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Clashes Escalate in Northern Syria amid Ankara-Damascus 'Normalization' Talks

Syrian fighters in a Turkish-backed faction in the northern countryside of Aleppo (AFP)
Syrian fighters in a Turkish-backed faction in the northern countryside of Aleppo (AFP)
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Clashes Escalate in Northern Syria amid Ankara-Damascus 'Normalization' Talks

Syrian fighters in a Turkish-backed faction in the northern countryside of Aleppo (AFP)
Syrian fighters in a Turkish-backed faction in the northern countryside of Aleppo (AFP)

Clashes escalated between the Turkish forces and the regime forces in northern Syria, amid preparations for the foreign ministers meeting of Türkiye, Syria, and Russia, within the framework of the second phase of normalizing relations between Ankara and Damascus.

A Turkish soldier was killed, and others were injured, after the Turkish base in Hazwan village in al-Bab, east of Aleppo, was attacked from the areas of the Syrian regime forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Turkish helicopter arrived at the base to transport the wounded to Türkiye.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced Saturday that one of its soldiers died from injuries sustained during Friday's attack without giving any further information.

Turkish forces and their loyal factions, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), responded by shelling heavy artillery areas of the SDF and the regime forces.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Saturday that 11 SDF members had been "neutralized" after they launched attacks on the areas of the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations.

The axes of contact between the Turkish forces and the loyal National Army factions, the regime forces, and the SDF in northern Syria witness continuous clashes, exchanges of shelling, and infiltration operations, without any change in the control map in the region.

- Escalation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

Mutual attacks escalated between Türkiye and Syria amid reports about rapprochement with the regime and preparations for the meeting of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Bashar al-Assad under the auspices of Russia.

Türkiye has killed 32 Syrian soldiers, including senior officers, since Ankara escalated its attack against SDF areas last November as part of the military operation "Claw-Sword."

The operation was launched after a terrorist bombing on Istiklal Street in Taksim, which Turkish authorities attributed to perpetrators following the orders of commanders of Kurdish units in Ain al-Arab.

At the same time, four members of the regime forces were killed, and two others were wounded in violent clashes with heavy weapons and machine guns during an attack launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on Saturday, in the northern countryside of Latakia.

The Syrian Observatory reported that the HTS seeks to exploit widespread anger and discontent with the rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus by intensifying its attacks against regime forces on several axes in the de-escalation zones in northwestern Syria.

It noted that members of the HTS-affiliate Othman bin Affan Brigade carried out an attack targeting regime forces on the Nahshaba axis, where violent clashes took place between the two sides with heavy weapons and machine guns, amid reports about deaths and injuries.

Recently, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham intensified its operations against the regime forces on several axes in the de-escalation zones, causing many casualties.

- A military operation

Turkish presidency spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, announced Saturday that a ground military operation in Syria "is possible at any time."

"We continue to support the political process," Kalin told reporters from foreign media outlets, including AFP.

"A ground operation is possible any time, depending on the threats we receive."

Referring to the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus, Kalin said the initial meeting between the neighbors' defense ministers at the end of December could be extended, with foreign ministers possibly meeting in February.

He added, "We want security on our borders," referring to the presence of Kurdish forces on Syrian territory, asserting that Türkiye "never targets the Syrian state or Syrian civilians."

However, he pointed out that the security guarantees promised by Russia and the US after the last Turkish operation in Syria in 2019 were not met, and the Kurdish fighters did not withdraw 30 kilometers from the border as promised.

- Pressure on refugees

The Turkish opposition continues its campaign against the Syrian refugees, promising to deport them ahead of the Turkish elections scheduled for next June, which may be brought forward to May.

Former presidential candidate and a potential candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, the head of the opposition Homeland party, Muharrem Ince, vowed to deport Syrian refugees.

During a meeting with supporters, Ince said Erdogan's government granted thousands of Syrian refugees the Turkish citizenship, and they can now vote in the elections, noting that their votes would favor the ruling Justice and Development Party.

He warned that Syrian refugees had overstayed their welcome.

Ince pointed out that the opposition parties would take several steps when they win the elections, including closing the border and arresting Syrian refugees in the streets.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) pledged to send the Syrians to their homeland and see them off with "drums and zurnas" within two years of winning the next elections.

Recently, the party used billboards and banners in several Turkish cities to assert its rejection of the refugees, promising to withdraw from the migration agreement signed with the European Union in 2016.

Meanwhile, Erdogan announced a plan to send back home more than a million Syrian refugees, and announced last week that more than half a million Syrians had been deported to their homeland thanks to the Turkish military operations that cleared large areas in northern Syria.

About 3,733,982 Syrians received the Turkish Temporary Protection Identification Documents, with about 550,000 refugees in Istanbul alone.

Most Syrians in Türkiye suffer from difficult living conditions in light of the high prices, low wages, and the campaigns against them.

The Turkish Migration Directorate announced that 124,441 illegal immigrants were deported last year, including 58,758 Syrians who returned voluntarily to Türkiye's "safe areas" in northern Syria.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense reported that the ongoing meetings and discussions between Türkiye and the Syrian regime focus on several issues, including combating terrorism, the voluntary and safe return of Syrian refugees, and achieving stability through the political solution.

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After a Decade in Türkiye, a Syrian Refugee Rushes to Return Home, but Reality Hits

Syria refugee Ahmed al-Kassem and his family are welcomed by relatives as they return to their home in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Syria refugee Ahmed al-Kassem and his family are welcomed by relatives as they return to their home in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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After a Decade in Türkiye, a Syrian Refugee Rushes to Return Home, but Reality Hits

Syria refugee Ahmed al-Kassem and his family are welcomed by relatives as they return to their home in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Syria refugee Ahmed al-Kassem and his family are welcomed by relatives as they return to their home in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

The moment he arrived home to Syria from Türkiye, Ahmed al-Kassem held his sister in a tight embrace, tears streaming down their faces. They hadn't seen each other in more than a decade and now were reunited only days after the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
But soon, the former refugee’s joy was tinged by uncertainty about the future of his war-torn homeland. His old house in the city of Aleppo was too damaged to live in, and the family home he had brought his wife and children to had no electricity or running water.
“If I had known, I don’t know if I would have come,” the 38-year-old al-Kassem said. “Our life in Türkiye was not perfect, but what we are seeing here is a disaster.”
Al-Kassem and his family are among the more than 7,600 Syrian refugees who Turkish officials say have crossed back into Syria from Türkiye since Dec. 9 when Assad was swept out of power by the opposition factions. Thousands more have come back from neighboring Lebanon. The Associated Press documented the return of al-Kassem's family, from their crossing out of Türkiye with a truckload of belongings on Dec. 13 to their first days in Aleppo, a city still scarred by the long civil war.
They leave behind a life they built in Türkiye over the past 11 years. Four of his five children were born in Türkiye and know Syria and their relatives here only through video chats. For al-Kassem and his wife, it’s a chance to rejoin their family, resume their lives, and introduce their kids -- three girls and two boys aged 7 to 14 -- to their Syrian heritage.
But it’s a dive into the unknown of a new Syria still being formed. There’s little chance Türkiye will let them back.
At Türkiye’s Oncupinar border crossing, they waited in line for hours and then had to hand over to Turkish officials the “temporary protection” documents that certified their refugee status and right to be in the country.
On the Syrian side of the border, known as Bab al-Salameh, they unloaded their belongings – including a carpet and a washing machine – from the Turkish truck and placed them into another truck and van.
For an hour, they rode across northwest Syria until they reached Aleppo’s Masaken Hanano district. By now it was after nightfall, and the neighborhood was shrouded in darkness, with no electricity. They passed buildings destroyed or damaged years ago in fighting.
Using the light on his mobile phone, al-Kassem led his family down a dark alleyway and found his sister’s one-story house. It was intact but dark. There in front of the house, he had his tearful reunion with his sister. The kids hugged their cousins for the first time.
But the initial reality was hard.
When AP journalists met al-Kassem again three days later, he had sent his children to another relative’s house because his sister’s home had no electricity or running water. The relative’s house at least had a few hours of each every day, he said.
Al-Kassem wondered if he made the right decision bringing his family back so soon.
“When I saw my country liberated, I got up and returned with my children, to introduce them to our homeland and show them their country,” al-Kassem said. “But when my children came here and saw the situation, they were really surprised. They didn’t expect this.”
In Türkiye, they had water, electricity, the internet –“all life’s essentials were available,” he said. “But here, as you can see, we have been here for days with no water. I have no idea where I will go with my children.”
His 14-year-old daughter, Rawiya, said she was pleased to be reunited with her relatives. But she was worried about starting school in Aleppo after years in Turkish schools. She speaks Arabic but can’t read or write it.
“It will be difficult for me to start learning Arabic from zero,” said Rawiya. “Despite this, I’m happy to be in Syria.”
Rawiya was 4 when her family fled Aleppo in 2013. At the time, the opposition held the eastern districts of the city and fighting was ferocious with Assad’s forces holding the western half. A mosque behind al-Kassem’s house was repeatedly hit by shelling – and the day the shelling hit his house, he decided it was time to go.
They settled in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, where al-Kassem worked in construction, as he had in Aleppo. There, his other children were born and raised, becoming fluent in Turkish while speaking little Arabic.
Once a vital economic hub and Syria’s largest city, Aleppo was ravaged by years of fighting, until government forces with help from Russia and Iran finally recaptured the entire city in 2016. Much of the eastern section remains in ruins, many of the buildings still concrete skeletons with a few partially rebuilt by residents.
In Aleppo’s Old City, a Syrian revolutionary flag now hangs from the historic castle, where crowds continue to celebrate Assad’s downfall. Dozens of people strolled outside the ancient structure, some carrying or wearing the flag. The streets were filled with residents and visitors.
“We are here today to share the joy with everyone,” said Huzam Jbara, a mother from nearby Idlib province visiting Aleppo Castle with her two daughters for the first time in 10 years. “We are very happy, and we got rid of the tyrant who oppressed his people, killed his people, and locked them in prisons.”
In Aleppo’s Kostaki Homsi Street, lines stretched outside bakeries as people waited for bread — a sign of the widespread poverty in Syria’s wrecked economy.
In his first days back in Aleppo, al-Kassem found his old home in Masaken Hanano. The windows were shattered, all the belongings they left behind were gone.
He reflected on his life in Türkiye. They faced hardships there, including the COVID pandemic and a devastating 2023 earthquake. Now they will face hardships returning here, he said.
“But I have to adapt to the situation,” al-Kassem said. ” Why? Because it still is my homeland, my home, and our people are here.”