This week in northern Syria
#49: November 11 - 17
11/11/23: A fighter belonging to SNA coalition Harakat al-Tahrir wa’l-Bina’ - reportedly a member of Jaysh al-Sharqiyah - was killed in an attack on one of the group’s checkpoints near the al-Hammam border crossing between Turkey and the Afrin region. Two other fighters were reportedly injured in the attack, carried out by still unknown assailants.
11/11/23: The SDF identified an Islamic State commander in its custody as a Muhammed Sakhr al-Bakr, or Khalid al-Shami, reportedly arrested earlier in a al-Raqqah city raid earlier in the month. According to the SDF al-Bakr was a local military commander who had participated in the deadly al-Sina’a prison breakout attempt of January 2022.
11/11/23: An explosion occurred at a reported hilltop SDF arms depot located approximately fifteen kilometers south of Manbij city, likely caused by a Turkish drone strike. Prior to the war the hill was the site of three telecommunications towers. Since the area came under SDF control an additional tower has been erected while tunnels were dug beginning sometime between mid 2017 and early 2019, a clear sign of SDF activity.
The hilltop targeted: multiple tunnel entrances are visible on satellite imagery, all dug within the last 4-6 years. 11/11/23: SyriaTV and other opposition-linked sources reported that Furqat al-Sultan Murad commander Fahim ‘Isa was stepping down from his position as commander of the SNA’s Second Legion. According to SyriaTV this came in anticipation of coming Turkish-orchestrated changes to the SNA’s three legions as well as frustration on the part of ‘Isa over the abandonment of Furqat al-Sultan Murad by both other SNA factions and Turkey during its showdown with HTS and allied Tajammu’ al-Shahba’ earlier this year. Fahim ‘Isa and Furqat al-Sultan Murad - ostensibly an ethnically Turkmen faction but seemingly fielding many Arabs or Arabized Turkmen - has been one of Turkey’s closest allies within the Syrian opposition since the founding of the group in 2013. Due to these ties Furqat al-Sultan Murad was involved in the CIA’s Operation Timber Sycamore, a clandestine train and equip program orchestrated in collaboration with other regional sponsors of the Syrian opposition from 2014-2017. Additionally Sultan Murad was one of the primary SNA factions responsible for orchestrating Turkey’s recruitment and deployment of Syrian mercenaries to the Libyan and Karabakhi battle fields in 2019 and 2020. This reported disgruntlement on the part of ‘Isa points to both failure of the SNA’s legion system at institutionalization as well as Turkey’s seeming disinterest in actively privileging its allies over their intra-SNA rivals and, more existentially, HTS.
11/12/23: Members of SNA faction Furqat al-Sultan Suleiman Shah raided a recently constructed IDP village outside the Afrin town of Ma’batli, reportedly shooting at and wounding at least three civilians belonging to the al-Mawali tribe. According to SyriaTV the incident was sparked by two local Suleiman Shah commanders attempting to seize some of the newly built apartment blocks. Other sources reported that the militants were looking for a wanted person and were attacked with stones by the individual’s relatives.
11/12/23: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed a drone attack on the US base at the ‘Green Village’/al-Omar oil field. The US military responded to this attack an others targeting US bases in Syria (Nov 11: Rmeilan) and Iraq with a series of airstrikes reportedly targeting IRGC and allied group sites in the Deiri cities of Abu Kamal and Mayadin.
11/13/23: Missiles reportedly fired by IRGC-linked groups landed in the Deir ez-Zour town of al-’Izbah, allegedly causing civilian casualties. Al-’Izbah is located approximately 7.5km from the US base at the Conoco gas plant.
11/13/23: Sheikh of the al-’Agidat tribe Mus’ab al-Hifl (elder brother of Ibrahim al-Hifl) was reportedly denied entry into Syria by the SDF at the Semalka crossing with Iraqi Kurdistan. According to opposition sources this occurred after al-Hifl, a resident of Qatar, rejected the SDF’s demand that he hold a joint press conference with SDF commander Mazloum ‘Abdi. Meanwhile the SDF’s Hajin Military Council claimed al-Hifl’s trip was cancelled due to his failure to coordinate with the international Coalition (the US).
11/13/23: The UN announced it would continue providing cross-border aid via the Bab al-Salamah and al-Ra’i border crossings into Turkish/SNA-controlled northern Aleppo for at least another three months, after getting the go ahead from the Syrian regime. Permission to use these crossing for UN aid had been granted by the regime following February’s earthquake. Prior to that the UN had only been using the Bab al-Hawa crossing into Idlib, as Russia had used its Security Council seat to block the UN from several previously used crossings outside regime control.
11/14/23: SDF component group Quwwat al-Shamal al-Dimuqrati - commonly translated Northern Democratic Forces but more accurately translated as the Democratic North Forces - announced the ‘martyrdom’ of military commander Ahmad Mustafa al-Mustafa. The group didn’t specify how he was killed but pro-opposition media reported he was assassinated by unknown gunmen. The Democratic North Forces is largely made up of former FSA fighters who allied with the YPG after falling under attacks at the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra, forming the basis of the SDF alongside other non-Kurdish factions in 2016. According to the ‘martyrdom’ statement Ahmad Mustafa fought in Idlib prior to fighting in various battles across northern and eastern Syria under the SDF banner.
11/15/23: A Turkish drone strike killed an SDF fighter in the village of Boughaz, located about twenty kilometers south of Kobani.
11/17/23: A series of tribal attacks were reported targeting the SDF in central Deir ez-Zour. Such reports appear to occur approximately once a day, however they largely appear to take place at night meaning that if there are videos of said attacks they are nearly impossible to confirm. Additionally the SDF and SDF-aligned media rarely report on these attacks unless there are casualties involved making the scope of the insurgency difficult to corroborate.
11/17/23: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed a double drone attack on the US base at Tell Baydar in northwestern al-Hasakah. Earlier in the week the coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias claimed several attacks against US bases in Deir ez-Zour.
11/17/23: Syrian businessman Ghassan ‘Aboud informed his employees that Orient News would be shutting down completely by the end of the year. Orient News was founded in Damascus in 2008 as a Syrian satellite TV channel, forced abroad two years later after its offices were raided by state security forces, first to the UAE until 2017, finally relocating to its current headquarters in Istanbul. The television channel and affiliated Orient Net online newspaper have served as two of the primary pro-opposition news outlets since the war began in 2011.
