Renewed clashes in Deir Ezzor, opposition repels SDF attacks in Aleppo countryside

Sources told Al Jazeera renewed clashes between Arab tribal fighters and the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the countryside of Dur al-Zour (eastern Syria), while other sources said that the Syrian armed opposition repelled attacks by the SDF forces in the countryside of Aleppo.

The sources said that the new clashes took place on Thursday evening in the vicinity of the village of Harmoushia in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor.

SDF forces, of which the Kurdish units are the main component, fired flares that lit up the sky and launched a raid and arrest campaign in the village of Jadid Bakara in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, it said.

The media center of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said it was working to fully secure the area and impose security and stability so that civilian institutions could start providing services to the people.

In turn, sources in the Syrian armed opposition reported that artillery shelling originating from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces targeted the military base of the Turkish army in the vicinity of the village of Al-Mushairfa, north of Raqqa (northern Syria), and this coincided with the flight of drones believed to belong to the Turkish army in the sky of the town of Ain Issa in the countryside of Raqqa.

In a related context, Kurdish news agencies reported that artillery shelling from the Turkish army affected SDF sites in the villages of Aniq al-Hawa, Dada Abdal, Bobi, Tal Abboud and Tal al-Ward in the countryside of Hasaka (northeast).

In the framework, the Anadolu Agency quoted local sources on Friday that 5 members of the National Army of the Syrian opposition were killed while repelling attempts by SDF forces to storm the front lines near the cities of Jarablus, Al-Bab and Afrin in the countryside of Aleppo in northern Syria.

Last week, clashes erupted in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor province (east of the country) after the US-backed SDF arrested the commander of its Deir Ezzor Military Council, Ahmed al-Khabil, prompting local fighters loyal to him to launch attacks on it that quickly developed into clashes joined by Arab tribes, to which the residents of the area extending to the border with Iraq to the east, belong, and resulted in the tribes taking control of large SDF strongholds.

The fighting later spread to the countryside of Raqqa (north) and Hasaka (northeast) governorates adjacent to Deir Ezzor province, and tribes took control of a number of SDF-affiliated positions there.