Opposition Fighters Take North Syria Town from SDF, Turkish Source Says

People gather to celebrate the fall of the Syrian government, in Manbij, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Ugur Yildirim/Dia Photo via AP)

11:34-9 December 2024 AD ـ 08 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH

Opposition Fighters Take North Syria Town from SDF, Turkish Source Says

People gather to celebrate the fall of the Syrian government, in Manbij, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Ugur Yildirim/Dia Photo via AP)

Türkiye-backed Syrian opposition groups took control of the northern Syrian town of Manbij from US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces (SDF), a Turkish security source said on Monday, a day after the opposition declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

The SDF had been holding the town in recent days amid intense fighting with the Syrian National Army (SNA) and other Türkiye-backed groups.

Clashes in the north continued even as the world was caught surprised by the opposition's swift successes in initially seizing Aleppo and, on Sunday, the capital Damascus in the south.

The lightening offensive took less than two weeks, after a 13-year war.

A video, verified by Reuters, showed opposition forces being welcomed by people in Manbij, which is some 30 km (19 miles) south of the Turkish border and west of the Euphrates river.

Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency reported the area is being searched for possible landmines and traps left behind by the Kurdish group.

The SDF is the main ally in a US coalition against ISIS militants. Türkiye says it is spearheaded by a terrorist group closely tied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

Abdurrahman Mustafa, head of the Türkiye-backed opposition's provisional government, congratulated the troops that took Manbij.

"We stand with pride and honor with our heroic forces, and we support them to complete the liberation of every inch of our land and achieve the aspirations of our people for freedom and dignity," Mustafa said in a post on X.

The United States said it will maintain its presence in eastern Syria, where the SDF is concentrated, and will take necessary steps to prevent a resurgence of ISIS. The United States is estimated to have 900 troops in eastern Syria as a hedge against ISIS militants.

Separately, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US strikes in Syria in recent days were focused on ISIS cells to hinder them from taking advantage of fallout from the uprising.

Syria Rescuers, Activist Say Site outside Damascus Believed to Be Mass Grave

This aerial view shows a site believed to be a mass grave near Baghdad Bridge in Adra, about 35 kilometers east of Damascus, on December 25, 2024. (AFP)

16:58-25 December 2024 AD ـ 24 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH

Syria Rescuers, Activist Say Site outside Damascus Believed to Be Mass Grave

This aerial view shows a site believed to be a mass grave near Baghdad Bridge in Adra, about 35 kilometers east of Damascus, on December 25, 2024. (AFP)

A key Syrian rescue group and an activist told AFP on Wednesday a burial site outside Damascus was likely a mass grave for detainees held under former president Bashar al-Assad and fighters killed in the civil war.

In a vast walled area located near the Baghdad Bridge, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital, AFP journalists visiting the site saw a long row of graves more than one meter deep, mostly covered with cement slabs.

Several of the slabs had been moved and inside, white bags could be seen stacked over each other with names and numbers written on them. One of the bags contained a human skull and bones.

"We think this is a mass grave -- we found an open grave with seven bags filled with bones," said Abdel Rahman Mawas from the White Helmets rescue group, which visited the site several days earlier.

He told AFP by telephone that the bags, six of which bore names, were "taken to a secure location", adding that "necessary procedures were begun for DNA testing".

He said if additional graves had been exposed it meant other people may have been searching the site, warning people to "stay away from graves and let the relevant authorities handle them".

The site, near the Adra industrial area northeast of the capital, is less than 20 kilometers from the Saydnaya prison.

Diab Serriya, from the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison, said the site was first identified in 2019 through "testimony of an intelligence personnel member who had deserted".

Satellite imagery suggests the site was in use from 2014, he said.

"Probably this grave contains detainees but also former regime or opposition fighters killed in battle," he told AFP by telephone.

The notorious Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomized the atrocities committed against Assad's opponents.

Serriya said "the bags of bones were probably brought from other graves", adding that "the road to discovering who is buried here will be long".

The doors of Syria's prisons were flung open after an opposition alliance ousted Assad this month, more than 13 years after his brutal repression of anti-government protests triggered a war that would kill more than 500,000 people.

The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of the conflict.

Mohammed Ali from the Adra municipal council denied residents were aware of the site, which is located near a Syrian army facility.

"It was forbidden to approach it or take photos as it was a military zone," he told AFP.

Opposition Fighters Take North Syria Town from SDF, Turkish Source Says

Opposition Fighters Take North Syria Town from SDF, Turkish Source Says

Most Viewed

Syria Rescuers, Activist Say Site outside Damascus Believed to Be Mass Grave

Syria Rescuers, Activist Say Site outside Damascus Believed to Be Mass Grave

لم تشترك بعد