HTS partially withdraws from Afrin after ceasefire deal
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – After an agreement between HTS and the Third Corps, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) on Saturday withdrew part of its military forces from Afrin to Idlib, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reports on Saturday.
In accordance with an agreement between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Third Corps, the HTS has withdrawn a part of its military forces from Afrin to Idlib: SOHR.
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"Meanwhile, Turkish forces have brought in military reinforcements consisting of ten vehicles and troop carriers towards the Turkish base in Kfarjah village in Sharan district of Afrin countryside, over yesterday’s artillery shells that hit the base following the clashes in the area," the SOHR report added.
Charles Lister, a senior fellow and the Director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute (MEI), in a tweet said it is "widely reported that the HTS-linked internal security force — for law enforcement — General Security Service (GSS) is remaining in place, deployed inside Afrin.
"And rumor says HTS has won the right to hold military parades too. So a ceasefire, but an HTS win," he concluded.
However, in Afrin, schools and most houses and shops in Al-Ashrafieh district in Afrin are closed and empty, the SOHR report added.
The Kurdish National Council (KNC) on Friday called for the expulsion of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from Afrin.
Turkey and its Syrian militia proxies invaded Afrin in early 2018 in Operation Olive Branch.
Farhad Shami, the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) media center, in a tweet on Friday said that for the SDF there is no difference between the control of Afrin by the HTS or Turkish-backed factions in areas under Turkish control.
"We approach those areas as occupied areas that must be liberated," he said.