Syria monitor says fighting between pro-Turkey, Kurdish forces kills 101

War monitor reports 100 combatants killed in clashes between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

“More than 100 combatants were killed over the last two days in northern Syria in fighting between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces,” a war monitor said on Sunday (January 5, 2025).

“Since Friday (January 3, 2025) evening, clashes in several villages around the city of Manbij have left 101 dead, including 85 members of pro-Turkish groups and 16 from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In a statement, the SDF said it had repelled “all the attacks from Turkiye’s mercenaries supported by Turkish drones and aviation”.

Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria resumed their fight with the SDF at the same time Islamist-led militants were launching an offensive on November 27 that overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad just 11 days later.

They succeeded in capturing the cities of Manbij and Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province from the SDF. The fighting has continued since, with heavy casualties.

According to Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory, the Turkish-backed groups aim to take the cities of Kobane and Tabqa, before moving on to Raqqa.

The SDF controls vast areas of Syria's northeast and parts of Deir Ezzor province in the east where the Kurds created an autonomous administration following the withdrawal of government forces during the civil war that began in 2011.