Following clashes with Ahrar Al-Sham and HTS | Al-Sham Corps withdraw from Al-Ghazzawiyah crossing between Idlib and Afrin
SOHR sources have reported that Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) has captured Al-Ghazzawiyah crossing liniking between Idlib province and Afrin canton (“Olive Branch” area), after the withdrawal of Al-Sham Corps following clashes with Ahrar Al-Sham and HTS members. Meanwhile, large build-ups of HTS and Ahrar Al-Sham arrived in the area opposite areas under the control of Al-Sham Corps, amid ongoing clashes between Al-Sham Corps and Ahrar Al-Sham in Al-Ghazzawiyah village.
This coincides with the expansion of violent clashes between Ahrar Al-Sham and Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah to “Olive Branch” area.
SOHR sources have just documented the death of seven people: three civilians and four Turkish-backed militiamen, and injury of nine people, including children and elderly people, due to the ongoing fierce clashes among Turkish-backed factions in Aleppo countryside since early morning.
SOHR activists reported that the clashes expanded to the following nine positions: Al-Ghazzawiyah, Al-Hadath camp, Olan village, Hayy Al-Nahdah camp, Rawabi camp, Sosyan town, Barathah, Ablah and Tel Battal.
On the other hand, inhabitants of the refugee camps, which experienced clashes, appealed to open safe corridors to areas away from the conflict zones and called upon relevant authorities to interfere and break up these clashes, especially since indiscriminate gunfire killed and injured several civilians.
Moreover, rescue teams failed to reach Al-Hadath camp to relief civilians who sustained injuries due to indiscriminate gunfire during the clashes between “Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah” and “Ahrar Al-Sham.”
Meanwhile, SOHR activists reported seeing large military build-ups of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham in areas under its control in the western countryside of Aleppo and near crossings separating HTS-held areas from areas under the control of the “National Army.”
A few hours earlier, SOHR sources reported that the Turkish-backed “National Army” closed Al-Ghazzawiyah and Deir Ballout crossings separating areas under the control of Turkish-backed factions in northern Aleppo from areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir A-Sham (HTS) in Idlib.
According to a statement issued by the general administration of crossings, the two crossings were closed for “the safety of civilians in Idlib.” This decision coincided with the escalating clashes between “Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah” and “Ahrar Al-Sham” in Al-Bab countryside.
On the other hand, the general administration of crossings prevented militiamen from advancing towards areas under the control of the “National Army” in order not to allow more factions to engage into the ongoing clashes.
SOHR activists had documented the death of two civilians and the injury of four others, including displaced children from Anadan city in Aleppo countryside by rocket shell which hit their house due to bloody clashes between Ahrar Al-Sham and Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah in Ablah village, west of Al-Bab city in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
SOHR activists also documented the death of two militiamen and the wounding of two others in these clashes.
Earlier this morning, SOHR sources reported that Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah faction managed to control villages, which had the majority of Kurds, in Tel Batal and Abla in Al-Bab countryside, east of Aleppo, after fierce clashes with heavy and medium machineguns erupted between splinter groups from Ahrar Al-Sham faction and Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah faction.
According to SOHR activists, Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah militiamen cordoned off the villages of Ablah and Tel Batal on Saturday morning, and then stormed the headquarters of Ahrar Al-Sham faction.
After fierce clashes, Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah fighters managed to control most of the headquarters of Ahrar Al-Sham and arrested a number of Ahrar al-Sham militiamen. All the fighters of the two factions withdraw to the outskirts of the villages.
Ahrar Al-Sham faction deployed their fighters in Al-Bab city, while Al-Jabha Al-Shamiyyah faction brought in large military reinforcements of tanks and heavy guns with 57 shoots from Azaz city to Al-Bab.
The reasons for the clashes, which caused the death of a militiaman of Ahrar Al-Sham and the injury of a number of other militiamen, remained unknown.