Syria’s north is the scene of joy and concern as the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG, the Syria wing of the PKK, which killed thousands in Türkiye, struggles for survival.
For residents of Tal Rifaat, a district of Aleppo, YPG losses are good news. The Syrian National Army’s (SNA) operations, which ran parallel with anti-regime forces’ advance in late December that toppled the Assad regime, drove out terrorist groups from the occupied districts where it displaced thousands. The YPG, however, stands ground elsewhere, especially around strategic Tishrin Dam, where it killed two people in a rocket attack on Tuesday.
Resilient despite losing many relatives to YPG attacks, former residents of Tal Rifaat are nowadays busy rebuilding their homes damaged or devastated during years of civil war.
Tal Rifaat, which had a population of around 20,000 people before the civil war, felt the impact of the unrest when clashes between Free Syrian Army and regime forces cut off their supply lines from central Aleppo. The FSA secured victory briefly in 2012 before the district fell to the terrorist group Daesh in 2013. Three years later, the YPG/PKK, thanks to support from the United States, which partners with the group under the guise of fighting Daesh, captured Tal Rifaat. The YPG/PKK occupation forced residents to flee either into neighboring Türkiye or safer parts of war-torn Syria.
After SNA’s Operation Dawn of Freedom, Tal Rifaat was liberated from YPG/PKK oppression in early December. The original residents of the district joined thousands of others who lined up at Öncüpınar border crossing between Türkiye and Syria recently and returned to Tal Rifaat. The district is now swarming with reconstruction activity, with residents repairing homes.
Muhammad Said Ahmed, 30, took shelter in Türkiye 10 years ago and is among the returnees. During the Civil War, he lost his uncles and many other relatives. “We are free from both YPG and Assad. A new state will be built, God willing. I believe things will be far better than they were,” Ahmed, who reunited his surviving relatives in Tal Rifaat, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday.
Some 100 kilometers (62.14 miles) east of Tal Rifaat, two people were killed in a rocket attack carried out by the YPG/PKK on a village in Manbij district on Tuesday. The attack was launched by YPG/PKK members stationed near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River, local sources said. It targeted a civilian house in the village of Arsh.
The YPG/PKK has been targeting civilian areas in Syria, especially those around the Tishrin Dam, where tens of thousands of people live.
Since Dec. 20 last year, YPG/PKK terrorists have continued their attacks around the Tishrin Dam. The attacks carried out with heavy weaponry, are severely affecting the lives of around 50,000 civilians in 10 villages on the western side of the dam. Syrian National Army (SNA) forces are currently clashing with terrorists around the Tishrin Dam in the southeastern part of the district.
The vicinity of the dam was also a scene of the deployment of civilians and YPG/PKK terrorists disguised as civilians in recent weeks. Türkiye has accused the group of using civilians as human shields.
The YPG/PKK exploited the security vacuum and an apparent aversion of pro-Assad forces to strike them during the civil war and carved out its entity in northeastern Syria.
The terrorist group, along with Daesh, threatens Türkiye’s borders and the territorial integrity of Syria. They remain legitimate targets for Türkiye, the country’s Defense Ministry said last week amid ongoing counterterrorism operations at home and across the Turkish border in Syria and Iraq. Since the fall of Bashar Assad, Türkiye has repeatedly said it was time for the YPG/PKK to disband. Ankara has mounted multiple operations against them in Syria since 2016.
