In the past few hours, the northern areas of Aleppo countryside have witnessed four developments on the ground. Although not surprising, the state of synchronization among them raises speculation about the repercussions they will impose in the coming days.
The most prominent of these developments was on Sunday evening, where two policemen of the Turkish Special Division forces were killed and others injured, by rocket fire targeting a vehicle in the vicinity of the city of Marea.
The Turkish side accused the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) of carrying out the attack, as it is active in several locations around the city of Tel Rifaat.
This came a few hours after rocket-propelled grenades hit the village of al-Dabes in the southern city of Jarablus. The attack did not cause any casualties or injuries.
On Monday, the Turkish state of Gaziantep said that the village of Qarkamish, bordering Syria, was bombed by three shells, originating from areas controlled by the YPG in the countryside of Ain al-Arab (Kobani).
The state said in a statement that the missiles caused no casualties, and the losses were restricted to material damages.
In other news, on Tuesday afternoon, the city of Afrin witnessed a car bomb explosion near the al-Hal market. The explosion resulted in the killing of five civilians and the injury of 20 others, the Syrian Civil Defense said in a statement on Twitter.
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The SDF controls limited areas in the northern Aleppo countryside, known locally as the Tal Rifaat pocket, close to the Afrin region.
The Syrian National Army (SNA) also accuses the YPG of being responsible for the bombings in the town of Afrin, which was seized in early 2018, under Operation Olive Branch.
Attacks on Turkish forces by the YPG have escalated for more than two weeks, particularly in the northern Aleppo countryside.
It is remarkable that most of the attacks come from areas where Russian police members and other Syrian regime forces are present, such as Tal Rifaat and Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
The above developments come 10 days after Turkish and Russian Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin met in the Russian city of Sochi.
While the outcome of that meeting has not been revealed, Turkish journalists have pointed out in recent days that the outstanding issues between the two sides remain unchanged, particularly that of the Idleb governorate in northwestern Syria.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
