Fierce clashes between Turkish and Syrian regime forces

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights SOHR said on Tuesday that violent clashes took place between the Syrian regime forces and the Turkish forces.

The clashes, the first of its kind since the start of the Turkish offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) on 9 October, took place in north-eastern Syria.

The director of the SOHR, Rami Abdulrahman, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that the Turkish forces launched artillery shelling on the regime forces in the morning.

He added that there had been “clashes with machine guns” on the outskirts of the village of Asadiyah near the border with Turkey, pointing out that this is “the first direct clash between the two parties” since Ankara launched its offensive to keep the Kurds from its borders.

According to the SOHR, the clashes continue at a substantial pace on the axis of Asadiyah south of the city of Ras Al-Ayn, between the Turkish forces and loyal factions, on the one hand, and the Syrian regime forces, on the other, accompanied by shelling and attacking mutual targets.

Abdulrahman referred to talks about an attack carried out by Turkish forces from the north and west axes, covered by drones, amid the overflights of Turkish warplanes over the region, in conjunction with the rocket shelling carried out by Turkish forces, wounding six members of the regime forces following the bombardment by Turkish artillery on the area.

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A leader of the pro-Turkish “Glory Corps” faction was killed, and more than seven others were wounded in a mine explosion on their vehicle on the Tell Abyad axis north of Raqqa.

This morning, the SOHR published that it had monitored the continuation of fierce clashes in the Abu Rasin area between Tell Tamer and Ras Al-Ayn, between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the regime forces, on the one hand, and the pro-Turkish factions, on the other, in a continuous attack by Turkey with an intense and violent missile and fire cover, supported by Turkish drones.

The clashes were centred on the axes of Al-Arishah, Bab Al-Khair and Umm Eshba, while the SOHR documented the killing of seven members of the regime forces and the injury of more than 14 others due to shelling and clashes in the area, in addition to the death of four members of the factions in the same encounters, while a child from Tall Mohammad village, in Abu Rasin area, targeted by the factions, was rushed to Tell Tamer Hospital.

Fierce clashes also took place on axes in the countryside of Tall Abyad, between factions loyal to Ankara on the one hand, and the SDF, on the other.