Infighting among Turkish-backed militias kill several in Serekaniye, northeast Syria

SEREKANIYE, Syria (Kurdistan 24) – At least eight militants were killed and several wounded in clashes between two Turkish-backed armed groups in Syria’s northeast town of Serekaniye, Ras Al-Ain in Arabic, on the border with Turkey, local sources said on Sunday.

“The clashes lasted for hours in the main street of the town and in a neighborhood near the Turkish border between two armed groups upon a conflict for sharing shops and stores left by their owners who fled the town after the Turkish incursion in October,” Ibrahim, a Syrian Arab worker who asked to conceal his true name for security reasons, told Kurdistan 24.

Ibrahim added that he was passing through the main street of the town when the clashes erupted. “I was going to be killed as I managed to hide in a shop for hours until the clashes halted.”

The clashes with light weapons resulted in deaths and injuries between the two sides, including civilians, without the interference of the Turkish forces that are usually present in the town, the Syria-based North Press agency reported on Sunday.

North Press also reported that five militants of the Turkish-backed group Ahrar Al-Sharqiya were injured in a car bomb explosion in the Mabrouka village in the western countryside of the town.

In October, the Turkish army and their affiliated Syrian rebel groups known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), later changed to Syrian National Army (SNA), launched a military operation and pushed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the border towns of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, leading to the deaths of about 500 civilians and the displacement of about 300,000 people.  

There have been several explosions in the towns of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad since the Turkish invasion in October as the areas occupied by Turkey suffer from security chaos due to the conflicts among several armed groups which rule the occupied areas.

In December, Turkey trained a group of Syrian rebels and called them the Civil Police and deployed them to the towns of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad.

Last month, two Turkish-backed police were killed and five injured in a car bomb explosion in Tal Halaf village on the eastern outskirts of Ras al-Ain.

In December, five civilians including children were killed in a car bomb explosion in Tal Halaf. Moreover, there were 30 casualties from a car bomb explosion in November including women and children.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany