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This week in Northern Syria (XIV/XV)

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This week in Northern Syria (XIV/XV)

A rundown of key events from Turkish/SNA & SDF-controlled territories

Alexander McKeever
Oct 25, 2022
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This week in Northern Syria (XIV/XV)

akmckeever.substack.com

Catching up on events occurring between October 4th - 17th, unrelated to the Abu Ghannoum assassination, subsequent SNA infighting, and HTS’s invasion of Afrin.

Events

  • 10/04/22: Police forcibly dispersed a sit-in and dismantled a large tent set up by striking members of the Aleppo Branch of the Free Syrian Teachers Syndicate outside the Education Directorate in al-Bab. The teachers have been on strike since the beginning of the school year last month, over abysmal wages and conditions.

    Twitter avatar for @fawaz_jwaid
    fawaz jwaid @fawaz_jwaid
    شرطة مدينة الباب تهدم خيمة اعتصام المعلمين لانهاء اضرابهم
    7:47 AM ∙ Oct 4, 2022
  • 10/04/22: Ezidi organization ‘Mala Êzdiyan li Herêma Cizîrê’ announced the rescue of a 15 year old Ezidi girl named Jani Ziyad Haydar from the al-Hawl camp. She was kidnapped in 2014 by the Islamic State during their genocidal attack on Sinjar/Shingal in Iraq and held as a slave by members of the group ever since. Jani Ziyad Haydar is the third Ezidi slave to be rescue from al-Hawl since the beginning of September.

  • 10/06/22: US forces carried out a helicopter raid against Islamic State targets south of al-Qamishli, in the regime-controlled village of Muluk Saray. Local news outlet Sada al-Sharqiyah later published photographs showing the house that allegedly belonged to the target.

    Twitter avatar for @CENTCOM
    U.S. Central Command @CENTCOM
    US Forces Conduct Raid in Northeast Syria against ISIS
    Image
    6:47 PM ∙ Oct 6, 2022
    472Likes227Retweets
    Twitter avatar for @AKMcKeever
    Alexander McKeever @AKMcKeever
    Given the ongoing events in Afrin and al-Bab (which began last week), I've delayed the newsletter. Here's a consolation geolocation of the house reportedly belonging to an IS commander, raided by US forces via helicopter within regime territory last week. 36.942245, 41.221953
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    Twitter avatar for @CENTCOM
    U.S. Central Command @CENTCOM
    US Forces Conduct Raid in Northeast Syria against ISIS https://t.co/vu3cnlSz3w
    8:55 PM ∙ Oct 13, 2022
  • 10/06/22: The YPG commemorated Koçero Batman, a commander killed in the days prior in Kobanî by a Turkish airstrike. He was from the Kurdish-majority city of Êlih/Batman in Turkey and had joined the PKK in 2001, at the age of 18. He fought for the organization as a guerrilla “from the Zagros to the mountains of Dersim.” According to the obituary Batman entered Syria in 2014, to take part in the defense of Kobanî, later taking part in the al-Raqqa, Manbij, ‘Ain ‘Isa and Tabqa battles.

  • 10/06/22: Germany repatriated twelve of its citizens from al-Hawl camp, claiming to have now “resolved ‘almost all known cases’ of its citizens stuck in [Syria].” Among the twelve included four women and a teenage boy, each of will be detained and tried for Islamic State membership.

    Twitter avatar for @RojavaIC
    Rojava Information Center @RojavaIC
    Yesterday Germany repatriated 12 people from Roj camp taking the total of German nationals returned to a reported 102. The German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said "this action has allowed us to close almost all the known cases”.
    Image
    11:53 AM ∙ Oct 6, 2022
    56Likes27Retweets
  • 10/07/22: Four soldiers of the SAA’s Border Guards were reportedly killed in a Turkish drone strike on regime positions in eastern Aleppo and northern al-Raqqah. The Turkish MoD claimed multiple attacks against the ‘PKK/YPG’ the same day, along Euphrates Shield and Peace Spring front lines.

  • 10/08/22: Residents of the recently opened Kuwait al-Rahmah IDP village staged a sit-in in downtown Afrin, demanding a relocation of the village. Due to its location mere kilometers from the front lines and numerous military points Kuwait al-Rahmah has repeatedly been struck by shells fired from SDF/regime positions in al-Shahba’, the most recent such occurrence taking place just the day prior.

    Twitter avatar for @Almohrar1
    المحرر لحظة بلحظة @Almohrar1
    #عاجـــــــــــل اعتصام أهالي مخيم كويت الرحمة أمام السرايا في #عفرين لتغيير مكان المخيم نتيجة القصف المتكرر عليه
    9:32 AM ∙ Oct 8, 2022
    Twitter avatar for @SyriaCivilDefe
    الدفاع المدني السوري @SyriaCivilDefe
    استهدف قصف صاروخي مصدره المناطق التي تسيطر عليها قوات سوريا الديمقراطية وقوات النظام، اليوم الجمعة 7 تشرين الأول، محيط مدرسة على أطراف مخيم"كويت الرحمة"، وأراضٍ زراعية قرب قرية "قره تبة"بريف #عفرين شمالي #حلب، وتأكدت فرقنا من عدم وجود إصابات. #الخوذ_البيضاء
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    4:43 PM ∙ Oct 7, 2022
    18Likes2Retweets
    Twitter avatar for @AKMcKeever
    Alexander McKeever @AKMcKeever
    HRE video of an attack on TR/SNA-controlled Gobelê (village turned into a fortified position just behind Afrin/al-Shahba’ front line) shows recently constructed settlement for some reason built just .5km from this military pt 36.4826939, 36.9314624 @planet imagery 3/16/22 https://t.co/XLRNElKRGi
    8:54 PM ∙ Oct 5, 2022
    21Likes4Retweets
  • 10/08/22: Russian and American military patrols meeting on the road in al-Qahtaniyah/Tirbespî held a bizarre impromptu photo-op.

    Twitter avatar for @Delilsouleman
    Delil souleiman @Delilsouleman
    Soldiers of a #Russian military convoy and their #US counterparts exchange greetings as their patrol routes intersect in an oil field near #Syria's al-Qahtaniyahtown in the northeastern Hasakah province,close to the border with Turkey,on Octobre 8, 2022 Delil SOULEIMAN/@AFPphoto
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    11:03 AM ∙ Oct 8, 2022
    292Likes102Retweets
  • 10/10/22: The British Ministry of Defense claimed a drone assassination against a suspected Islamic State member outside the northern al-Raqqah town of Hammam al-Turkmen, located within Turkish-controlled territory. A similar British drone strike against an IS target in Turkish-controlled territory took place in October 2021.

    Image from the scene (source)

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  • 10/11/22: Employees of the National Hospital in Afrin went on strike in protest of low wages. Strikes among health care workers across Turkish-controlled northern Syria have become common this year.

    Twitter avatar for @HalabTodayTV
    Halab Today TV قناة حلب اليوم @HalabTodayTV
    مع بقاء قسم الإسعاف في الخدمة.. إضراب في المشفى الوطني بـ #عفرين شمال #حلب احتجاجا على تدني الأجور
    Image
    2:14 PM ∙ Oct 11, 2022
  • 10/12/22: Five SDF fighters died in Turkish bombardment of the front line town of ‘Ain ‘Isa, in northern al-Raqqah governorate. Biographical information published by the SDF shows three of them to be natives of Deir ez-Zour.

  • 10/12/22: A Turkish drone strike targeted a vehicle in the vicinity of the Newrouz camp in al-Malikiyah/Dêrik, killing Ibrahim Bassam Mikhail, a member of the AANES-affiliated Syriac Security Office.

    Twitter avatar for @DeirEzzore
    زين العابدين | Zain al-Abidin @DeirEzzore
    #المالكية | #ديريك طائرة مُسيرة تركية 🇹🇷 أستهدفت اليوم سيارة قرب مخيم "نوروز" في المالكية بالحسكة، وقتل شخص بالأستهداف حسب الأنباء الأولية. 🔺غير معروفة للأن هوية الشخص المستهدف.
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    3:55 PM ∙ Oct 12, 2022
    27Likes3Retweets
    قد تكون صورة ‏‏‏٩‏ أشخاص‏ و‏أشخاص يقفون‏‏
    (source)
  • 10/13/22: ‘Awad Bouzan, a member of the AANES’s al-Shaddadi Local Council, was assassinated by cells reportedly belonging to the Islamic State. According to NPA, Bouzan was originally from Aleppo.

    Twitter avatar for @Sharqya_reporte
    مراسل الشرقية الرسمي @Sharqya_reporte
    #الحسكة خلايا من تنظيم الدولة يستقلون دراجة نارية يستهدفون المدعو "عواد بوزان" أحد أعضاء مجلس الشدادي المحلي التابع لميليشيات قسد بالرصاص المباشر قرب قرية علوص بريف الشدادي جنوب الحسكة مما أدى لمقتله على الفور. #مراسل_الشرقية_الرسمي✅
    Image
    6:51 PM ∙ Oct 14, 2022
  • 10/13/22: The UK repatriated two individuals from al-Hawl, marking “the first time an adult has been allowed to come back to the UK from detention since the end of the ground war against Islamic State.” Whereas Britain has reject calls to return its nationals who joined the Islamic State and remain in detention in Syria, the woman retrieved from the camp was reportedly trafficked into Syria by relatives.

  • 10/14/22: Turkish state media reported that MIT “neutralized” a PKK cadre by the name of Necdet Dağlarer, in an operation carried out in al-Shaddadi. No information was provided as to how this operation, reportedly taking place deep within AANES territory but close to the Iraqi border, was carried out. Intelligence sources stated that Dağlarer had joined the PKK in 2009 and didn’t arrive in Syria until 2016. Since then they accuse him of being responsible for defensive tunnel networks dug around major border cities.

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