa in northern Raqqa.
The clashes began in the afternoon, when militants of the Syrian National Army (SNA) attacked the towns of Hwshan and al-Khalidiyah west of Ain Issa. The militants were attempting to block the M4 highway, which links Raqqa with al-Hasakah and Aleppo. However, SDF fighters repelled the attack.
The attack coincided with intense Turkish shelling on Ain Issa’s town center. According to the Hawar News Agency, two civilians, a woman and young man, were injured.
Click to see full-size image. Source: Hawar News Agency (ANHA)
The attack came only a day after the M4 was reopened by the Russian Military Police. Russian troops escorted civilian vehicles along the highway.
Following the attack, the Turkish Armed Forces began working to establish a post right north of Ain Issa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Two months ago, a similar post was established in the same area.
Last month, the SNA launched a large attack on Ain Issa with support from the Turkish Armed Forces. The attack was a complete failure.
Several units of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Arab Army are present in Ain Issa and its outskirt. Their presence has so far prevented a full-scale Turkish attack on the town. Yet, the SDF is refusing to cooperate further with government forces.
desperate sdf knows that the turks are coming and thus cry for help, dear mr president we’re up crap creek without a paddle you must save out juicy asses from the evil turks and the evil syrians etc etc.
Despite their so called successful victory over Eastern Syria the zios have already lost the global war they are fighting a already lost war led by Dajjal and iblis (L. A) and of course in reality they have even lost Eastern syria
The Syrian Government and the Russians both control the area in as much as they’re supposed to protect the Kurds from Turkish attacks, that’s the arrangement with the Syrian Government, but they don’t have any political say in SDF held territory, despite the fact they do control some of the infrastructure like the Al Tabqah dam and the military base nearby and a few other assets. The problem here is that Turkey stipulated in the Russian Turkish MOU that there could be no forces affiliated with the YPG terrorists near the Turkish safe zone, and Erdogan calls the SDF YPG affiliated forces, but the SDF keep insisting they’re no longer affiliated with the YPG, so they keep insisting they can stay. Which is bad news for the SAA, that’s provoking Erdogan to keep trying to push them out, and now the SAA soldiers and Russian’s are stuck in between them, it’s going to be difficult for the Turks to dislodge the SDF without killing any Russian or Syrian personnel. The funny thing is there are more SDF and YPG forces near the Turkish border in the US protected territory to the east than there are here, but Erdogan doesn’t do anything to remove the SDF/YPG from the eastern parts of Al Hasakah.
The M4 runs all the way along the Turkish safe zone, and at it’s best the buffer between the highway and the terrorist positions is about 5km, at it’s worst it’s only a few hundred meters, so in some places only a rifle shot away from passing traffic, so I don’t think this highway will ever be safe, not with the terrorists camped right next to it, I definitely wouldn’t be taking a cruise on it. But on the other hand the 712 highway that runs right through the Turkish safe zone is always open for business, no problems there, you could travel the whole length of that stretch and no one would shoot you. Which means the head choppers can trade as much as they like on the highway they stole, but the Syrian Government has to beg the Russians to provide safe escorts so they can do the same on their highway, mmm, who came up with this deal. And remember Assad’s doing a roaring trade up here in US controlled territory, even in the territory the US has an actual military presence, so he’d really love the highway reopened in this area, taking the long way around not only costs more money but foodstuffs get to their destination in a worse state.
In past year there were more SDF (PKK-YPG) attacked them…the so call SDF don’t have much to stand for anymore. Turkey can’t fight SAA as Russia back them so that would leave SDF as US fuk em over again…some people never learn.