Fighting intensified on Saturday between the Türkiye-backed Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Tishrin Dam region southeast of Manbij city in the Aleppo countryside.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish jets struck SDF positions in the area, as well as in the city of Deir Hafir southeast of Manbij.
In a statement, the SDF said the pro-Türkiye factions launched a broad attack on several villages south and east of Manbij, but its forces managed to repel them.
The factions have for days been seeking to seize areas surrounding the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River.
The SDF added that the factions, with support from Turkish drones and modern tanks, launched violent attacks on the villages of al-Atshana, Khirbet Tueni, Khirbet Zamala, al-Mastaha, Alloush and others near Manbij.
The SDF managed to repel “all attacks”, kill several members of the factions and destroy Turkish vehicles, stressed the statement.
SDF members were killed and eight others were wounded in the fighting. Fifty members of the factions were also killed, said the Observatory, which confirmed the attacks on the Manbij countryside.
The SDF has since detonated mines in the area to slow down the factions’ advance. It has also bolstered the deployment of its forces in anticipation of air strikes, added the Observatory.
The fighting has been ongoing since December when the factions seized Manbij and Tal Rifaat. Since then, neither side has managed to claim any major victory against the other or capture any territory.
Meanwhile, Turkish drones struck and damaged a power plant in the Tabaqa countryside in the western Raqqa province.
Two members of the SDF security forces were also wounded in a drone strike on the municipality building in the countryside.
Türkiye has been targeting infrastructure in the regions held by the People’s Protection Forces (YPG) - the military backbone of the SDF - in northern and eastern Syria.
Turkish artillery also targeted areas in Hasakeh. There have been no reports so far of casualties.
Elsewhere, American forces and the US-led international coalition to fight ISIS continued to send military reinforcements to areas held by the SDF.
A 20-truck American military convoy entered Syria through the Iraqi Kurdistan region and headed towards the Tal Baydar and Qasrak bases in the Hasakeh countryside on Saturday.
The Observatory said the US forces sent 13 armored vehicles, as well as fuel tankers, from these bases to Ain al-Arab, or Kobane, in the eastern Aleppo countryside to complete the construction of a military base there.
