This week in northern Syria
#55: December 23 - 29
12/23/23: Turkey launched a series of airstrikes targeting at least four sites in AANES-controlled northeastern al-Hasakah governorate. This came in conjunction with airstrikes targeting the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan following an attack carried out by the group there that killed at least twelve Turkish soldiers. The confirmed strikes in northern Syria targeted the al-'Awdah oil station (location), the al-Sa’idah oil station (location), and the Banî Şiftekî (or “7th”) oil station located southeast of Dêrik/al-Malikiyah near the Iraqi border. The Cooperative Agricultural Bank outside the town of Tirbespî/al-Qahtaniyah was reportedly struck as well, though no footage of the aftermath was later published.
12/25/23: Turkish airstrikes resumed, this time striking around two dozen sites in al-Qamishli, Kobanî, and ‘Amude. Unlike previous rounds of strikes focused on military/security and energy infrastructure, Turkey’s December 25th attacks were concentrated on industrial and agricultural sites, including numerous warehouses and factories dedicated to food supplies and production, animal feed, straw, harvested cotton, construction and electrical materials, textiles, and a printing press, in addition to a banquet hall in ‘Amude, an oxygen plant located at a dialysis center in al-Qamishlî, and a medical center in Kobanî. While some of these such as construction goods can likely be classified as ‘dual use’ given the SDF’s extensive use of tunnels, most of these are clearly civilian sites, many privately owned. According to the AANES eight civilians were killed in the attacks throughout the day.
The Jarizah Feed Factory in al-Qamishli (source) 
The Meshtanour medical center in Kobanî (source) 12/26/23: Turkey carried out another round of airstrikes targeting approximately a dozen sites in northeastern Syria. This day’s attacks were largely characterized by the targeting of Asayish checkpoints located at various city entrance points. Turkey reportedly struck seven such checkpoints: al-Na’matiyah east of al-Qamishli, the southern and eastern entrances to ‘Amude, the western, southwestern, southern, and eastern entrances to Kobanî, in addition to an Asayish facility located on the ‘Amude/al-Qamishli road. Several civilian houses in the town of al-Darbasiyah were reportedly damaged in shelling as well.
the al-Na’matiyah Asayish checkpoint east of al-Qamishli (source) 12/27/23: SNA faction al-Quwwah al-Mushtarikah, comprised of factions Furqat al-Hamzah and Furqat al-Sultan Suleiman Shah, published a video detailing an undated attack on SDF (or HRE) positions along the Afrin/al-Shahba’ front lines. The video consists of drone surveillance feed of the military sites in the ‘Aqibe forest and Go-Pro footage filmed by attackers. It’s unclear from the video what the results of the raid were though it’s of note as until very recently SNA groups had never publicized offensive ground operations against the SDF in the area. This change corresponds with Furqat al-Sultan Suleiman Shah’s takeover of the front from al-Jabhah al-Shamiyah in late 2022, during the brief HTS invasion of Afrin.
An SDF/HRE position in the ‘Aqibe forest (location) 12/27/23: A motorcycle bomb detonated on Servis street in the eastern Ashrafiyah neighborhood of Afrin city, killing a child and wounding four others. The suspected perpetrator of the attack, identified as an IDP from the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, was reportedly arrested by the Civil Police and security officials from SNA faction al-Quwwah al-Mushtarikah, however motivations behind the attack remain unknown.
12/27/23: SDF-aligned group Hêzên Rizgariye Efrînê shelled the al-Bab municipal complex, targeting the Civil Police center while reportedly also damaging the adjacent court house, the Education Directorate, the local PTT office among other sites, and injuring two.
Red: central security compound including Civil Police headquarters, Blue: PTT office, Yellow: Education Directorate 12/28/23: The AANES announced that Hifl ‘Abboud Jad’an al-Hifl visited the joint presidency of the Deir ez-Zour provincial Executive Council from the United States, his current place of residence. This is part of broader efforts on the SDF at placating the regional insurgency oriented around Ibrahim al-Hifl, relative of the aforementioned Hifl al-Hifl. Meanwhile tribal attacks against the SDF were reported over the course of the week.
center: Hifl ‘Abboud Jad’an al-Hifl 12/29/23: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed two attacks against US bases in Syria, “Kharab al-Jir” or the “Rmeilan Landing Zone (RLZ)” and the base in al-Shaddadi. Earlier ‘Islamic Resistance’ attacks this week included a December 25th drone attack on the Green Village in Deir ez-Zour, a December 26th rocket attack targeting al-Shaddadi, and a December 28th rocket attack targeting Conoco oil field base in Deir ez-Zour. On December 26th an errant rocket landed on residential housing in al-Shaddadi, reportedly killing a civilian man and wounding a child.
(source) 12/29/23: Turkish state media circulated reports that MIT assassinated ‘Omar ‘Abdullah al-Dahham in al-Tabqah, al-Raqqah, an alleged SDF commander responsible for attacks on Turkish bases in northern Syria. Observers soon realized that this resembled reports from July 25th in which a “young man” named ‘Omar Muhammed al-Dahham was assassinated by unknown gunmen in al-Tabqah and that Turkish media had used the same picture of the supposed man. On August 5th pro-opposition outlet Nahr Media tied this to a self-reported Islamic State attack published on “Saturday, 18th of Muharram” (August 5th), claiming “soldiers of the Caliphate targeted a member of the apostate PKK in al-Tabqah city western al-Raqqah… leading to his death.” In reference to this overlapping claim, the SDF published a statement asserting “Turkish intelligence declaring their responsibility for the assassination indicates their clear collaboration with ISIS”: an impressive leap in logic on the part of the SDF. While I was originally going to publish this as an example of how difficult it is to assess both Islamic State claimed attacks and undated MIT assassinations reported in Turkish state media, I realized in the process that the Islamic State claim doesn’t provided any details tying it to the July 25th killing other than location, making this story even cloudier. Typically the official IS news wire specifies when an attack is being claimed retroactively (“yesterday,” “the day before yesterday,” “last Tuesday”).
