Syria: Afrin Liberation Forces (HRE) fighters kill five Turkish-backed militants in Afrin
At least five Turkish-backed militants were killed in an infiltration operation by Kurdish forces near the northern Syrian city of Afrin, a war monitor reported on Saturday.
“The Afrin Liberation Forces [HRE] carried out an infiltration operation on military positions belonging to the [Syrian] National Army factions loyal to Turkey on the axes of Anab and Maryamin in Afrin countryside, northwest of Aleppo,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor.
Five Turkish-backed militants were killed in the clashes that ensued, according to the Observatory.
Afrin is a Kurdish city that was taken over by Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in a military operation against Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in 2018. Most of the Kurdish population fled and Turkish authorities resettled displaced Arabs from elsewhere in Syria into their vacated homes.